Tag Archives: FSC

Complaint to FDEP stops FSC construction in Okeechobee County, FL

Many eyes watching pipeline construction can catch shoddy work, and even FDEP will step in to deal with the most egregious violations, as Spectra and Rockford for FPL rush to try to finish by May 2017.

[21040-510-ALS-00097 STA: 4587+00 TO 4638+00, OKEECHOBEE COUNTY, FLORIDA]

Shannon Larsen’s complaint to Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) at least briefly shut down destruction by Florida Southeast Connection (FSC) at Ft Drum Creek, just south of Ft. Drum, Florida. On the telephone just now she told me work had indeed been halted.

Right now Shannon is in Okeechobee City starting a rally to stop pipelines across Florida at Continue reading Complaint to FDEP stops FSC construction in Okeechobee County, FL

We will accept Sabal Trail’s answers –FERC issues certificates

Property rights, environment, or safety? 14% pipeline company profit is more important! said FERC. But this fight is not over.

Page 1 Without ever appearing on FERC’s public calendar, and a month in advance of when FERC previously said, FERC yesterday issued certificates for Sabal Trail, the Transco Hillabee Expansion Project, and Florida Southeast Connection. Trial-style evidentiary hearing? Nope, FERC believes Sabal Trail. Consolidation of the three dockets into one? Nope, everybody should have opposed all three, says FERC. Environmental justice? Hey, demographics don’t matter, pipeline siting is all about engineering and “environmental” issues. And profit. Don’t forget profit for the pipeline companies. Solar power? Nevermind, Continue reading We will accept Sabal Trail’s answers –FERC issues certificates

Sierra Club opposes new natural gas electric generating units: good news against Sabal Trail

The excuse for Spectra’s Sabal Trail pipeline is new natural gas electric generating units in Florida. FPL calls this “modernizing“, which is an odd word for using 20th century fossil fuels when 21st century solar power, conservation, and efficiency is ready right now for the Sunshine State. Adding to their opposition to LNG export, the Sierra Club Board of Directors has adopted this new policy:

“Natural Gas: The Sierra Club opposes new electric generating units powered by natural gas, including peaking and combined cycle units. Consistent with the Board’s goal of eliminating all fossil fuels from the electric sector no later than 2030, it is critical that the US avoid further high-capital investments in new natural gas plants and related infrastructure.”

This is in Sierra Club’s Continue reading Sierra Club opposes new natural gas electric generating units: good news against Sabal Trail

FERC meetings for Draft Environmental Impact Statement 28 Sep 2015 – 8 Oct 2015

Two weeks for all the public meetings, rushing to make the 20 November 2015 final EIS notice date, Meeting schedule for a final decision 18 February 2016.

The Draft EIS released Friday 4 September 2015 is very long, but the most basic question is very short: why is FERC rushing to rubberstamp the unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous Sabal Trail pipeline and its fracked methane siblings Hillabee Transco and FSC when there’s neither need nor public benefit?

The Sunshine State should go straight to solar power.

If you don’t want any of these pipelines, you can send in your comments both to FERC and to state and local agencies and elected officials in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama, and show up at these FERC meetings to protest. You can also still file a motion to intervene with FERC. And don’t forget to call Georgia Gov. Deal.

Filed with FERC 4 September 2015 as Accession Number: 20150904-3011, “Notice of Availability of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the Proposed Southeast Market Pipelines Project re Florida Southeast Connection, LLC et al under CP14-554 et al.” Continue reading FERC meetings for Draft Environmental Impact Statement 28 Sep 2015 – 8 Oct 2015

Port Dolphin LNG import to Florida from Louisiana and Texas?

Our old friend Port Dolphin is back asking LNG import competing with or displacing Sabal Trail’s fracked methane pipeline, this time possibly shipping gas across the Gulf of Mexico from U.S. LNG export facilities.

300x225 FERC Approved LNG Export and Import, in LNG, by John S. Quarterman, for SpectraBusters.org, 22 February 2015 Back in 2009 Port Dolphin got FERC approval for LNG import, but then there was a big recession, and the “shale gas revolution” (fracking) happened, resulting in most LNG import facilities filing for LNG export instead. But Port Dolphin wants to continue with imports, as Joe Fisher wrote for Natural Gas Intelligence, 20 October 2014, Would-Be Florida LNG Importer Sees Promise in Cross-Gulf Trade,

Florida does not have indigenous gas supply and historically has been served by two interstate natural gas pipeline with a third one planned, Sabal Trail (see Daily GPI, Oct. 24, 2013). Recently announced is a related north-to-south intrastate pipeline project (Florida Southeast Connection) (see Daily GPI, Oct. 10).

Rather than turn its LNG import project around to export liquefied U.S. gas — as other would-be import terminal developers/operators have done — Port Dolphin, which is a unit of Norway’s Hoegh LNG AS, still wants to make a go of importing LNG. It told FERC the project could even regasify domestically sourced LNG from the Gulf of Mexico, for instance.

Translation: Continue reading Port Dolphin LNG import to Florida from Louisiana and Texas?

A flood of motions to intervene filed: still two days to go to Sabal Trail deadline

The trickle turns to a flood of motions to intervene being filed for the FERC dockets of Sabal Trail, Transco’s Hillabee Expansion Project, and Florida Southeast Connection. Two elected county governments have filed, one of them in all three dockets. Other counties and cities and even states can dod the same.

Be sure to file in all three dockets: CP15-17, CP15-16, and CP14-554. It’s not enough to list them in your filing documents or description: you must file them on each docket. If you don’t find your filing in FERC’s docket search for each of the three dockets, you need to go back and file again in the other dockets. Here’s how to file for multiple dockets in a single Continue reading A flood of motions to intervene filed: still two days to go to Sabal Trail deadline

FERC filing deadline 24 December 2014 –VDT

The newspaper of record in the county seat of the most populous county along the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline path between Auburn and Gainesville reminds everyone of the Christmas Eve filing deadline.

Joe Adgie, Valdosta Daily Times, 19 December 2014, Deadline nears for pipeline comments,

Residents wanting to file comments with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission about the Sabal Trail pipeline have until Dec. 24 to do so….

Continue reading FERC filing deadline 24 December 2014 –VDT

FGS intervenes as likely customer of Sabal Trail

LNG “storage, vaporization and truck loading facility” FGS just spelled out that it wants gas from the end of this pipeline chain in Florida, in its motion to intervene on Sabal Trail’s FERC docket. Remember, FGS’ apparently PCB-contaminated site is on the same Warfield Blvd as FPL’s Martin County “Clean Energy Center” and as LNG-export-authorized FLiNG Energy’s storefront, with an FPL pipeline running right down that same road. And FLiNG says it is “located immediately adjacent to Floridian Natural Gas Storage”. Do you still claim, Sabal Trail, that your fracked methane isn’t for export?

This motion is even simpler than FGT’s motion to intervene. Remember: file before 24 December 2014.

Filed with FERC 9 December 2014 as Accession Number: 20141209-5082, “(doc-less) Motion to Intervene of Floridian Natural Gas Storage Company, LLC under CP15-17.” Continue reading FGS intervenes as likely customer of Sabal Trail

Florida Gas Transmission intervenes in Sabal Trail CP15-17

How simple a motion to intevene can be: organization name, contacts, and Basis for Intervening. Filing to intervene gets your foot in the door for any further filings or legal actions or participation in hearings. It does not require filing major legal documents at the outset (or ever). It does require filing your motion to intervene by 24 December 2014. It would be prudent not to wait until the last day: you never know when FERC’s efiling system might be down.

This motion to intervene is by Sabal Trail’s competitor Florida Gas Transmission, which is, according to Kinder Morgan:

The Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) pipeline is an approximately 5,500-mile system that transports natural gas from south Texas to south Florida. FGT is owned by Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC, a 100% owned subsidiary of Citrus Corp. Citrus Corp is a 50/50 joint venture between Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE: KMI) and Energy Transfer.

FGT didn’t mention in this filing, but it knows sinkholes. Just a year ago FGT had to move its pipeline off of the famous 25-acre sinkhole in Assumption Parish, Louisiana.

Filed with FERC 9 December 2014 as Accession Number: 20141209-5136, “(doc-less) Motion to Intervene of Florida Gas Transmission Company, LLC under CP15-17.” Continue reading Florida Gas Transmission intervenes in Sabal Trail CP15-17

Miami Herald notices FPL wants ratepayers to pay to frack Oklahoma

Back in May Sabal Trail and FSC argued fracking wasn’t relevant to their pipelines. How can they argue that now that FPL wants to frack frack Oklahoma for methane for those pipelnes proposed to gouge through Alabama, Florida, and Georgia?

Mary Ellen Klas, Miami Herald, 1 December 2014, FPL asks permission to drill for natural gas, Continue reading Miami Herald notices FPL wants ratepayers to pay to frack Oklahoma