Tag Archives: invasion

Come and Take It: Make the pipeline company have to use eminent domain

Call the pipeline company’s bluff, says one landowner, and and at worst you’ll get a much better offer. At best, if enough people do it, the pipeline will become too expensive and won’t get built. Like the Texians at Gonzales, the Georgians at Fort Morris, and the Spartans at Thermopylae, we can stop an invasion, this time by peaceful means. Come and Take It!

Chip Northrup wrote for No Fracking Way 8 July 2013, COME AND TAKE IT — Why Forcing a Condemnation Is The Best Option,

Here is my laypersons view:

IF I SIGN:

1) I give away my right to sue.
2) I enter into a business deal with unknown future liabilities.
3) I have continuing extra insurance expense.

BY TELLING THEM to TAKE MY LAND: Continue reading Come and Take It: Make the pipeline company have to use eminent domain

Appeal to redacted FOIA –Beth Gordon

“If Sabal Trail and Spectra energy are not guilty of invasion of privacy, why isn’t the public need to know and educate equally if not more important?”

That’s the gist of Beth Gordon’s appeal of 12 January 2014 to FERC’s redacted landowner list in response to her FOIA request. Here’s more:

It is my opinion that there is no privacy interest in the mere name and mailing address of an individual, particularly where, as here, Sabal Trail and Spectra energy has already used them numerous times to send unsolicited letters, invitations, and demands to survey. If Sabal Trail and Spectra energy are not guilty of invasion of privacy, why isn’t the public need to know and educate equally if not more important? The public right to know who is affected, to become educated, and to understand what is at stake ought not to be left to a private energy corporation that stands to make millions of dollars by getting this project approved with the least amount of resistance from landowners. FERC’S refusal to release these names and mailing addresses ensures that Sabal Trail and Spectra Energy are the only ones with the ability to contact these individuals (which they have done numerous times) and “educate them” as to this particular pipeline project.

In the Act generally, and particularly under Exemption (6), there is a strong presumption in favor of disclosure.” Continue reading Appeal to redacted FOIA –Beth Gordon

Sloppy FOIA redaction from FERC for Sabal Trail pipeline landowners

FERC took a week to not supply what was requested in Beth Gordon’s FOIA, and apparently if you’ve organized your property under an LLC, your LLC name is visible on the redacted list, even if that name includes your personal name. Whose privacy is FERC protecting, anyway, now that all landowners along the proposed pipline path have had their privacy invaded by the pipeline company?

Here’s what Beth Gordon asked for 2 January 2014:

A list of each and every landowner in Florida contacted by Sabal Trail LLC by mail to inform them that they are on, or may be on, the proposed pipeline and/or proposed survey map for this project.

Here’s what FERC sent back 10 January 2014:

A redacted version of the Sabal Trails landowner list that was submitted to FERC of October 4, 2013 in docket number PF-14-1 has been previously released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA). This document is identified in the FERC e-library as accession number 20131004-5123 (Appendix B). Please find attached part 1 and part 2 of this redacted list. Additional emails will be provided with the remainder of this material. We will also provide a courtesy copy of the public cover letter for this submittal.

Appendix B of 20131004-5123 is marked on FERC’s website as:

You don’t have permission to access this document.
This document (eLibrary accession no. 20131004-5123) is Privileged.
The public may file a FOIA request under 18 C.F.R. 388.108.

Here are the four parts Continue reading Sloppy FOIA redaction from FERC for Sabal Trail pipeline landowners