Tag Archives: Hazards

Florida Small Scale LNG – Two High Risk Chemical Experiments Upon Citizens

This is a continuation, with updates of,  a previous blog entitled  – LNG – Liquefied Natural Gas & Small Scale Processing Facilities – Action Needed dated 09/24/2017. The DOE passed the small – scale LNG processing facility rule for Florida with 40 of the ‘for’ comments being duplicates which were submitted via the Federal Register. What do we expect in today’s political/corporate climate?

Note this is an excerpt of just some of the points in a comprehensive report written by Dr. Fred Millar – please see his full document below for more detailed information. This is also a shout out to Florida’s media outlets. It is your job to let the citizens of Florida know if their lives are threatened.

Dr. Millar Interview at Toxic Train Conference in 2010

As we know, FERC has abdicated it’s role of regulating these inland small – scale LNG processing facilities “because the facilities do not load directly onto a pipeline or ship bound for foreign ports”. Three Federal Agencies have gone against congressional rules and refuse to regulate these disasters waiting to happen. State agencies simply say “Well it is up to the Feds”.  I and others think not – we the people better get a handle on this development before we become the guinea pigs for a bad experiment as stated in the title above and in his paper below by hazardous railway accident expert Dr. Fred Millar who has been working with Florida’s own LNG expert, Cecile Scofield (see bios below).

This leaves unregulated train and truck transportation of LNG, siting of LNG facilities, and an emergency response infrastructure not prepared for a disaster of, for instance, a train wreck on the FECL involving LNG being transported to Jacksonville Fla through densely populated areas from Miami to Jacksonville, Fla.  All for the goal of exporting fracked gas through Florida to other countries and be damned anyone whose life may get in the oil industry’s way! I do not know about you but I find it alarming that an industry can manipulate the US Government to risk the lives of millions of it’s citizens for the short term profit of a few, evidently including members of our ‘government’.

The First High Risk LNG Processing Experiment – In Populated Areas

  1. Since the adoption by the DOE of unregulated small – scale LNG facilities this past February,  brand new LNG processing  facilities are being, sited, and built  in Florida on as little as 12 acres. To the alarm of many citizens and First Responders there are no emergency plans or buffer zones between the population and these volatile terminals with some being sited on just 12 acres. FERC requires a buffer zone of 1 to 9 miles for large -scale LNG – US LNG Export Facilities – and the nearest population.
  2. These small – scale LNG processing facilities will be the first of their kind in an urban environment involving the handling of large, unique and dangerous containers of Liquefied Natural Gas or LNG to be transported from inland processing facilities to large ports, such as Jaxport, for exporting to other countries.  There is another factor to be considered as these unregulated small -scale LNG processing plants nor the trains and trucks the LNG is transported on are protected from terrorists. In fact in both cases terrorism is a huge concern be it domestic or foreign.

The Second High Risk LNG Experiment – Rail Transportation Approval

  1. US agencies have quietly approved the first ever railway transportation of pressurized LNG in the lower 48 states and in an urban or populated area. As you will see when reading Dr. Millar’s report below there was one other small pilot program approved in a remote area of Alaska. They are allowing the Florida East Coast (FECL) railway to move daily 40 foot, 21 ton LNG tanks at 70 mph through highly populated areas and on the same tracks that carry the notoriously dangerous 110 mph Brightline passenger trains. All of this through numerous rail crossings where there have already been FECL accidents resulting in fatalities and through the many communities that are along the FECL tracks.
  2. Judges and the rail industry itself for many decades considered rail transport of LNG to be such a high risk that it was never allowed upon the railroad system. In fact the Federal Railroad Administration has never designed an approved LNG rail tank car but is now under strong oil industry pressure to do so. This new federal exemption for Florida’s FECL, not only allows LNG to fuel the locomotives but also allows LNG to be transported in attached flat cars with relatively flimsy 10,000 gallon ISO inter-modal containers.
    Please click continue for Dr. Millar’s full document on this clear and eminent danger to the citizens of Florida.

Continue reading Florida Small Scale LNG – Two High Risk Chemical Experiments Upon Citizens

Comments from SpectraBusters, Inc. against small LNG

Submitted in Public Comment Concerning Unregulated Small Scale LNG Processing Facilities:

600x306 Duke nuke and gas plant down Power Line Road, in Strom Inc. moves to Crystal River, by John S. Quarterman, for SpectraBusters.org, 29 September 2014
Duke nuke and gas plant down Power Line Road, Crystal River, FL, from new Strom location (the blue box).

From: Spectra Busters <spectrabusters@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 4:03 PM
Subject: RIN 1901-AB43 and FE Docket No. 17-86-R
To: fergas@hq.doe.gov
Cc: Spectra Busters <spectrabusters@gmail.com>

Comments from SpectraBusters, Inc. against small LNG

ISSUES AND CONCERNS ASSOCIATED WITH “SMALL-SCALE” INLAND LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG) PRODUCTION, STORAGE AND TRANSPORT FACILITIES:

  1. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has abdicated Congressional authority under Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) for the siting, construction, operation and maintenance of small-scale inland LNG export facilities.
  2. How is an LNG export facility that must obtain an export license from the U. S. Department of Energy not, from FERC’s perspective, an “export” facility within the meaning of the NGA and thus not subject to FERC’s jurisdiction (see Pivotal LNG, Inc., FERC Docket No. RP15-259-000 Issued April 2, 2015, Norman Bay, Commissioner, Dissenting Opinion).
  3. How is an LNG “export” facility that trucks LNG 440 yards to a dock not Continue reading Comments from SpectraBusters, Inc. against small LNG

Shoestring Energy Justice Network and Dimock families defeat mighty Cabot Oil & Gas in $4.2 million anti-fracking lawsuit win

Here’s why Sabal Trail and all the other fossil fuel profiteers avoid jury trials at all costs: when twelve peers of the afflicted decide, the frackers lose. But money isn’t enough. That land and water is permanently poisoned. There’s only one real solution: end fracking, to end all its new pipelines, compressor stations, bomb trains, and LNG export.

Sharon Kelly, Desmog Blog, 10 March 2016, BREAKING: $4.2 Million Jury Verdict Against Cabot Oil & Gas in Dimock, PA Water Contamination Lawsuit,

A Pennsylvania jury handed down a $4.2 million verdict in a lawsuit centering on water contamination from negligent shale gas drilling in Dimock, PA, a tiny town that made international headlines for its flammable and toxic drinking water.

The defendant in the lawsuit, Cabot Oil and Gas Corp., had strenuously denied Continue reading Shoestring Energy Justice Network and Dimock families defeat mighty Cabot Oil & Gas in $4.2 million anti-fracking lawsuit win

The fracked methane bridge isn’t short enough or safe enough: go renewable energy –Lori McCraney in Suwannee Democrat

A local citizen asks her County Commission to represent its citizens, not a pipeline company from somewhere else, in an op-ed in the Suwannee County newspaper today.

Lori McCraney, Suwannee Democrat, 24 December 2015, Opinion: Suwannee County commissioners lack resolve against Sabal Trail,

Proponents have touted the safety of the Sabal Trail pipeline. This belies the fact that Spectra Energy, the parent of Sabal Trail, has one of the worst safety records in the industry. See www.spectrabusters.org/hazards/spectra-safety-violations for links to numerous articles regarding Spectra’s safety record.

According to Alan Lambeth, director of engineering design for Spectra Energy, Sabal Trail will use the thinnest pipe allowed Continue reading The fracked methane bridge isn’t short enough or safe enough: go renewable energy –Lori McCraney in Suwannee Democrat

We were told to shut up or quit –Spectra Energy whistleblowers

Even Spectra workers sometimes develop a conscience. These whistleblowers are not the first, and thirty years of Spectra’s sordid safety record agrees with them. Tonight you can help stop Spectra from drilling under the Suwannee River in Florida, and that will help stop Spectra in Burrillville, Rhode Island.

Steve Ahlquist, RI Future.org, 30 November 2015, Former inspectors allege safety issues with Spectra pipeline project,

Two safety inspectors who worked on Spectra Energy’s proposed methane gas pipeline that will cut through Burrillville, RI, say the company cut corners when it came to project, worker and environmental safety.

“Right now, what they’re hoping to do, is they’re hoping to slam all this through, and then at the end ask for forgiveness,” said one of the former inspectors. “Oops, sorry about that, I didn’t know, let me write you a check. Because once this thing’s turning meter, they’re going to be making millions of dollars a day. It doesn’t matter what your problems are…”

The other added, “We were told to shut the fuck up or quit.”

Both men, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, were subcontracted by Spectra and both were Continue reading We were told to shut up or quit –Spectra Energy whistleblowers

Sabal Trail is a reckless proposal –GA State Senator Sims to FERC

Sabal Trail targets those most vulnerable, the “elderly, disabled and without monetary or political means to “fight” such an environmentally intrusive plan.”

Filed with FERC 23 October 2015 as Accession Number 20151023-5278, “Comment of Senator Freddie Powell Sims under CP15-17”:

FREDDIE POWELL SIMS
District 12
110-A State Capitol
Atlanta. Georgia 30334
Phone: (404) 463-5259
Fax: (404) 463-2279
Email: Freddie.Sims@senate.ga.gov

COMMITTEES:

Interstate Cooperation, Vice-Chairman
Education and Youth, Secretary
Appropriations
Finance
Natural Resources and the Environment

The State Senate

Atlanta, Georgia 30334

October 20, 2015

Letter to FERC Kimberly D. Bose
Secretary
Federal Energy Regulation Commission
888 First Street, N.E.
Washingtun, DC 20426

Dear Ms. Bose:

As State Senator for District 12 in the State of Georgia, I write this letter in opposition to the proposed Sabal Pipeline location in the populous area of Dougherty County / Albany, Georgia. The Sabal Pipeline proposed location is a “reckless” proposal that negates the health and safety of current and future residents of Dougherty County / Albany, Georgia. Many of the residents Continue reading Sabal Trail is a reckless proposal –GA State Senator Sims to FERC

Four Congress members demand Sabal Trail move off of Albany, GA

Writing directly to the FERC Commissioners, these representatives stand up for the people against pipeline company greed.

For immediate release: Friday, October 23, 2015
Contact: Max Gigle, 202-225-3631

PROPOSED SABAL TRAIL RAISES ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE, HEALTH CONCERNS
CONGRESSMAN BISHOP AND GEORGIA HOUSE DEMOCRATS DEMAND ALTERNATIVES

To the FERC Commissioners ALBANY, GA — Today, Congressman Sanford D. Bishop Jr. (GA-02) spearheaded a letter with Congressmen John Lewis (GA-05), Henry ‘Hank’ Johnson Jr. (GA-04), and David Scott (GA-13) to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) raising concerns regarding Sabal Trail’s application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity to construct a 516-mile-long, 36-inch-diameter natural gas pipeline through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The letter especially cites the proposed location of the pipeline and an accompanying compressor station in Albany, Georgia, which is located in Dougherty County. The proposed location raises serious environmental justice issues that have not been fully addressed by FERC in its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the project.

Congressman Bishop, as well as Representatives Lewis, Scott, and Johnson, are members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), which has highlighted issues of environmental justice. The Environmental Protection Agency defines environmental justice as, Continue reading Four Congress members demand Sabal Trail move off of Albany, GA

Videos: Citizens against Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail pipeline to FERC in Albany, Moultrie, Valdosta, and Lake City

Citizens renamed Sabal Trail the Sinkhole Pipeline because it doesn’t belong in the sinkhole-prone karst limestone of the Floridan Aquifer. FERC can’t say they weren’t told, since videographers followed them through all four cities so far; see for yourself.

Albany, Monday 28 September 2015, videos by Thomas Swain

Moultrie, Tuesday 29 September 2015, videos by Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE)

“You tell us you’re sorry and it happens again”, said Continue reading Videos: Citizens against Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail pipeline to FERC in Albany, Moultrie, Valdosta, and Lake City

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

EPD will hold a public hearing about Sabal Trail compressor air quality permit

There will be another public comment period and a public hearing on Sabal Trail’s latest air quality permit application, said Eric Cornwell of GA-EPD just now by telephone. He also said:

“So far, nobody seems to want this thing. Usually somebody is for jobs or taxes, but not this time. One of the first times I’ve run into a situation where neither the residents nor the county officials want it.”

I mentioned that more than a year ago in Gilchrist County, Florida, Sabal Trail had admitted they had already Continue reading EPD will hold a public hearing about Sabal Trail compressor air quality permit