I just don’t think they should be allowed to deface my property –Irvin Allegood to FERC

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Colquitt County landowner Irvin Allegood came to the do-over Sabal Trail Open House in Moultrie 27 January 2014 so he could tell FERC he wasn’t going to allow another pipeline. He wasn’t the only one, but he especially wanted video, so here he is, talking to John Peconom of FERC.

…the existing pipeline comes through the front corner.

I just don’t think that they should be allowed to, basically, to deface my property. …losing that road, if they put two pipelines on my property.

Their first suggestion, was they would destroy… as far as my property was concerned. all of the wooded area. There’s old growth pines in there, the run of a creek. We’re just not going to allow that to happen.

If they put it on the other side of the existing pipeline. I’ve been planning to put my shop out there when I retire in a couple of years.

Here’s the video:


I just don’t think they should be allowed to deface my property –Irvin Allegood to FERC
Video by John S. Quarterman for SpectraBusters.org,
Moultrie, Colquitt County GA, 27 January 2014.

FERC rep. John Peconom then wanted to be sure to get the spelling of Irvin Allegood’s name, and where his property was. It wasn’t on the map hanging right there, so they looked at the maps on Peconom’s laptop. Peconom had no direct response to the basic point of the pipeline defacing property, or tearing down trees.

You can easily see the existing pipeline on google maps: Continue reading I just don’t think they should be allowed to deface my property –Irvin Allegood to FERC →

Stranded fossil fuel assets: Spectra vs. SolarCity stock

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Speaking of stranded assets, let’s compare Spectra Energy stock to SolarCity stock. Spectra (SE) is up about 20% ever, while SolarCity is up 500% in one year. Just like solar stocks in general are vastly out-performing fossil fuel stocks Investors: do you want to make money, or do you just want to trash our fragile watersheds and take property from people who won’t profit at all from Spectra’s proposed methane pipeline?


Stock quotes by Google Finance.

-jsq

Central Florida property owner pipeline concerns –GTN

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Injury to workers or local people, limited local resources, property rights, and more concerns all bubbling to the top in central Florida like methane from a deep well.

Briana Harper reported for GTN 29 January 2014, Natural Gas Pipeline Cause Concern for Property Owners,

The Sabal Trail Gas Pipeline is a project more than 400 miles long spanning across three different states. The purpose is to provide domestically-produced natural gas for the southeast region. But this pipeline comes at a cost to property owners. Eminent Domain Attorney Brian Bolves says, “It’s a big scale project that’s coming through the community. It will change the character of a lot of people’s property,there have been a lot of surveyors assessing people’s property and so people have a lot of concerns about the nature of this facility.”

The project will affect Continue reading Central Florida property owner pipeline concerns –GTN →

FERC: regulatory agency or marketing firm for pipeline companies?

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Its name is the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but lately it’s been sounding more like a marketing firm for pipeline companies. You can help fix that.

Bill Thompson wrote for Ocala.com 11 December 2013 about a meeting in Dunnellon, Florida, At open house, Sabal Trail presents plans for natural gas pipeline,

About 50 people attended an open house meeting held by Sabal Trail Transmission LLC, the energy firm that will construct the roughly 465-mile line for two of America’s biggest energy companies. The line will go through Alachua and Marion counties, among others….

John Peconom, project manager for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which will have final approval over the pipeline, described Sabal Trails efforts at this point as “shaking the bushes.”

The company, he said, is attempting to identify — and mitigate, if necessary — as many issues as possible before filing its application with the government, which should come in about a year.

Peconom told me in Moultrie, GA 27 January 2014 that that last was FERC’s role. I wonder why Continue reading FERC: regulatory agency or marketing firm for pipeline companies? →

Stranded fossil fuel assets: money goes in, but does it come out?

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$5.5 trillion or $800 for each human on this Earth has been dumped into the fossil fuel money pit. Will most of that money never come back out, now that solar stocks are skyrocketing and foundations are banding together to dump fossil fuel stocks? Why should we let Spectra Energy and NextEra gouge a methane pipeline through our lands for their bad investment?

Kumi Naidoo wrote for EcoWatch 31 January 2014, Dirty Fuels is a Bad Idea,

By keeping their money in coal and oil companies, investors are betting a vast amount of wealth, including the pensions and savings of millions of people, on high future demand for dirty fuels. The investment has enabled fossil fuel companies to massively raise their spending on expanding extractable reserves, with oil and gas companies alone (state-owned ones included) spending the combined GDP of Netherlands and Belgium a year, in belief that there will be demand for ever more dirty fuel.

This assumption is being challenged by recent developments, which is good news for climate but bad news for anyone who thought investing in fossil fuel industries was a safe bet. Frantic growth in coal consumption seems to be coming to an end much sooner than predicted just a few years ago, with China’s aggressive clean air policies, rapidly dropping coal consumption in the U.S. and upcoming closures of many coal plants in Europe. At the same time the oil industry is also facing slowing demand growth and the financial and share performance of oil majors is disappointing for shareholders.

Nevertheless, even faced with weakening demand prospects, outdated investment patterns are driving fossil fuel companies to waste trillions of dollars in developing reserves and infrastructure that will be stranded as the world moves beyond 20th century energy.

The article is mostly about coal and oil, but it applies equally well to fracked “natural” methane gas: Continue reading Stranded fossil fuel assets: money goes in, but does it come out? →

The Big Picture

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A followup to discussions in Moultrie, GA, 27 January 2014.

From: John S. Quarterman <jsqferc@quarterman.com>
Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 17:29:54 -0500
cc: John S. Quarterman <jsqferc@quarterman.org>
To: John Peconom <john.peconom@ferc.gov>
Subject: Re: Contact and the Big Picture

Howdy, and it was good to meet you in Moultrie.

I look forward to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission taking into account the whole big picture, and not just believing assertions by applicant companies without critical review.

Thanks for sending me this boilerplate, which I see appears in many FERC documents:

Any state or local permits issued with respect to the jurisdictional facilities authorized herein must be consistent with the conditions of this certificate. The Commission encourages cooperation between interstate pipelines and local authorities. However, this does not mean that state and local agencies, through application of state or local laws, may prohibit or unreasonably delay the construction of facilities approved by this Commission.

There was no source cited in the boilerplate, does it refer to this? Continue reading The Big Picture →

Fracking unsafe in at least four states

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If it’s so safe, why is it so hard to find out how safe it is? And why did injecting toxic chemicals into ground water ever get approved? Since methane leaks out of pipelines and compressor stations, as well as wells, it’s time to stop fracking and pipelines and get on with solar and wind power.

Kevin Begos wrote for AP 5:20 p.m. EST January 5, 2014, 4 states confirm water pollution from drilling

PITTSBURGH (AP) — In at least four states that have nurtured the nation’s energy boom, hundreds of complaints have been made about well-water contamination from oil or gas drilling, and pollution was confirmed in a number of them, according to a review that casts doubt on industry suggestions that such problems rarely happen.

The Associated Press requested data on drilling-related complaints in Continue reading Fracking unsafe in at least four states →

Yet another fireball…..

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explosion-638x351 CBC News 25 Jan 2014, Natural gas pipeline explodes near Otterburne, Man.: Thousands without heat south of Winnipeg as arctic blast moves in

A natural gas pipeline explosion near Otterburne, Man., 50 kilometres south of Winnipeg, has left thousands without heat as temperatures drop to -20 C, or -34 C with the wind chill.

A fire is out after burning for more than 12 hours at the site of a natural gas pipeline explosion near Otterburne, Man., about 50 kilometres south of Winnipeg. But officials say there are now natural gas outages affecting as many as 4,000 people in nearby communities, where temperatures dipped to near -20 C overnight.

The Rural Municipality of Hanover declared a state of local emergency Saturday afternoon in a release that said the outage was expected to last 24 to 72 hours.

The trouble began early Saturday when RCMP responded around 1:05 a.m. to a “loud explosion.”

Witnesses who live close to the scene said it was massive. Paul Rawluk lives nearby and drove to the site.

“As we got closer, we could see these massive 200 to 300 metre high flames just shooting out of the ground and it literally sounded like a jet plane,” he said. “And that’s the thing that really got us, was the sound of it.”

He said it was hard to describe the scale.

“Massive, like absolutely massive,” he said. “The police were by [Highway] 59 and you could just see little cars out there and you could see in comparison how big the flame was. It was just literally two to 300 metres in the air. And bright, I mean lit up the sky.”

The pipeline is owned by TransCanada, the same company that later lost a lawsuit in Nebraska for the Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Ask FERC at the Moultrie Monday makeup Sabal Trail Open House

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PDF

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Valdosta, 24 January 2014 — The gas pipeline company has scheduled another Open House for Monday January 27th, 2014, perhaps because a local landowner complained to FERC about previous Sabal Trail meetings in Moultrie being during big local events. You can ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in person why they should approve that methane pipeline. Protesters against the pipeline will be out front starting about 4:45PM.

When:  5:00 PM to 7:30 PM
Monday, January 27 th 2014

Where: Holiday Inn Express
850 Veterans Parkway North
Moultrie, GA 31788

Why: Spectra Energy, which had compressor station leaks in Maine this month and in Pennsylvania last year, plus multiple fines by Pipeline Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) for corrosion and leaks, and a record Continue reading Ask FERC at the Moultrie Monday makeup Sabal Trail Open House →