Tag Archives: SpectraBusters

Petition Florida Congress members to oppose Sabal Trail

January 25, 2016Florida, Safety, SolarFlint Riverkeeper, Florida, Government, Green Swamp, Gulf Restoration Network, John S. Quarterman, Safety, Santa Fe River, Sierra Club, solar, SpectraBusters, Suwannee River, WWALSJohn S. Quarterman

It’s time for Florida members of Congress to join the four Georgia Congressmen who have told FERC to fix its broken process or deny a permit for Sabal Trail.

Citizens of Florida can petition their members of Congress either by:

Printing and signing a PDF petition from the website of WWALS Watershed Coalition. (Petitions for Georgia and Alabama are also on there.)
Signing online a form put up by Gulf Restoration Network that will send directly to your members of Congress.

SpectraBusters continues to assist these and an increasing Continue reading Petition Florida Congress members to oppose Sabal Trail →

Atlantic Sunrise pipeline in Penn. same problems as Sabal Trail

January 18, 2016Alabama, Florida, Fracking, Georgia, Law, LNG, PennsylvaniaAlabama, Atlantic Sunrise, Chris Hedges, Cove Point LNG export, Elba Island LNG export, Florida, Fracking, Georgia, Hillabee Expansion Project, John S. Quarterman, Lancaster Against Pipelines, Lancaster County, LAP, Law, LNG, Mark Clatterbuck, Pennsylvania, SpectraBusters, Thomas Linzey, Williams CompanyJohn S. Quarterman

First the good news: a Pennsylvania pipeline protester had all charges dismissed for videoing license plates at a pipeline construction site. All of those plates were from out of state: so much for pipeline company promises of local construction jobs. Much else going on in Pennsylvania sounds very familiar.

Tom Knapp, LancasterOnline, 13 November 2015, Pipeline protester not guilty of disorderly conduct for filming at construction site,

Mark Clatterbuck, a Martic Township resident and professor of religion at Montclair State University in New Jersey, was issued a summons by state police after videotaping out-of-state license plates of subcontractors working at the Williams Gas pipeline project.

The incident occurred Continue reading Atlantic Sunrise pipeline in Penn. same problems as Sabal Trail →

Hike to the Suwannee River with Sierra Club against Sabal Trail – Jan. 16, 2016

January 11, 2016Florida, PR, Suwannee CountyFGT, Florida, Florida Gas Transmission, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Expansion Project, JEP, John S. Quarterman, Maryvonne Devensky, OSFR, Our Santa Fe River, PR, river, Sabal Trail Transmission, Santa Fe River, Sierra Club, SpectraBusters, Suwannee River, Suwannee River State Park, Suwannee-St Johns Group, WWALSJohn S. Quarterman

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Live Oak, FL, January 12, 2016 — Stepping up its support for local and larger groups opposing the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline, this Saturday Sierra Club is hosting a meeting culminating in a hike to the Suwannee River to see where Spectra Energy of Houston, Texas proposes to drill under the iconic Suwannee River into Suwannee River State Park. Media are invited to see people from Florida and south Georgia stand up for our rivers and our Floridan Aquifer.

When: Saturday, 16 January 2016 – 11 AM with hike at 1 PM

Where: Suwannee River State Park

3621 201st Path, Live Oak, FL

15 miles west of Live Oak on US 90 Continue reading Hike to the Suwannee River with Sierra Club against Sabal Trail – Jan. 16, 2016 →

No Fracked Gas Florida –Harriet Heywood

January 10, 2016Economy, Florida, Fracking, Pennsylvania, Politics, Safety, Texas, WaterEconomy, Florida, Florida League of Women Voters, Florida Petroleum Council, Fracking, Ft. Myers, Gasland, Harriet Heywood, Jimmie T Smith, John S. Quarterman, Naples, Orlando, Pennsylvania, Politics, Ray Wesley Rodrigues, Safety, Senator Garrett Richter, SpectraBusters, Susquehanna County, Texas, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

Wouldn’t it be convenient for fossil fuel profits if the Sabal Trail pipeline was already in place and they started fracking? Received today as a comment on Strom LNG Processing & Export In The Public Interest? What About Solar & Other Clean Energy Alternatives?; the content is the opinion of the author undersigned below. -jsq

The health of the people and the water of the state of Florida are being auctioned off by a block of elected politicians backed by big oil company lobbyists. And our House representative is one of them.

September 17, the Florida League of Women voters called a town hall in the Orlando area to address public concerns over industry plans to practice hydraulic acid fracturing on our fragile limestone aquifers. Not coincidentally, HB 191, and SB 318, bills that call for preempting Home Rule laws, for the express purpose of greasing the skids for fracking in Florida, were quietly introduced that same day by Rep Ray Wesley Rodrigues, Ft. Myers and Senator Garrett Richter, Naples.

The bill is backed by Continue reading No Fracked Gas Florida –Harriet Heywood →

The LNG export shell game: FERC, FE, MARAD, or NEB?

January 9, 2016British Columbia, Economy, Ethics, FE, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Law, LNG, MARAD, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Nova Scotia, Oregon, Solar, Suwannee County, Texas, WaterAES, Bahamas, Big Bend, boondoggle, British Columbia, Calypso LNG, Coos Bay, Cove Point LNG, Economy, Elba Island LNG, Ethics, FE, FERC, Florida, FPL, Georgia, greed, Hudson River, Jacksonville Expansion Project, Jaxport, JEP, John S. Quarterman, Kinder Morgan, KMI, Law, LNG, Manhattan, MARAD, Maryland, Mexico, NE, NextEra Energy, Nova Scotia, Ocean Express, Oregon, Oregon LNG export, Port Dolphin, Port Everglades, profit, Rio Grande, Sabal Trail Transmission, shell game, solar, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Strom, Suwannee County, Suwannee River, Texas, WaterJohn S. Quarterman

If you’re a Houston fossil fuel company and you can’t get FERC approval fast enough, try FE, or MARAD! If that doesn’t work, ship it by land through Canada or Mexico! Local property rights, they laugh at those! Rio Grande, Suwannee River, or Hudson River: just minor obstacles to greed! If the people are tired of profit being more important than their land, water, air, or safety, it’s time to stop this fossil fuel shell game.

MARAD

Continue reading →

Where in Suwannee County is the KMI JAX Expansion Project?

January 8, 2016Compressor, Florida, LNG, Safety, Suwannee CountyBradford County, Clay County, Columbia County, compressor, Duval County, Florida, Hildreth, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Expansion Project, John S. Quarterman, Kinder Morgan, KMI, Live Oak, LNG, O'Brien, population, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, St Johns River, Suwannee County, Suwannee River, Union CountyJohn S. Quarterman

Where does this KMI natural gas project start, and where would it connect to Sabal Trail? Back in March 2015, FERC gave Kinder Morgan docket CP15-144 for its Jacksonville Expansion Project, to ship “natural” gas from Suwannee County to Jacksonville, where Jaxport is gearing up for liquid natural gas (LNG) export. KMI’s FERC application explicitly says Sabal Trail can connect if it wants to, and it turns out Sabal Trail’s own Suwannee County map gives us the answer, once we interpret it: Continue reading Where in Suwannee County is the KMI JAX Expansion Project? →

NextEra invests in solar while its subsidiary FPL promotes fracked methane Sabal Trail

January 7, 2016Florida, Fracking, Okeechobee County, Oklahoma, SolarFlorida, Florida Power and Light, Florida Southeast Connection, FPL, Fracking, Indian River County, John S. Quarterman, NEP, NextEra Energy, NextEra Energy Partners, NextEra Energy Resources, Okeechobee County, Oklahoma, Sabal Trail Transmission, solar, Spectra Energy, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

Does it seem like FPL is the sucker in these fossil fuel deals by its parent NextEra? While the people of Florida fall far behind even New Jersey and Massachusetts in deploying solar power in the much more populous Sunshine State? You can call your local, state, and federal officials and ask them to stop the fossil fuel boondoggles and get on with solar power.

As we’ve seen, NextEra is unloading its Oklahoma fracking operation onto FPL. “Positive” effects of fracking in Oklahoma have included earthquakes.

Meanwhile, NextEra subsidiary Nextera Energy Resources has solar operations in California, Nevada, New Mexico, and even New Jersey, but not in Florida. NextEra’s Yieldco NextEra Energy Partners (NEP) is even Continue reading NextEra invests in solar while its subsidiary FPL promotes fracked methane Sabal Trail →

Petition for GAO to rein in FERC

January 2, 2016Ethics, FERC, LawBernie Sanders, boondoggle, corruption, Delaware Riverkeeper, Elizabeth Warren, Ethics, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, GAO, Government Accountability Office, John S. Quarterman, lapdog, Law, Maya K. van Rossum, regulatory capture loopholes, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, SpectraBustersJohn S. Quarterman

Please sign this petition for an independent investigation of FERC by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). Or call or write your own members of Congress and ask them to investigate FERC and rein in its rubberstamping of new fossil fuel projects.

FERC has actually denied two pipelines out of a huge number of applications. Both were part of LNG import projects. One of them was about hardship to mineral interest donors, and a fair FERC would conclude hardship to everyone who depends on the Floridan Aquifer for their sole source of drinking water would be more than sufficient reason to deny Sabal Trail. The other`was a Spectra pipeline, so even mighty Spectra can lose at FERC.

But it’s hard for any new fossil fuel project to lose at FERC because FERC brags about “Full Cost Recovery” meaning 100% of FERC’s annual Congressional allocation is paid back out of fees and charges from the very industries FERC supposedly “regulates”. This is what Investopedia defines as regulatory capture: Continue reading Petition for GAO to rein in FERC →

Marion County Sinkhole on Sabal Trail path

December 25, 2015FERC, Florida, Marion County, Safety, WaterAudubon Florida, burrowing owl, Florida, gopher tortoise, Janet Barrow, Marion County, Rainbow River, Rainbow Springs, River Springs, Rock Springs, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, sand hill crane, scrub jay, sinkhole, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Withlacoochee RiverJohn S. Quarterman

Janet Barrow says:

Here is a photo of a sinkhole that is 1230 feet from the proposed pipeline at MP 380. It dropped overnight—40′ wide and deep—several years ago.

This is the biggest recent one on the ranch where I live, but there are others. MP 377 – MP 386 go through the ranch where I live. We don’t own it. My husband is manager. This is in Marion County. 29.094506, -82.405163.

The thing is, I know a lot about this land, and very few others know anything about it. It is Continue reading Marion County Sinkhole on Sabal Trail path →

The fracked methane bridge isn’t short enough or safe enough: go renewable energy –Lori McCraney in Suwannee Democrat

December 24, 2015Florida, Hazards, LNG, Safety, Suwannee Countycarbon dioxide, CH4, Climate Change, CO2, EPA, Florida, greenhouse gas, Hazards, John S. Quarterman, LNG, methane, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Suwannee CountyJohn S. Quarterman

A local citizen asks her County Commission to represent its citizens, not a pipeline company from somewhere else, in an op-ed in the Suwannee County newspaper today.

Lori McCraney, Suwannee Democrat, 24 December 2015, Opinion: Suwannee County commissioners lack resolve against Sabal Trail,

Proponents have touted the safety of the Sabal Trail pipeline. This belies the fact that Spectra Energy, the parent of Sabal Trail, has one of the worst safety records in the industry. See www.spectrabusters.org/hazards/spectra-safety-violations for links to numerous articles regarding Spectra’s safety record.

According to Alan Lambeth, director of engineering design for Spectra Energy, Sabal Trail will use the thinnest pipe allowed Continue reading The fracked methane bridge isn’t short enough or safe enough: go renewable energy –Lori McCraney in Suwannee Democrat →