Tag Archives: Transco

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 →

New pipelines are for fracking and LNG export –FE official to Congress

August 5, 2014FE, FERC, Florida, Fracking, LNG, MARADAlgonquin Pipeline, Committee on Energy and Commerce, Cove Point, Deepwater Port Licensing Program, DoE, Elba Island, FE, FERC, Florida, Fracking, John S. Quarterman, Jordan Cove, LNG, MARAD, Maritime Administration, Maritimes Pipeline, Office of Fossil Energy, Paula Gant, Port Dolphin, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Subcommittee on Energy and Power, Transco, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Transportation, United States House of Representatives, Williams CompanyJohn S. Quarterman

The U.S. DoE official in charge of natural gas testified to FERC’s oversight committee that fracking provides “unprecedented opportunities” for profit through LNG export. She, like FERC, says the opportunities are “for the United States”, and they’re both wrong. Pipelines to LNG export that would raise domestic natural gas prices and take local land and pollute local air and water is not for the U.S.: they’re for profit by a few fossil fuel companies and Continue reading New pipelines are for fracking and LNG export –FE official to Congress →

Princeton asks FERC to reject, Congressmen and Senators ask for safety review

July 25, 2014Environment, Explosion, FERC, Hazards, New Jersey, SafetyCory Booker, environment, explosion, FERC, Frank Pallone, Government, Hazards, John S. Quarterman, Leidy Expansion, New Jersey, Politics, Princeton, Robert Menendez signed, Rush Holt, Safety, SpectraBusters, Transco, WilliamsJohn S. Quarterman

Last week, Princeton, New Jersey, resolved to ask FERC to reject Williams Transco’s current plan for a 42-inch pipeline. This week, U.S. Congress and Senate members from New Jersey asked FERC to “review all safety issues”. This is all partly because a Transco contractor was involved in an explosion in March. Spectra was the “probable cause” of the 1994 Durham Woods, NJ pipeline explosion and fire, according to NTSB. Seems like time for some town around here to ask FERC to reject the Sabal Trail pipeline, and for Congressmen and Senators to join in.

2014-06-04: Contractor being sued for Ewing explosion to build Transco pipeline in Princeton, Montgomery, By Nicole Mulvaney/The Times of Trenton, Continue reading Princeton asks FERC to reject, Congressmen and Senators ask for safety review →

Pipeline EIA insufficient without interstate highway option –EPA

June 16, 2014Constitution Pipeline, EPA, FE, FERC, Hazards, Law, New York, PennsylvaniaConstitution Pipeline, EPA, FERC, Hazards, John S. Quarterman, Judy-Ann Mitchell, New York, Pennsylvania, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Transco, Williams CompanyJohn S. Quarterman

If FERC needs to consider an interstate highway route for the Constitution Pipeline through Pennsylvania and New York State, it also needs to consider running down I-75 through Georgia and Florida for the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline. Just as numerous state and federal agencies insisted on that in New York and Pennsylvania, state agencies in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida and the same federal agencies can insist on the same for the Transco -> Sabal Trail -> FSC 100-foot-wide gash to the sea.

Joe Mahoney wrote for The Daily Star 17 April 2014, EPA deems pipeline study ‘insufficient’,

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has concluded that a draft report on the environmental impacts of the proposed Constitution Pipeline is “insufficient,” and that a potential option of co-locating the transmission line along Interstate 88 “has Continue reading Pipeline EIA insufficient without interstate highway option –EPA →

Sabal Trail and FSC want FERC to avoid considering fracking

June 8, 2014Environment, FERC, FL PSC, Fracking, Law, SolarAudubon Florida, Audubon Society, environment, FERC, FL PSC, Florida Southeast Connection, FPL, Fracking, Hillabee Expansion Project, John S. Quarterman, Law, NextEra Energy, Palm Beach Post, Sabal Trail Transmission, Sierra Club, solar, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Susan Salisbury, Transco, Williams CompanyJohn S. Quarterman

Of course FPL and Spectra don’t want FERC to look at fracking, but nothing in FERC’s own rules says it can’t, and a recent court case might be a precedent to get it to do so. Maybe Audubon Florida is discovering trying to tinker with pipeline routes is like signing up for the 1885 Berlin Conference that divided Africa by drawing lines on a map. Sierra Club Florida, Georgia, and Alabama already understand the only appropriate route for that fracked methane boondoggle is no route, with new power from the sun.

I’ve added a few links to these quotes from what Susan Salisbury wrote for the Palm Beach Post 5 May 2014, Fracking not an issue with pipeline for FPL’s plants, firms say, Continue reading Sabal Trail and FSC want FERC to avoid considering fracking →

FERC has to consider cumulative pipeline effects

June 7, 2014Alabama, Environment, FERC, Florida, Fracking, Georgia, Law, LNG, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, SolarAlabama, court, cumulative, Delaware Riverkeeper, environment, FERC, Florida, Florida Southeast Connection, Fracking, Georgia, Hillabee Expansion Project, John S. Quarterman, Law, LNG, National Environmental Policy Act, NEPA, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Sabal Trail Transmission, Sierra Club, solar, SONAT, Southeast Market Pipelines Project, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Tennessee Gas Pipeline, Transco, Williams CompanyJohn S. Quarterman

Would this U.S. Court of Appeals ruling mean FERC needs to consider the cumulative effects of the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline on the same properties as the existing SONAT pipeline? And what about those LNG export authorizations FERC has repeatedly claimed it knows nothing about? And how can FERC justify that project at all, given that solar power is faster, cheaper, and far less environmentally damaging?

Katie Colaneri wrote for NPR 6 June 2014, Court rules federal regulators must consider cumulative impacts of pipeline project,

Regulators violated federal law by not considering the cumulative environmental impacts of multiple upgrades to a natural gas pipeline that runs from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, a federal appeals court said on Friday.

Three environmental groups argued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should not have been allowed to conduct an environmental review for one expansion project on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline without considering three other proposed upgrades on the same line.

The U.S. Court of Appeals agreed.

The judges ruled that FERC failed “to include any meaningful analysis of the cumulative impacts of the upgrade projects.” The judges also found Continue reading FERC has to consider cumulative pipeline effects →

Fracked gas can be as bad for the climate as coal –FWW petition to EPA

June 6, 2014Fracking, Hazards, LawFood and Water Watch, FPL, Fracking, Hazards, Hillabee Expansion Project, John S. Quarterman, Law, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Transco, Williams CompanyJohn S. Quarterman

Food and Water Watch gets it that coal is only part of the fossil fuel problem:

Under the proposal, power plants, mainly coal-fired plants, would have to reduce their carbon emissions. One way the electricity companies would be allowed to do this is by switching from coal-fired plants to gas-fired plants. The EPA still considers gas a cleaner fuel than coal, because they don’t count the full life of fracked gas. But we know that fracked gas can be as bad for the climate as coal.

Here’s the FWW petition: Continue reading Fracked gas can be as bad for the climate as coal –FWW petition to EPA →

Williams Transco explosion in Appomattox Virginia 2008-11-14

May 18, 2014Alabama, Appomattox County, Corrosion, Explosion, Marengo County, PHMSA, VirginiaAlabama, Appomattox County, corrosion, explosion, fine, Florida Southeast Connection, John S. Quarterman, Marengo County, PHMSA, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, Transco, Virginia, WilliamsJohn S. Quarterman

Almost $1 million PHMSA fine to Williams Transco for safety regulation violations that let corrosion continue until a pipeline exploded near Appomattox, Virginia in 2008, taking out two homes and injuring five people, with local and state governments footing the bill as usual for the pipeline company failure. Yet Transco let much the same thing happen again in 2011 in Marengo County, Virginia, after which even PHMSA said “Transco has a history of cathodic protection [corrosion] concerns on other segments.”

The Lynchburg News & Advance wrote 11 August 2009, Company fined in Appomattox pipeline explosion, Continue reading Williams Transco explosion in Appomattox Virginia 2008-11-14 →

Bluegrass fracked methane pipeline cancelled

May 1, 2014Economy, Fracking, Georgia, Kentucky, Law, LNG, Lowndes Countyanalysts, Bluegrass Pipeline, carbon bubble, death spiral, downgrade, Economy, export, Florida Southeast Connection, FPL, Fracking, Georgia, Gulf of Mexico, Hillabee Expansion Project, John S. Quarterman, Kentucky, Law, LNG, Lowndes County, Marcellus Shale, Sabal Trail Transmission, SpectraBusters, Transco, WilliamsJohn S. Quarterman

Williams Co.’s excuse: “an insufficient level of firm customer commitment” for its Marcellus shale to Gulf of Mexico gas pipe. That’s corporate-ese for it got to be too expensive; it’s the same thing a company that wanted to put a biomass plant in Lowndes County said. Couldn’t have had anything to do with massive public resistance, oh no. This is the same Williams Co. that owns Transco, first in the chain of the Transco -> Sabal Trail -> Florida Southeast Connection pipeline through Alabama and Georgia to Florida’s Atlantic and Gulf coasts, where there are already several companies authorized for LNG export. That one could get too expensive, too.

Tim Rudell wrote for WKSU 29 April 2014, Bluegrass pipeline project through Ohio and beyond is cancelled, Continue reading Bluegrass fracked methane pipeline cancelled →

Can Sabal Trail fracked methane go to China?

April 26, 2014British Columbia, FE, FERC, Florida, LNG, Martin CountyAES, Bahamas, British Columbia, Carib Energy, China, Crowley Maritime, EU, Europe, export, FE, FERC, Florida, Florida Southeast Connection, Floridian LNG, Ford, FPL, India, Japan, John S. Quarterman, LNG, Martin County, Ocean Express, Russia, Sabal Trail Transmission, Spectra Energy, SpectraBusters, TPP, Transco, TTIP, Ukraine, WilliamsJohn S. Quarterman

People talk about LNG exports to China through the Transco – Sabal Trail – Florida Southeast Connection pipeline, even though FPL says it knows nothing about exports through that Southeast Market Pipelines Project (SMPP), and FERC also seems to know nothing. If that fracked gas really can go to China, where’s FERC’s rationale for federal eminent domain, which depends on Florida needing the gas? Nevermind FPL’s own 10-Year Site Plan doesn’t support a need for the gas, and EPA doesn’t buy what it’s seen as rationalizations for that alleged need: can the gas go to China?

FERC has admitted in more than one Scoping Meeting that it’s not the pipeline company that has to get export authorization: it’s the end user. And FPL is not the only end user and FERC is not the only export-authorizing agency. Continue reading Can Sabal Trail fracked methane go to China? →