Sabal Trail has backed off its end-of-October FERC filing target, now saying “sometime later this year”. Opposition is having some effects!
Robert Hudson wrote for alexcityOutlook.com 1 October 2014, in Tallapoosa County, Alabama, where Sabal Trail proposes to start its hundred-foot gouge through three states, Company preparing to submit natural gas pipeline application to FERC, Continue reading Sabal Trail delays formal FERC filing until “sometime later this year”
A Sabal Trail Open House in Albany, Dougherty County, GA Monday, then one in Jasper, Hamilton County, FL Tuesday. That’s the first two places in the route alternatives Sabal Trail just published. Does that mean Trenton, Gilchrist County, FL Wednesday and Kissimmee, Osceola County, FL Thursday? There is no published Open House schedule on sabaltrailtransmission.com or ferc.gov, so anybody who knows of more of these, let us know.
facebook event created today by Jen Maloney:
Sabal Trail “Open House”
Monday, October 20 at 5:00pm – 7:00pm
Hilton Garden Inn Albany Hotel
101 S Front St, Albany, Georgia 31701
The picture is by Continue reading Sabal Trail in Albany, GA 2014-10-20
A FERC comment period ending 15 November 2014 seems to mean
Sabal Trail will miss its 31 October formal filing date.
No relief suggested for crossing the Withlacoochee River at the border
of Brooks and Lowndes Counties, Georgia (or inside Lowndes County
next to Valdosta, according to
several of the previous alternatives).
And every proposed path still crosses the Suwannee River
into Suwannee County.
Maybe that’s because the Dougherty County Commission and the Albany City Council actually stood up for their citizens, as did Gilchrist County (see Wacassassa Flats Alternative), while the Suwannee County Commission swallowed Sabal Trail disinformation and the Lowndes County Commission and the Valdosta City Council did little (except one letter from the Chairman) or nothing (except one letter from one Council member).
There’s still time for Dougherty, Lowndes, and all the other
counties and cities
to pass ordinances, and to lobby state and federal agencies and
elected and appointed officials.
Oh, and there’s an election going on.
Also no mention of Sabal Trail’s Jasper, Florida Open House, 5-7:30 Tuesday 21 October 2014, but STT’s newspaper notice said the public is invited, so y’all come!
Filed with FERC today, 15 October 2014, Supplemental Notice of Intent to Prepare an Environment Impact Statement for the Planned Southeast Market Pipeline Project and Request for Comments on Environmental Issues etc. re Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC under PF14-1.
-jsq
Docket No. PF14-1-000
Continue reading Sabal Trail Notice of EIS Intent and Route Alternatives
Sabal Trail invites the public to an Open House about a Withlacoochee Alternative
that would avoid the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, Florida.
Update 2014-10-15: SpectraBusters facebook event and Sabal Trail new route alternatives filing.
Maybe you’d like to ask them how about avoiding the Withlacoochee River in Lowndes County, Georgia? Or about those three already-authorized LNG export operations right where that pipeline leads. How about why all seven proposed paths would cross the Suwannee River into Suwannee County, Florida? How about asking them not to cross the Santa Fe River, the Suwannee River, the Flint, or the Chattahoochee? Hm, that might mean there’s no path for their pipeline….
Tuesday, October 21, 2014
5:00pm — 7:30pm
Florida Gateway Golf & Country Club
8055 U.S. Highway 129 South, Jasper, Florida 32052
Most of it’s the usual STT boilerplate, plus this: Continue reading Sabal Trail invites you to an Open House in Jasper, Florida
You can
donate to SpectraBusters to
help stop the unnecessary, environmentally damaging,
and hazardous Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline,
and its siblings Transco Hillabee and FSC, too.
You can help pay for contacting landowners (so they’ll hear something more than pipeline company PR), for contacting the public with billboards (currently we’re aiming for I-75 southbound near Lake City), and other work, ranging from research possibly up to legal assistance. Donate online today!
And don’t forget to send an ecomment to FERC.
A third explosion in Missouri on Panhandle Eastern’s 200 Line in six years. Panhandle is the parent company of Florida Gas Transmission (FGT), famous for throwing a pipe across the Florida Turnpike in 2009, near a high school.
Chris Oberholtz wrote for KCTV5.com 13 October 2014, Emergency crews respond to pipeline rupture, fire near Centerview,
JOHNSON COUNTY, MO (KCTV) – Emergency crews are on the scene of a pipeline rupture and fire near Centerview, MO.
The location is Northwest 701 Road and Northwest Division Road. This is a rural area with no homes threatened.
Sandi Wilsom wrote for KMZU 100.7 FM 13 October 2014, Update: Report of Gas Pipe Explosion in Centerview, MO, Continue reading Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line explosion, Centerview, MO 2014-10-13
A 30-inch pipeline explosion was visible 30 miles away.
The 36-inch Sabal Trail pipeline would carry 44% more fracked methane
than that Panhandle Eastern Pipeline Company Line 400,
and could be even more destructive.
“The most intense, scared feeling I’ve ever felt in my life,”
said one witness.
Troy Diggs and Michelle Pekarsky reported for fox4kc.com 29 November 2013, Pipeline explosion sends fireball 300 feet into air, Continue reading 300-foot fireball near Hughesville, MO, Panhandle Eastern Pipeline 2013-11-29
Not in a High Consequence Area (HCA)?
Then a pipeline explosion may not even rate pictures on the news,
even if your house or field or forest or river is what explodes.
That’s what happened near Pilot Grove, Missouri 25 August 2008
on the Panhandle Eastern Pipeline 200 Line.
PHMSA, the so-called Pipeline and Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration, doesn’t actually know when the “impressed curent cathodic protection system” was energized, and doesn’t have the results of the last hydrostatic test, which was in 1955, 53 years before the pipeline corroded until it exploded. PHMSA’s Administrator just resigned, after continuing to let pipeline companies set the very definitions of accidents. Do you want to trust your air, water, property values, or safety to such an industry or such an agency?
Dennis Rich reported for the Sedalia Democrat 29 November 2013, Pipeline explodes near Hughesville,
Another Panhandle Eastern pipeline in the area ruptured on Aug. 25, 2008, near Pilot Grove in Cooper County and caused $1,046,359 in damages, according to a company pipeline failure investigation report.
Actually, it was Continue reading Pilot Grove, MO PEPL explosion 2008-08-25
After FPL visited it, the Suwannee County Commission decided they couldn’t do anything; nevermind that pipeline and fracking ordinances have worked in Pennsylvania and New York state, and there’s no reason to believe they wouldn’t in Florida. There’s still time for the Commissioners to stand up for the citizens of Suwannee County, Florida.
John S. Koch wrote for Suwannee Valley Times 8 October 2014, Sable Trail – Suwannee Commissioners say gas pipeline needed
The commission chairman noted that they have a copy of the resolution passed recently by the Hamilton County Commission addressing the issue as well as all the information about the Sable Trails Project released by the company handling the project. However, the board has taken no action one way or the other.
The key phrase in there seems to be “all the information about the Sable Trails Project released by the company handling the project”. Perhaps the Commission would like to dig a little deeper than information produced by the one company with the most vested interest in saying the pipeline is a great thing. This would be the same Chairman who denied his previous on-video Sabal Trail comments after he heard from FPL.
Phil Oxendine has a problem with the pipeline but not for safety concerns but rather political reasons. “We are overseas right now and that reason is because of our need for oil and the sooner we get away from that use the better we all will be.” Oxendine also feels it is not in the best interest of the country to export the gas but that is an entirely different issue he said.
Nevermind the Continue reading Suwannee County Commission swallows Sabal Trail misinformation
The AP finally picked up on opposition, newspapers and TV stations from San Francisco to Washington, DC and from Utah and Chicago to Miami picked up the AP story that same day, including Spectra Energy’s home town of Houston, Texas, plus Canada and New Zealand, followed by the Valdosta Daily Times today, for at least 27 stories total.
Ray Henry wrote for AP Saturday 11 October 2014, New $3.7B gas line proposed for Ala., Ga., Fla.,
ATLANTA (AP)—A proposal to build a $3.7 billion pipeline system carrying natural gas into Florida is raising complaints from Georgia residents—including media mogul Ted Turner—who say they’d face environmental costs while others get the benefits.
He quoted Gloria Gaines of Albany. He also mentioned Duke’s proposed Citrus County plant without mentioning that Duke has repeatedly said it doesn’t need Sabal Trail. And he didn’t mention LNG export. But he did list quite a few opponents, and he included this:
NextEra, Spectra or their related political committees have donated several thousand dollars to politicians, including Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley and Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal.
Picking up the AP story that same day were: Continue reading Sabal Trail opposition gets national media attention