Tag Archives: LNG export

Fracked gas through Sabal Trail to Japan

October 7, 2014Alabama, Economy, Florida, Fracking, Georgia, LNG, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West VirginiaAlabama, Atlantic Sunrise, Cove Point, Economy, Florida, Fracking, Georgia, John S. Quarterman, LNG, LNG export, Maryland, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Utica Shale, West VirginiaJohn S. Quarterman

New pipelines are to push fracked methane to export for profit, as fossil fuel industry analysts spell out, specifically describing a path from fracking through Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise and Transco pipelines and Spectra and NextEra’s Sabal Trail pipeline, and then naming Cove Point LNG export.

Chris Pedersen wrote for OilPrice.com 5 October 2014, Utica Boosts U.S. Natural Gas Production To Record Levels,

To find a market for both Marcellus and Utica gas production, existing pipelines are finding creative ways to move growing sources of gas, while new pipelines are proposed to take larger quantities of gas from large interstate pipelines such as the TRANSCO line. Williams’ new “Atlantic Sunrise” pipeline will connect Marcellus and Utica gas from its TRANSCO line. Sabal Trail LLC, a JV of Spectra and NextEra Energy have proposed to build the “Sabal Trail” pipeline, which would connect with TRANSCO. With the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s recent approval of the Cove Point LNG plant, it is not farfetched to imagine India or Japan producing electricity from Utica gas by the end of the decade.

Sure, that paragraph doesn’t say Continue reading Fracked gas through Sabal Trail to Japan →

FPL to purchase NextEra gas fracking subsidiary in Oklahoma

August 30, 2014Alabama, Economy, Ethics, FE, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Hazards, LNG, Martin County, SolarAlabama, Debra Johnson, Economy, Ethics, FE, FERC, FL PSC, Florida, Florida Southeast Connection, Floridian LNG, FPL, FSC, Georgia, Hazards, John S. Quarterman, LNG, LNG export, Martin County, NextEra Energy, NextEra Energy Gas Producing, NextEra Energy Resources, Oklahoma, PetroQuest, Riviera Beach, Sabal Trail Transmission, solar, SpectraBusters, Transco, Williams Company, Woodford Shale, WSGP Gas ProducingJohn S. Quarterman

FPL integrated ownership of fracking and pipelines to LNG export for its profit, at the expense of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida landowners, U.S. natural gas customers, and of course FPL ratepayers: that’s what FPL is hoping to wrap up at the Florida PSC.

FPL wants to buy the 50% its parent NextEra Energy bought of “independent” PetroQuest’s Oklahoma fracking operation back in 2010 before FPL put out its December 2012 RFP for what ended up being the Transco -> Sabal Trail -> FSC methane pipeline to Martin County, Florida, plus an FPL pipeline from there to the sea at Riviera Beach. where meanwhile three LNG export operations have been authorized and a fourth LNG export operation has reqeusted a permit from FERC.

FPL’s PR of 25 June 2014 doesn’t mention most of the above, not even that NextEra already owns half of PetroQuest’s Oklahoma fracking operation. FPL proposes innovative plan to invest in natural gas to save customers millions of dollars and lower long-term fuel costs, Continue reading FPL to purchase NextEra gas fracking subsidiary in Oklahoma →

Timeline: Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline has no permit yet

August 12, 2014Alabama, Compressor, Economy, Environment, Ethics, FE, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Hazard, Hazards, Kentucky, Law, LNG, New YorkAlabama, Economy, EIS, environment, Environmental Impact Statment, Ethics, FERC, Florida, Florida Southeast Connection, FPL, FSC, Georgia, Hazards, Hillabee Expansion Project, intervenor, John S. Quarterman, Law, LNG export, permit, process, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, timeline, Transco, WilliamsJohn S. Quarterman

Spectra, FPL, and Williams have not even formally filed with FERC for pipeline permits yet, and that process usually takes about a year. Permitting confusion benefits Spectra about its Sabal Trail Transmission 36-inch hundred-foot-right-of-way fracked methane pipeline, because people don’t know what they can do. You can file ecomments right now, and show up and protest. As soon as the pipeline company files for the formal permit process, you can file as an intervenor, which gives you legal rights to be heard, file legal briefs, and to appeal. Plus many state and local permits also have to be filed, and people can participate in those processes. Even if there ever is a FERC permit, a landowner who makes the pipeline company actually go through the eminent domain process will very likely get a better deal. If enough landowners say Come and Take It, the whole thing may become uneconomical for Spectra, as for Williams Company when it cancelled the Bluegrass Pipeline in Kentucky.

FERC’s Pre-Filing Process

Spectra and Williams and FPL are currently in the pre-filing process with FERC, Continue reading Timeline: Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline has no permit yet →

Sabal Trail admits environmental destruction to Valdosta newspaper

July 27, 2014Environment, Ethics, FE, Florida, Georgia, Law, LNG, Lowndes County, TreesAndrea Grover, environment, Ethics, FE, Florida, FPL, Georgia, John S. Quarterman, Law, LNG, LNG export, Lowndes County, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Trees, Valdost, Valdosta Daily Times, VDTJohn S. Quarterman

Spectra’s Andrea Grover admitted trees don’t grow back fast, a “need to draw that line in the sand” and “we’re now moving forward”. This is the kind of “working with the landowners and the communities” that the Valdosta Daily Times found when it went to the local Sabal Trail office. STT plans to file with FERC at the end of October. But Spectra’s Andrea Grover admitted they need complete survey data, and Sabal Trail admitted they have no Georgia customers, which means they have no Georgia eminent domain, so every landowner who refuses is indeed putting a crimp into Spectra’s fracked methane pipeline.

Matthew Woody wrote for the VDT 27 July 2014, Sabal Trail explains its position, Continue reading Sabal Trail admits environmental destruction to Valdosta newspaper →

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 →

LNG exports worse than coal –U.S DoE

June 12, 2014Environment, FE, Law, Leak, LNG, Solar, WaterChina, environment, FE, John S. Quarterman, Law, leak, LNG, LNG export, Office of Fossil Energy, Sabal Trail Transmission, solar, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

The same Office of Fossil Energy (FE) that authorizes LNG exports now reports that methane leaks from fracking wells and pipelines are at least as bad for the climate as CO2 from coal. Add to that the destruction of private property rights, wetlands and forests, and overuse and contamination of groundwater, and fracked methane is a disaster. Plus it diverts resources that could be used to go straight to solar and wind power.

Steven Mufson wrote for the Washington Post 9 June 2014, Exporting U.S. natural gas isn’t as “clean” as you think,

The report is titled “Life Cycle Greenhouse Gas Perspective on Exporting Liquefied Natural Gas from the United States.”

It says the benefits of cleaner, more efficient combustion of natural gas are largely offset by methane leakage in U.S. production and pipelines and by methane leaks and energy used in the process of liquefying and transporting the LNG. In the case of shipping LNG from the U.S. gulf coast to Shanghai, the greenhouse gas benefits could in some cases be completely offset by those factors when measured over a 20-year period, the report says.

The Energy Department report was released Continue reading LNG exports worse than coal –U.S DoE →

Sierra Club petition against TPP

April 29, 2014Alabama, Economy, Environment, Florida, Georgia, LNGAlabama, China, Economy, EFF, Electronic Frontier Foundation, environment, Florida, Free Trade Agreement, FTA, Georgia, Government, intellectual property, John S. Quarterman, LNG, LNG export, SpectraBusters, TPP, Trans-Pacific PartnershipJohn S. Quarterman

Sierra Club has a petition to stop Congressional fast-track for the Trans-Pacific Parternership (TPP), and that will probably stop the TPP, because in regular Congressional hearings the parts that have been kept secret would get exposed, which would make TPP very hard to approve. Look at what Wikileaks found in the TPP environment chapter, and in the intellectual property chapter. The U.S. is apparently lobbying for criminal offenses for even unintentional infringements of “copyright, related rights and trademarks” Yet there are no criminal sanctions for destroying our environment, and the draft TPP text even points out:

On the other hand, WTO rules do allow members to derogate from their obligations in some cases, for instance where a measure is aimed at the conservation of natural resources, provided certain conditions are met.

Do we want corporate profit to override our clean water and air and native plants and animals, not to mention our property rights?

Here’s the Sierra Club petition: The Trans-Pacific Partnership could leave a big fracking mess!

The TPP is being pushed by Continue reading Sierra Club petition against TPP →

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

April 28, 2014Alabama, Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Economy, Environment, FE, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Gilchrist County, Hazards, LNG, Lowndes County, Safety, Solar, WaterAlabama, aquifer, China, Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Economy, environment, FE, FERC, Florida, Floridan Aquifer, FPL, FTA, Georgia, Gilchrist County, gopher tortoise, Hazards, Houston, John S. Quarterman, Juno Beach, LNG, LNG export, Lowndes County, Port Dolphin, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, solar, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, TPP, TTIP, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

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 →

FERC gets an earful in Florida

March 27, 2014Environment, FERC, Florida, Hazards, Law, Marion County, Safetyenvironment, FERC, Florida, Hazards, John S. Quarterman, Law, LNG export, Marion County, Safety, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

FERC’s John Peconom admitted FERC staff had never recommended denying a pipeline permit, and again admitted that the Commission had only ever denied two. He got an earful from local citizens in Marion County, Florida last night. The last FERC Scoping Meeting is tonight at the Citrus Tower in Clermont, Lake County, Florida.

Bill Thompson wrote for the Ocala StarBanner yesterday, Regulators get an earful over planned gas pipeline,

DUNNELLON — The last time an energy company installed its lines across Frank Atkins’ family’s property, grave markers in a family-owned cemetery were displaced.

The 85-year-old said that after Florida Power Corp. came through in the 1960s, he could not find the burial plot holding his mother, who died giving birth to him.

Now that a natural gas pipeline is slated to pass through his Citrus County land, Atkins said he’s concerned the one-acre cemetery, where more family members are buried, Continue reading FERC gets an earful in Florida →