Tag Archives: ordinance

Citrus County FL passes ordinance banning fracking 2016-06-14

June 15, 2016Citrus County, Florida, Fracking, LawCitrus County, Florida, Fracking, John S. Quarterman, Law, ordinance, Our Santa Fe River, Sierra Club, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

Not just a resolution, an ordinance, which is a law: no fracking in Citrus County, Florida.

Jim Tatum, Our Santa Fe River, 14 June 2016, Citrus County Approves Fracking Ban,

Commissioners Dennis Damato, Ronald Kitchen, Joe Meek, Scott Adams, and Scott Carnahan unanimously passed a ban-fracking ordinance. The ordinance was amended to include all the county, both incorporated and non-incorporated areas, skillfully inserted by the able and prepared county attorney Denise A. Dymond Lyn.

The text of the ordinance is Continue reading Citrus County FL passes ordinance banning fracking 2016-06-14 →

Fracking and pipeline bans start at the local level

July 15, 2015Fracking, Georgia, Jefferson County, LNG, New York, Pennsylvaniaban, Fracking, Georgia, Jefferson County, John S. Quarterman, Kinder Morgan, KMI, LNG, New York, ordinance, Palmetto Pipeline, Pennsylvania, pipeline, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

Local ordinances lead to state laws banning fracking and pipelines. And don’t forget Sabal Trail has to get permits from the Georgia Department of Transportation for road crossings and an air quality permit from the Georgia Environmental Protection Division for the Albany compressor station, or no pipeline. There is plenty local, state, and federal elected officials can do to stop this invading fracked methane destruction and hazard. Rev. Ezekiel Holly called on local officials to act. Here are some ways how.

How about a county ordinance rooted in the Comprehensive Plan? A local ordinance was used by Jefferson County, Florida to keep Nestle out of the same Floridan Aquifer. Local ordinances have been used in Pennsylvania to stop pipelines, and upheld by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Local ordinances were used across New York State to ban fracking, and upheld by the state Court of Appeals, until the state government finally took up the cause and banned fracking statewide.

Now New York state residents are saying Continue reading Fracking and pipeline bans start at the local level →

New York State to ban fracking

December 17, 2014Fracking, Hazards, Health, Law, New York, Safety, WaterAir, ban, Fracking, Hazards, Health, John S. Quarterman, Law, New York, ordinance, Safety, SpectraBusters, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

Fossil fuels are going down, as the third most populous U.S. state follows the lead of dozens of its local governments and bans fracking. The sun is rising.

Jesse McKinley, New York Times, today 17 December 2014, Cuomo to Ban Fracking in New York State, Citing Health Risks,

The Cuomo administration announced Wednesday that it would ban hydraulic fracturing in New York State, ending years of uncertainty by concluding that the controversial method of extracting gas from deep underground could contaminate the state’s air and water and pose inestimable public-health risks.

“I cannot support high volume hydraulic fracturing in the great state of New York,” said Howard Zucker, the acting commissioner of health.

That conclusion was delivered Continue reading New York State to ban fracking →

It don’t pass the smell test: FPL’s extra natural gas pipeline –SpectraBusters

October 9, 2014Alabama, EPA, FE, FERC, Florida, Fracking, Georgia, Hazards, LNGAlabama, British Columbia, Duke Energy, eminent domain, EPA, FE, FERC, Florida, Florida Southeast Connection, FPL, Fracking, FSC, Georgia, Greg Ebel, Hazards, John S. Quarterman, LNG, NextEra Energy, ordinance, Oregon, Paula Gant, permit, public benefit, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Tony Clark, Transco, Washington, Williams CompanyJohn S. Quarterman

FPL wants federal eminent domain to gouge a hundred-foot right of way for a yard-wide fracked methane pipeline through Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, claiming Florida needs new power. That don’t pass the smell test.
http://spectrabusters.org/2014/09/14/we-grow-increasingly-concerned-dougherty-county-commission-to-ferc/

Nationwide electricity demand continues to decline, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reminded the pipeline-permitting Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in April. EPA asked FPL why it couldn’t implement conservation, efficiency, compressed gas storage, or other energy sources. http://spectrabusters.org/2014/04/23/explain-why-the-gas-is-needed-epa-to-ferc/#decreasing-electricity-sales

FPL projected 13% electricity demand increase in its 2014 ten-year plan to the Florida Public Service Commission (FL PSC). A third pipeline would be a 50% increase. Why? http://spectrabusters.org/2014/04/24/fpls-own-projections-dont-support-need-for-a-new-pipeline/

Sabal Trail, the pipeline joint venture of FPL and Spectra Energy of Houston, claims Duke Energy needs Continue reading It don’t pass the smell test: FPL’s extra natural gas pipeline –SpectraBusters →

Action letter to County Commissioners against Sabal Trail pipeline

September 2, 2014Economy, Environment, Florida, History, Law, Suwannee County, WaterDebra Johnson, Economy, environment, Florida, History, Law, ordinance, resolution, sinkhole, subsidence, Suwannee Alliance for Sustainable Growth, Suwannee County, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

Update 2014-09-12: Still more signatures.
Update 2014-09-08: Still more signatures.
Update 2014-09-07: More signatures.

Debra Johnson posted this on the Suwannee Alliance For Sustainable Growth facebook group 1 September 2014:

SABAL TRAIL PIPELINE ACTION NEEDED—If you desire add your signature to this multi-group email please enter it in the comment section.This email will be sent from SAFSG and other groups to BOCC officials here and in surrounding counties. It is available for use anywhere Sabal Trail pipeline is a threat—Simply change the county and/or state name in the body. We will start sending it out Tuesday Sept. 2nd. You should read it even if you do not sign as it contains important information.

The Suwannee County, FL Commission meets today, 2 September 2014. When does yours meet? Here is contact information for Florida counties. Here is contact information for Georgia and Alabama county commissions and city councils along the proposed pipeline path, as well as for state and federal elected officials. Remember also to comment with FERC on docket # PF14-1. Here’s the letter. -jsq

Dear Commissioner,

We are sure that you have heard of the Sabal Trail/Spectra Energy Pipeline and the resolution passed by Hamilton County BOCC August 22, 2014, to prohibit its path through the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County (link below). It appears that that resolution has been successful. But the problem has not gone away in that Sabal Trail has already sent FERC and Rep. Ted Yoho a letter suggesting that they move the pipeline yet again! (link below).

We would also like to bring to your attention to other local government actions that have been implemented to protect the citizens of those counties. Our hope is that your county government will consider adopting one of these strategies in this crucial effort to protect their citizens, water, land, etc. from this gas pipeline which will provide zero benefit to the people of Florida Continue reading Action letter to County Commissioners against Sabal Trail pipeline →

Who funds FERC?

May 4, 2014Economy, FERC, Lawaccountability, Commerce and Energy, Congress, Economy, Energy and Power, Ethics, FERC, fossil fuels, funding, H.R. 6, independence, John S. Quarterman, Law, ordinance, oversight, regulation, regulatory capture, Sabal Trail Transmission, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

If you guessed the taxpayers, as I did, nope. On FERC’s own About FERC web page:

The Commission is funded through costs recovered by the fees and annual charges from the industries it regulates.

To make it even richer, the sentence before that reads:

There is no review of FERC decisions by the President or Congress, maintaining FERC’s independence as a regulatory agency, and providing for fair and unbiased decisions.

But FERC’s web page says nothing about FERC’s independence from the industries it regulates.

Here’s Investopedia’s definition of regulatory capture:

Regulatory capture happens when a regulatory agency, formed to act in the public’s interest, eventually acts in ways that benefit the industry it is supposed to be regulating, rather than the public.

Maybe that’s why Continue reading Who funds FERC? →