Tag Archives: John S. Quarterman

Farmers counter-sue Spectra over British Columbia pipeline

July 6, 2014British Columbia, Law, LNGBritish Columbia, Chilliwack, corn, farmers, Fraser Valley, Fraser Valley Association of Pipeline Landowners, FVAPL, Gary Weilinger, Gord Mitchell, Ian Sparkes, John S. Quarterman, Law, LNG, LNG export, National Energy Board, NEB, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Tom Baumann, University of the Fraser Valley, Westcoast, Westcoast EnergyJohn S. Quarterman

Pipeline suit and countersuit in British Columbia! Spectra Energy sued six Chilliwack farmers (east of Vancouver) and the farmers countersued. Which sounds quite a bit like what’s happening three thousand miles southeast of there in Leesburg, GA this Thursday July 10th, where a group of farmers is countersuing Spectra for trespass. Spectra is telling the same joke in both cases: the vast majority of landowners are for the pipeline, and opponents are only a few outliers. Troublesome farmers, not wanting their crops destroyed without even any compensation, imagine that! Those pesky outliers in Canada have delayed mighty Spectra a year already.

Alina Konevski wrote for Chilliwack Progress 11 June 2013, Farmers defiant as gas company demands access,

Members of the Fraser Valley Association of Pipeline Landowners, led by president Gord Mitchell, want a stringent contract with Spectra Energy before the company enters their land to replace an outdated pipeline under their fields.

Negotiations have failed. Mitchell was served Continue reading Farmers counter-sue Spectra over British Columbia pipeline →

Duke Citrus County methane plant Open House 2014-07-10

July 5, 2014Citrus County, FloridaCitrus County, Crystal River, Duke Energy, Florida, John S. Quarterman, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

Duke Energy to hold Crystal River, FL gas plant meeting same day as Leesburg, GA pipeline hearing.

Curiously Duke is not calling it the Crystal River plant, even though it’s right next to Duke’s failed Crystal River nuke. Duke first said this plant would get its gas from the Sabal Trail pipeline and then said nevermind, that wouldn’t be needed, even though Sabal Trail has a Citrus County offshoot pipeline as part of its $3 billion project. Now this letter says it’s Sabal Trail fracked methane for Duke again. Hey, instead, why not build solar power in the Sunshine State?

Some landowners are getting a letter like the one pictured. It’s basically the same as this Duke Energy PR of 16 June 2014, Open house scheduled on proposed combined-cycle natural gas plant in Citrus County, Fla., Continue reading Duke Citrus County methane plant Open House 2014-07-10 →

Elba Island, GA LNG export

July 5, 2014Chatham County, Effingham County, FERC, Georgia, LNGChatham County, Effingham County, El Paso Pipeline Partners, FERC, Georgia, John S. Quarterman, KinderMorgan, LNG, Sabal Trail Transmission, Shell, Spectra Energy, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

In case you thought LNG export was only for Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Massachusetts, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia, the fossil fuel companies want to push fracked methane out through Georgia, too. KinderMorgan’s Elba Island LNG export terminal, with its north-to-south Elba Island Express pipeline project, is already in the formal permitting process at FERC. And it could easily interconnect with Sabal Trail to get its fracked methane.

KinderMorgan’s Elba Liquefaction Project & EEC Modification Project, announced by Shell 28 January 2013, Shell and Kinder Morgan announce plans to export LNG from the United States, by El Paso Pipeline Partners LP, picked up by Alison Sider in the WSJ 19 December 2013, El Paso, Shell Unit Will Expand Elba Island LNG Project: $500 Million Expansion to Export More Gas from Terminal Near Savannah, Ga, and written up by Mary Landers for Savannahnow.com 14 March 2014, LNG export project moves forward,

Plans continue for $1.5 billion-worth of development at Elba Island to allow the liquefied natural gas import facility to reverse its processes and export the fuel. Southern LNG and Elba Liquefaction Co. filed a formal application for the project with federal regulators earlier this week.

The facility currently Continue reading Elba Island, GA LNG export →

Sustainable Spectra? Like healthy cigarettes?

July 5, 2014Colquitt County, Economy, Environment, Ethics, Florida, Georgia, Gilchrist County, Hazards, Lowndes County, Marion County, Solar, TreesAndrea Grover, Brian Fahrenthold, cigarettes, Colquitt County, Dunnellon, Economy, environment, Ethics, Florida, Georgia, Gilchrist County, Greg Ebel, Hazards, John S. Quarterman, Lowndes County, Marion County, methane, Moultrie, Sabal Trail Transmission, solar, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, sustainabile, Tobacco, Trees, Trenton, Valdosta, windJohn S. Quarterman

What company prints its sustainability report on wind-powered paper, yet pipes a greenhouse gas 20 times worse than CO₂? Yep, it’s Spectra Energy, also bragging about how respectful they are to Sabal Trail “stakeholders”. Selling fracked methane through a 36-inch pipe in a hundred-foot gash through forests and wetlands with a thousand-foot explosive radius is like selling cigarettes and claiming you’re for good health. Tobacco companies can’t get away with that any more, and why should fossil fuel companies?

On the very last page of a 16-page report, 2013 Sustainability Highlights Report, Spectra Energy says:

This paper is manufactured using clean, renewable wind-power energy and carbon offsets for additional savings.

That’s the only mention of wind or renewable energy in the document, while solar power is not mentioned even once.

And look at Spectra’s Purpose on page 2: Continue reading Sustainable Spectra? Like healthy cigarettes? →

WALB in Albany, GA notices New England Spectra pipeline plans

July 3, 2014Dougherty County, FERC, Georgia, Maine, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Nova ScotiaAlbany, Algonquin, Bill Yardley, Dougherty County, EIA, FERC, Georgia, John S. Quarterman, Maine, Maritimes, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, New England, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Nova Scotia, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, WALBJohn S. Quarterman

A Spectra is haunting New England and the Canadian Maritimes, as well as the U.S. southeast, seeking every market for its fracked methane pipelines, sliming lands along the way. Local media are starting to pay attention to the big picture, not just the local hauntings, such as Spectra’s proposed Sabal Trail Transmission 36-inch 100-foot right of way gash through the southeast. Spectra didn’t say, but those markets could include LNG export from Excelerate Energy’s Northeast Gateway in Massachusetts Bay or the proposed Goldboro LNG export terminal in Nova Scotia. If LNG export happens, the price of “natural” gas in the U.S. and Canada will go up.

WALB TV in Albany, GA ran this PR from Spectra Energy 1 July 2014, Spectra Energy Announces Plans to Further Expand New England Pipeline Systems; Continue reading WALB in Albany, GA notices New England Spectra pipeline plans →

Spectra Pipeline into Southern Swamps –Earth First!

June 30, 2014EPA, FERC, FloridaEarth First!, EPA, FERC, Florida, FPL, Hendry County, John S. Quarterman, Sabal Trail Transmission, Seminole, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, swampJohn S. Quarterman

Opposition from the south end of the proposed pipeline route, from a group that has been opposing FPL fracked methane power plants since 2008.

Panagioti wrote for Earth First! Newswire 6 April 2014, Spectra Seeks Approval to Send Gas Pipeline into the Southern Swamps,

What would you do if a corporation got permits to build a time bomb on your land?

Rural communities across Alabama, Georgia and Florida are joining the chorus of people asking this all-too-familiar question.

But resistance to proposed fossil fuel pipelines has been growing… almost as frequent as the steady stream of disasters from existing pipelines.

New York, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Texas, Oklahoma, Michigan, B.C., Ontario…. Each Continue reading Spectra Pipeline into Southern Swamps –Earth First! →

Norman Bay new FERC Chair?

June 29, 2014FERC, Solarattorney, chair, Energy and Natural Resources Committee, FERC, John Barrasso, John S. Quarterman, Jon Wellinghoff, New Mexico, Norman Bay, Senate, solar, SpectraBusters, WyomingJohn S. Quarterman

The fossil fuel industries that fund FERC also control enough Senate seats to make approving a non-fracking FERC chair very difficult. Did they just do so?

Michael Coleman wrote for the Albequerque Journal 18 June 2014, Senate committee approves NM’s Norman Bay to lead FERC,

Norman Bay, a former U.S. Attorney in New Mexico and University of New Mexico School of Law professor, won support from a key Senate panel today in his bid to become head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, but not without some significant objections from committee members.

The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 13-9 to approve President Obama’s nomination of Bay to the powerful regulatory post.

That article has various verbiage about how well Bay knows energy. But why did it take so long to find a replacement after former FERC Chair Jon Wellinghoff resigned last November? Wellinghoff resigned after allegations Continue reading Norman Bay new FERC Chair? →

150-foot flames from methane pipeline explosion in east Texas 2014-06-26

June 29, 2014Explosion, Hazards, LNG, Texascompressor, East Bernard, Enterprise Products, explosion, export, Hazards, injury, John S. Quarterman, Kinder Morgan, LNG, SpectraBusters, Texas, Wharton CountyJohn S. Quarterman

An explosion from the much larger proposed Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline could be much worse. And remember, much of this toxic fossil fuel pushing through leaking veins throughout the country is for export to other countries, to profit a few companies at locals’ expense. Maybe you’d like to come to Leesburg, GA to say a few words about that.

ABC 13 Eyewitness News wrote 26 June 2014, Gas line explosion sends 150-foot flames up in air,

EAST BERNARD, TX (KTRK) — Authorities are investigating an gas explosion near a compressor plant just west of East Bernard in Wharton County.

It happened at FM 1164 just south of Highway 59.

According to the Office of Emergency Management, a gas line adjacent to the Kinder Morgan compressor plant blew out, destroying the roadway and catching a nearby truck on fire. Flames as has as 150 feet were shooting out of the blaze.

One person suffered a minor injury and was transported to Oak Bend Hospital in stable condition.
Continue reading 150-foot flames from methane pipeline explosion in east Texas 2014-06-26 →

Peaceful Assembly at Pipeline Trial, Leesburg, GA, July 10th 2014

June 27, 2014Georgia, Law, Lee County, PRassembly, First Amendment, Georgia, hearing, John S. Quarterman, Law, Lee County, outliers, petition, PR, redress of grievances, Sabal Trail Transmission, SpectraBusters, trialJohn S. Quarterman

A landowner is suing Sabal Trail Transmission for going on their land after being told not to. It’s a public hearing, so interested parties can come from anywhere to attend in a peaceful, lawful assembly.

Update 2014-07-08: See press release.

If the place or date gets changed, everyone is invited to come anyway. , PDF

Date:	Thursday 10 July 2014
Times:	10AM assemble outside 11AM hearing inside
Where:	Lee County Courthouse 100 Leslie Highway Leesburg, Georgia 31763
Case:	Sabal Trail Transmission v. James E. Bell II and Robert Bell Case number 14CV208RS
What:	Alabamians, Georgians, Floridians, and everyone opposed to this unnecessary fracked methane pipeline, here is an opportunity to show you don’t want this hazardous destruction of the environment and property rights so a few companies can profit at everyone else’s expense.