Tag Archives: Stewart County

Call DNR board before Wednesday to stop river land giveaway to Sabal Trail

September 20, 2015Brooks County, Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Georgia, Lowndes County, Stewart County, WaterBrooks County, Chattahoochee River, Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Flint River, forestry, GA DNR, Georgia, Jeff Davis County, John S. Quarterman, Lowndes County, Ochlockonee River, property rights, SpectraBusters, Stewart County, Water, Withlacoochee RiverJohn S. Quarterman

Leases and permanent easements to cross the Chattahoochee River, Flint River, Ochlockonee River, and Withlacoochee River: that’s what the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Board proposes to vote on this Wednesday morning, in Atlanta, far from any of the proposed crossings or the directly affected counties, with no publ ic hearing and minimal public announcement. You can call them or send them email to ask them not to do that. Or show up in Atlanta 9AM Wednesday 23 September 2015 and speak; bring a written statement if you do that. Atlanta metro people, we need you to go to that meeting!

Agenda at this link. DNR board list at this link. DNR didn’t supply any contact information for its board members, but DNR’s own contact is: Continue reading Call DNR board before Wednesday to stop river land giveaway to Sabal Trail →

Deny Sabal Trail, said U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, and FERC ignored him

June 19, 2015Agriculture, Alabama, Compressor, Dougherty County, FERC, Florida, Georgia, Hazards, Law, Lee County, Safety, Stewart County, WaterAgriculture, Air, Alabama, Albany, aquifer, compressor, Dougherty County, eminent domain, FERC, FGT, Florida, Florida Gas Transmission, GDOT, Georgia, Georgia Department of Transportation, Hazards, John S. Quarterman, karst, Kinder Morgan, KMI, Law, lawsuit, Lee County, Mitchell County, noise, Palmetto Pipeline, pollution, Sabal Trail Transmission, Safety, Sanford Bishop, sinkhole, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Stewart County, Transco, trespass, Water, Webster CountyJohn S. Quarterman

Citing the GDOT denial of KMI’s Palmetto Pipeline and numerous specific hazards of Spectra Energy’s proposed Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline (sinkholes in karst limestone and a compressor station next to Albany’s water wells, all for no benefit to Georgia, by a company with a poor safety record), U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop (GA-02) wrote to FERC (PDF):

I believe that FERC should deny STT’s application for a Certificate of Public Necessity.

And he told FERC to tell Sabal Trail to stop suing his constituents for eminent domain.

A year after Rep. Bishop listened in Albany for two hours to complaints about Sabal Trail, Dougherty County and Albany, Georgia filed followup letters to their resolutions against that pipeline. Neither FERC nor Sabal Trail answered them, so their Representative in the U.S. Congress forwarded their letters with that sharp cover letter. Three weeks later, FERC still hasn’t even filed his letter in their e-comment system, much less responded to it.

Just how lawless is FERC, anyway? Doesn’t a member of the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations give them pause? Continue reading Deny Sabal Trail, said U.S. Rep. Sanford Bishop, and FERC ignored him →

Sabal Trail repeatedly sent letters to landowners claiming Georgia eminent domain authority –SpectraBusters to judge

April 17, 2015Brooks County, Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Georgia, Law, Lee County, Lowndes County, Stewart CountyAlton Paul Burns, Bell, Brooks County, Case number 14CV208RS, Colquitt County, criminal trespass, Dougherty County, eminent domain, Georgia, John S. Quarterman, Judge Rucker Smith, Law, Lee County, Leesburg, Lowndes County, Mitchell County, O.C.G.A. 22-3-88, SpectraBusters, Stewart County, trespassJohn S. Quarterman

SpectraBusters sent examples of Sabal Trail’s many threats of eminent domain, in this letter to Leesburg for the ongoing eminent domain and criminal trespass trial.

Re: Case number 14CV208RS
Judge Rucker Smith

To: Cindy Clark
Civil Deputy Clerk
County Courthouse
100 Leslie Highway
Leesburg, Georgia 31763

If it please the court,

SpectraBusters, Inc. is a Georgia nonprofit corporation with board members and other participants in all three states directly affected by the Sabal Trail proposed pipeline: Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. The SpectraBusters board voted Monday March 30th 2015 to send this letter to the court to express our concerns about Sabal Trail’s attempts to claim Georgia eminent domain long before it tried to claim customers in Georgia, as well as possible ill effects throughout the pipeline route, especially in Georgia, if the judge were to rule in this case for application of Georgia eminent domain. Even with Sabal Trail’s claimed agreement with the Metropolitan Gas Authority of Georgia (MGAG), Sabal Trail is still “a long way” Continue reading Sabal Trail repeatedly sent letters to landowners claiming Georgia eminent domain authority –SpectraBusters to judge →

Sabal Trail Strikes Back

December 3, 2014Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Ethics, FERC, Georgia, Law, Stewart CountyAlzheimers, Andrea Grover, breach of law, Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Ethics, FERC, Frank S. Singer III, Georgia, Hunton & Williams, John S. Quarterman, Kitty Maidens, Law, Matthew Calvert, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Stewart County, terroristic, threats, Valdosta Daily Times, VDT, William B. SingerJohn S. Quarterman

Sabal Trail strikes back, claiming trespassing on your property for surveying isn’t a taking of your property rights, and pretending that wouldn’t lead to taking of property rights through eminent domain.

Filed with FERC 1 December 2014 as Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC submits Response to Recent Correspondence under PF14-1.

SABAL TRAIL TRANSMISSION, LLC
5400 Westheimer Court
Houston, TX 77056
December 1, 2014
Ms. Kimberly D. Bose
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
888 First Street NE
Washington, DC 20426
Re: Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC, Docket No. PF14-1-000
Response to Recent Correspondence
Dear Ms. Bose:
In a recent filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“Commission”), accession number 20141119-5122, Ms. Sandra Y. Jones alleged that Spectra Energy and Sabal Trail land agents have “threatened eminent domain” against homeowners along the proposed Sabal Trail route. Sabal Trail and Spectra Energy take these Continue reading Sabal Trail Strikes Back →

My Thanksgiving prize was an eminent domain threat from Sabal Trail –Sandra Jones to FERC

December 3, 2014Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Ethics, FERC, Georgia, Law, Stewart CountyAlzheimers, Andrea Grover, breach of law, Colquitt County, Dougherty County, Ethics, FERC, Frank S. Singer III, Georgia, Hunton & Williams, Kitty Maidens, Law, Matthew Calvert, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Stewart County, terroristic, threats, Valdosta Daily Times, VDT, William B. SingerJohn S. Quarterman

A Colquitt County resident spelled out a series of eminent domain threats to her, plus the background of the infamous Stewart County eminent domain ruling Sabal Trail has used to threaten landowners in other counties.

Filed with FERC 19 November 2014 as Protest of Sandra Y Jones under PF14-1 (PDF),

Federal Energy Regulatory Commissioners:

The article featuring an interview with Spectra’s Andrea Grover in today’s Valdosta Daily Times newspaper requires a response from an impacted landowner and please note that I am only one of possibly over a thousand in the same position. Ms. Grover asserts that allegations from homeowners that surveyors threatened eminent domain on their properties “hard to believe.”

Ms. Grover may be right that surveyors have not threatened eminent domain, but Spectra Energy and Sabal Trail land agents certainly have. In the second letter I received from this company dated September 16, 2013 (see attachments) requesting my signature for permission to survey my two tracts of land, the use of Georgia statute O.C.G.A. 22-3-88 was threatened.

“We hope you understand Continue reading My Thanksgiving prize was an eminent domain threat from Sabal Trail –Sandra Jones to FERC →

South Georgia pipeline trials

June 13, 2014Georgia, Lee County, Stewart CountyGeorgia, John S. Quarterman, Lee County, Mitchell County, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Stewart County, survey, trespassing, trialJohn S. Quarterman

11AM 10 July 2014, Leesburg, Georgia, according to the Clerk of Court in Lee County: Sabal Trail Transmission v. James E. Bell II and Robert Bell, Case number 14CV208RS. Others tell me the Bells are countersuing Sabal Trail for going on their property despite being told not to. Whatever is decided there will affect every other pipeline land access case. This is an opportunity for pipeline opponents from everywhere to help: show up at the hearing, write a letter of support for the Bells, maybe even file a legal brief, or demonstrate nearby.

There was another case Continue reading South Georgia pipeline trials →

Sabal Trail citing Stewart County injunction in Brooks County, Georgia

April 22, 2014Brooks County, Economy, Environment, Fracking, Georgia, Law, Stewart CountyBrooks County, Economy, environment, Fracking, Georgia, John S. Quarterman, Kitty Maidens, Law, Mavis L. Harper, property rights, Sabal Trail Transmission, SpectraBusters, Stewart County, Travis H. HarperJohn S. Quarterman

Why would a pipeline company from Houston suffer irreparable harm if it couldn’t go onto the land of somebody in Georgia? A judge in one Georgia county bought Sabal Trail’s eminent domain assertions and now Sabal Trail is citing that to try to get a landowner in Brooks County to let it on the property to survey for its fracked methane pipeline. What about private property rights?

The letter dated 12 April 2014 from Sabal Trail includes this part:

A copy of the Order granting Sabal Trail’s request for injunctive relief, entered on February 21, 2014, is enclosed for your review. As you will see, the Order concluded that:

Sabal Trail has the right, incidental to its power of eminent domain, to enter private property to conduct the Survey Activities.
Delays in conducting the Survey Activities will cause Sabal Trail irreparable harm.
The Survey Activities will not cause substantial harm to the defendant landowners, nor will the surveys disserve the public interest.

Accordingly, the Order prohibits those landowners from preventing or interfering Continue reading Sabal Trail citing Stewart County injunction in Brooks County, Georgia →