Tag Archives: Houston

Kinder Morgan bolts from emergency planning meeting in Savannah

Chatham County, Dougherty County, Florida, Georgia, LNG, Suwannee County, Texas, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The world’s largest pipeline company ran away from a hint of public scrutiny, like FERC changed its commission meeting date to try to avoid protesters. Maybe… public opinion matters?

The pipeline companies are watching all the opposition. And the opposition is shadowing all the pipeline companies. Score one for the opposition! Plus plenty of opportunities coming up for more concerted opposition against any new fossil fuel tentacles through our countryside or under our rivers.

Mary Landers, Savannah Morning News, 16 September 2015, Kinder Morgan cancels ‘spotlight’ on Elba operations, Continue reading Kinder Morgan bolts from emergency planning meeting in Savannah →

Canadian regulator orders Spectra to clean up its safety practices

British Columbia, Canada, FERC, Safety, Texas, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Canada’s FERC equivalent had to escalate from specific fines to a blanket clean-up order. Do you still believe Spectra is “a very genuine, safe, law-abiding company”?

Mackenzie Scrimshaw, iPolitics.ca, 15 July 2015, The Drilldown: Spectra Energy faces NEB fines,

Spectra Energy Corp SE.N is feeling the heat from the National Energy Board (NEB). As Reuters reports, the Houston-based company is facing more than $120,000 in fines for committing almost 30 infractions at its Westcoast Energy processing plants in the last 15 months. What’s more, the NEB has requested a correction of these “management system failures.” “The Board expects Westcoast to address safety concerns on a systemic basis, throughout all its gas processing plants and facilities,” reads the NEB’s safety order. “Based on recent violations described below, the Board is not confident safety concerns are being addressed in this manner.”

So that $88,000 fine in January was just the start of this year’s NEB fines to Spectra.

Mike De Souza, Yahoo! Finance, 14 July 2015, Canada regulator orders Spectra Energy to clean up practices, Continue reading Canadian regulator orders Spectra to clean up its safety practices →

Texas pipeline invasion of Georgia in Los Angeles Times

Agriculture, California, Georgia, Law, , , , , , , , , , ,

The people and state of Georgia can stop this Texas invader, and if that takes a California paper implying Texans are Yankees, so be it. As well as Kinder Morgan’s Palmetto petroleum products Pipeline, why not stop Spectra’s Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline? You can sign the petition Georgia Governor Nathan Deal.

Jenny Jarvie, L.A. Times, 1 June 2015, Landowners form a pipeline rebellion in the Deep South,

“I’m trying to protect something that was passed on to me,” said Georgia resident Jimmy Helmly, who opposes the pipeline. “People from away from here, with no ties, just want to make a dollar. I understand. I believe in American capitalism. But why should I sacrifice so you can make billions?”

When the letter arrived from a Texas pipeline company Continue reading Texas pipeline invasion of Georgia in Los Angeles Times →

Georgia has no use for new pipelines –AJC

Colquitt County, Compressor, Dougherty County, Environment, Georgia, Law, Lowndes County, Water, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Four pipeline projects surround Atlanta, and Georgia’s governor won’t comment. Spectra’s Andrea Grover did, though, saying the Albany compressor station would be no louder than “a modern-day dishwasher.”

Dan Chapman, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3 April 2015, Pipeline project fuels fight on state’s future,

VALDOSTA — Southwest Georgia is roiling mad over a proposed gas pipeline to Florida that virtually nobody in Atlanta, except Ted Turner, has heard about.


John Carlton looks over a gopher tortoise hole a few feet away from a 1954 easement for an 8 inch natural gas line on his property at Morrison Pines Plantation in Moultrie. The planned Sabel Trail pipeline would run 50 feet over from the existing line. Carlton is undecided on the proposal.
Photograph credit: Curtis Compton, AJC

Electric Power & Light has more of the text: Continue reading Georgia has no use for new pipelines –AJC →

PR: SpectraBusters sends Outreach against Sabal Trail pipeline and for solar power to Rally in Tallahassee

Florida, Solar, Water, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Fort White, Florida — Maximizing her speaking skills, Laura Dailey resigned from the SpectraBusters Board to be unanimously appointed Director of Community Outreach & Speaker’s Bureau, with first stop speaking against the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline and for solar power in Tallahassee Wednesday March 18th at the Floridians for Clean Water & Amendment 1 Rally in Tallahassee.

Laura Dailey said, “Who here loves to paddle our rivers and hike our scenic trails? WE are the stewards of these wonders, and we stand dangerously close to losing them to a company from Houston, Texas. A company woefully undereducated about our pristine landscape, and fragile Karst terrain, and who, until they came here, had no idea that our springs heartland is the single largest source of fresh spring water on earth!”

Remembering her excellent questions at the Continue reading PR: SpectraBusters sends Outreach against Sabal Trail pipeline and for solar power to Rally in Tallahassee →

Albany Herald breaks GA Gov. Deal Spectra campaign contributions

Alabama, Dougherty County, Ethics, Florida, Georgia, Politics, Tennessee, Texas, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The Deal campaign not only accepted Spectra’s PAC money, but then tried to claim (incorrectly) that Michelle Nunn’s campaign for U.S. Senate also accepted Spectra PAC money: so Deal’s campaign took Spectra’s money and then told an untruth about who else might have. The best Spectra’s Andrea Grover could come up with was “economic development”; nevermind Sabal Trail would use out-of-state crews to install its fracked methane pipeline, it would bring almost no jobs to Georgia, and it isn’t even selling gas to Georgia. Neither even tried to implicate Jason Carter’s campaign for governor, because Carter’s campaign finance filings show zero contributions from Spectra’s PAC. The incumbent governors of Alabama and Tennessee, however, did take money from Spectra’s PAC.

Gov. Nathan Deal’s campaign accepts contributions from Spectra Energy: Houston energy giant says its PAC contributes to campaigns of candidates who favor economic development, Continue reading Albany Herald breaks GA Gov. Deal Spectra campaign contributions →

Proposed Sabal Trail Pipeline Threatens Southwest Georgia Communities –in Georgia Sierran

Alabama, Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Economy, Environment, FE, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Gilchrist County, Hazards, LNG, Lowndes County, Safety, Solar, Water, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

In the April-May-June 2004 2014 issue of Georgia Sierran Georgia Sierra Club‘s Chapter newsletter. The same issue has an excellent article on Georgia’s aquifers, including the Floridan Aquifer that is a drinking water source for all of Florida, through which the Sabal Trail pipeline proposes to bulldoze.

Proposed Sabal Trail Pipeline Threatens
Southwest Georgia Communities

By John Quarterman

Why should a shell corporation owned by two companies in Houston, Texas and Juno Beach, Florida get to take Georgians’ property to pipe fracked methane to Florida through our fragile karst limestone drinking water aquifer?

Yet that’s what Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC, proposes to do, Continue reading Proposed Sabal Trail Pipeline Threatens Southwest Georgia Communities –in Georgia Sierran →

The Trans-Pacific Partnership and LNG exports

Alabama, Economy, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Gilchrist County, Hamilton County, Jackson County, Levy County, Madison County, Madison County, Marion County, Renaissance Project, Texas, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The same U.S. House subcommittee that wants to export liquid natural gas is pushing the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The two subcommittee members are from Alabama and Florida represent counties in the paths of two Spectra methane pipelines.

Ted Poe (R TX-02) of Houston, Chairman of the SUBCOMMITTEE ON TERRORISM, NONPROLIFERATION, AND TRADE of the COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES spelled out the connection to natural gas in the panel discussion for the hearing on The Trans-Pacific Partnership: Outlook and Opportunities,

Hopefully, we will change that and become an exporter, especially of natural gas.

This meshes with his remark hearing on natural gas exports:

The Department of Energy has not approved an application to export to a country we don’t have a Free Trade Agreement with in 2 years.

Presumably he meant FERC, which bills itself as an independent agency. The point remains the same: Chairman Poe wants more free trade agreements for more LNG exports. In his opening statement to the TPP hearing he spelled out that he considers the Trans-Pacific Partnership to be a free trade agreement: Continue reading The Trans-Pacific Partnership and LNG exports →

Spectra Energy — Be the Best it Can Be –Mike Benard

Dougherty County, Georgia, Lowndes County, Pennsylvania, Texas, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Mike Benard sent this today to Spectra’s Andrea Grover, copied to a long list of news media and local, state, and federal elected and appointed officials and employees. For local background, see Spectra reps unfamiliar with Spectra fines @ LCC 2013-12-09. -jsq

Ms. Grover:

Those of us property owners who are already Spectra Energy “stakeholders” (the company’s term), want Spectra Energy to be the best it can be, consistent with its publicly stated commitment to Stakeholder Engagement, Integrity, Transparency, and Accountability.  

Reference link:  http://www.spectraenergy.com/Sustainability/Economic/Acting-with-Integrity/

To that end, and regarding your activities as a “Director of Stakeholder Outreach” on behalf of Spectra Energy’s proposed Sabal Trail pipeline, property owners in Georgia report that you are asserting the following at public meetings:

•  You assert that property owners at Spectra Energy’s Steckman Ridge compressor facility in Bedford County, PA are “happy” despite ongoing problems there and a consistent lack of response from Spectra Energy to its “stakeholders.”  

FACT:  I speak for more than a dozen families who live next to or near the problematic compressor facility; and your statement is incorrect and misleading.  What facts do you have to support such a disingenuous allegation?  A ring of health, water and operational complaints surround this facility that began operations in 2009.  Based on unofficial record keeping by neighbors, there have been nearly 60 shutdowns, blowdowns and related incidents at the Steckman Ridge compressor station and underground natural gas storage facility between August 2009 and the present.  And there is much more, as you know.

• You assert that uncontrolled releases of methane and other hydrocarbons that happen too frequently at the Steckman Ridge compressor facility are “normal.”  Let’s hope not.  Your assertion is uninformed and misleading.  

FACT:  Recall the March 9-10 incident Continue reading Spectra Energy — Be the Best it Can Be –Mike Benard →

Williams Transco Hillabee Expansion Project PF14-6 to connect to Sabal Trail

Alabama, FERC, Texas, , , , , , , , , , ,

The third link: Sabal Trail plans to get its gas from Williams Transco’s Hillabee Expansion Project in Alabama, FERC Docket #PF14-6.

Here’s an excerpt from the Cover letter, Request for Pre-Filing Review, 4 November 2013.

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC
2800 Post Oak Boulevard (77056)
P.O. Box 1396
Houston, Texas 77251-1396
713/215-2000

November 4, 2013

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street, N.E.
Washington, D.C. 20426

Attention:Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
Reference:Request for Pre-Filing Review
Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC
Hillabee Expansion Project
Docket No. PF14-

Ladies and Gentlemen:

Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (“Transco”) respectfully requests that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“Commission”) Staff initiate a pre-filing review of Transco’s proposed Hillabee Expansion Project (sometimes referred to herein as the “Project”). The Project is an expansion of Transco’s existing natural gas transmission system in Alabama that will enable Transco to provide an approximate 1,131,730 dekatherms per day (“dt/day”) of incremental transportation capacity to be constructed in three phases. The capacity created by the Project will be leased to Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC (“Sabal Trail”). The initial phase of the Hillabee Expansion Project is targeted to be placed in service May 1, 2017.

Project Overview: Continue reading Williams Transco Hillabee Expansion Project PF14-6 to connect to Sabal Trail →