Events you can go to, report violations and other things you can do where you are,
and why we all oppose the unnecessary, destructive, and hazardous Sabal “Sinkhole” Trail fracked methane pipeline.
This is a continuation, with updates of, a previous blog entitled – LNG – Liquefied Natural Gas & Small Scale Processing Facilities – Action Needed dated 09/24/2017. The DOE passed the small – scale LNG processing facility rule for Florida with 40 of the ‘for’ comments being duplicates which were submitted via the Federal Register. What do we expect in today’s political/corporate climate?
Note this is an excerpt of just some of the points in a comprehensive report written by Dr. Fred Millar – please see his full document below for more detailed information. This is also a shout out to Florida’s media outlets. It is your job to let the citizens of Florida know if their lives are threatened.
Dr. Millar Interview at Toxic Train Conference in 2010
As we know, FERC has abdicated it’s role of regulating these inland small – scale LNG processing facilities “because the facilities do not load directly onto a pipeline or ship bound for foreign ports”. Three Federal Agencies have gone against congressional rules and refuse to regulate these disasters waiting to happen. State agencies simply say “Well it is up to the Feds”. I and others think not – we the people better get a handle on this development before we become the guinea pigs for a bad experiment as stated in the title above and in his paper below by hazardous railway accident expert Dr. Fred Millar who has been working with Florida’s own LNG expert, Cecile Scofield (see bios below).
This leaves unregulated train and truck transportation of LNG, siting of LNG facilities, and an emergency response infrastructure not prepared for a disaster of, for instance, a train wreck on the FECL involving LNG being transported to Jacksonville Fla through densely populated areas from Miami to Jacksonville, Fla. All for the goal of exporting fracked gas through Florida to other countries and be damned anyone whose life may get in the oil industry’s way! I do not know about you but I find it alarming that an industry can manipulate the US Government to risk the lives of millions of it’s citizens for the short term profit of a few, evidently including members of our ‘government’.
The First High Risk LNG Processing Experiment – In Populated Areas
Since the adoption by the DOE of unregulated small – scale LNG facilities this past February, brand new LNG processing facilities are being, sited, and built in Florida on as little as 12 acres. To the alarm of many citizens and First Responders there are no emergency plans or buffer zones between the population and these volatile terminals with some being sited on just 12 acres.FERC requires a buffer zone of 1 to 9 miles for large -scale LNG – US LNG Export Facilities – and the nearest population.
These small – scale LNG processing facilities will be the first of their kind in an urban environment involving the handling of large, unique and dangerous containers of Liquefied Natural Gas or LNG to be transported from inland processing facilities to large ports, such as Jaxport, for exporting to other countries. There is another factor to be considered as these unregulated small -scale LNG processing plants nor the trains and trucks the LNG is transported on are protected from terrorists. In fact in both cases terrorism is a huge concern be it domestic or foreign.
The Second High Risk LNG Experiment – Rail Transportation Approval
US agencies have quietly approved the first ever railway transportation of pressurized LNG in the lower 48 states and in an urban or populated area. As you will see when reading Dr. Millar’s report below there was one other small pilot program approved in a remote area of Alaska. They are allowing the Florida East Coast (FECL) railway to move daily 40 foot, 21 ton LNG tanks at 70 mph through highly populated areas and on the same tracks that carry the notoriously dangerous 110 mph Brightline passenger trains. All of this through numerous rail crossings where there have already been FECL accidents resulting in fatalities and through the many communities that are along the FECL tracks.
Judges and the rail industry itself for many decades considered rail transport of LNG to be such a high risk that it was never allowed upon the railroad system. In fact the Federal Railroad Administration has never designed an approved LNG rail tank car but is now under strong oil industry pressure to do so.This new federal exemption for Florida’s FECL, not only allows LNG to fuel the locomotives but also allows LNG to be transported in attached flat cars with relatively flimsy 10,000 gallon ISO inter-modal containers. Please click continue for Dr. Millar’s full document on this clear and eminent danger to the citizens of Florida.
Please watch this video from Tim Canova who is running against Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Please consider making a donation to his campaign in the next 3 days as a democratic progressive, an honest man who stood with us against Sabal Trail pipeline, supports banning fracking in Florida and so much more. Tim supports protecting our water, land and rights. He is concerned about the future for our children.
I think we all are aware of the improper, or even possible criminal acts that Debbie has committed as chair of DNC and her support of the status quo in Florida politics as well as her corporate donors. Her lack of support for environmental issues in Florida including her flip flopping on the Florida Fracking Ban we need here. As well as using her influence to shut the investigation in the Seth Rich murder case perhaps with help from her brother – a Assistant Us Attorney in DC who was the prosecutor in whistleblower Seth Rich’s case. Let us not forget Debbie even destroyed emails from DNC computers. There is so much more corruption surrounding Debbie Wasserman Schultz but you can research for yourself as this article is not about Debbie.
Tim Canova does not accept donations from corporate or big money, depending upon the growing grassroots movement – the people whom he will represent. That is Us. His average individual donation has been $22.00 and as of August 2016 he has received more than 200,000 donations!
Let us change the political corruption in Florida by supporting and voting for Tim Canova for Florida’s 23rd Congrssional District. Even if Tim is not in your district, we all know that he represents all of Florida as all members of congress do. Their decisions affect us all.
From Tim Conova
Dear Friend,
I wanted to take a minute to thank you for all that you’ve done in supporting our campaign to unseat Debbie Wasserman Schultz with a true Progressive who will fight every day for ordinary people, and not large corporations and special interests. Our quarterly reporting Federal Election Commission (FEC) deadline is only 72 hours away. Please take a minute to watch a video I made for our supporters by clicking the image below.
Thank you for your support in this crucial moment for our campaign.
Not if we can stop it – DIVEST NOW from fossil fuels, FPL, Duke Energy, NextEra all fossil fuel investments – switch to renewable energy market which is growing exponentially world wide
Duke nuke and gas plant down Power Line Road, Crystal River, FL, from new Strom location (the blue box).
From: Spectra Busters <spectrabusters@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, Oct 16, 2017 at 4:03 PM
Subject: RIN 1901-AB43 and FE Docket No. 17-86-R
To: fergas@hq.doe.gov
Cc: Spectra Busters <spectrabusters@gmail.com>
Comments from SpectraBusters, Inc. against small LNG
ISSUES AND CONCERNS ASSOCIATED WITH “SMALL-SCALE” INLAND
LIQUEFIED NATURAL GAS (LNG) PRODUCTION, STORAGE AND TRANSPORT
FACILITIES:
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has abdicated
Congressional authority under Section 3 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA)
for the siting, construction, operation and maintenance of
small-scale inland LNG export facilities.
How is an LNG export facility that must obtain an export
license from the U. S. Department of Energy not, from FERC’s
perspective, an “export” facility within the meaning of
the NGA and thus not subject to FERC’s jurisdiction (see Pivotal
LNG, Inc., FERC Docket No. RP15-259-000 Issued April 2, 2015, Norman
Bay, Commissioner, Dissenting Opinion).
This is the beginning of a series of blogs to educate the public about the dangers of LNG as well as to convince as many people that we can to object to this dangerous precedent by providing information about what LNG is and what you can do.
Liquefied Natural Gas or LNG and the proposed DOE rule that would allow unregulated, with no agency oversight, small scale processing facilities to pop up in your neighborhood endangering you, family, friends. By allowing LNG processing to be your neighbor, pass you in a semi, or be on the same train as you commute, or simply passing through the area you live in, you are at great risk. We encourage you to comment to the Federal Registry Public Comment Concerning Unregulated Small Scale LNG Processing Facilities.
We must resist and oppose the Sabal Trail Pipeline, but not with violence. The means are the ends in the making. The end is peace and peace must be the path.
I should point out that at this time it remains unclear whether the gunman near Dunnellon was intentionally firing at the pipeline or was a water protector. It’s also important to question the veracity of the initial reports, whether this man even discharged a firearm as alleged. All the water protectors I’ve met at the Sabal Trail Pipeline construction sites and water camps are completely committed to nonviolence.
Here is our peaceful strategy to stop fracking, endless drilling, and endless construction of pipeline that threaten water, our most precious natural resource: Divestment from fossil fuels and pipeline companies and #BankExit from the banks that are funding them. Let’s invest in solar power and other renewable energy technologies, and socially responsible financial institutions like community banks and credit unions. These are constructive actions for all of us, and they are peaceful.
–Tim Canova, SpectraBusters Board Member, with approval of the board
Especially since the Army Corps issued its permit for Sabal Trail last summer,
Florida is swarming against that fossil fuel invader like an ant bed stirred by
a 600-mile-long pipeline stick. That’s great! However, there’s a lot of duplication of effort. And Florida is not the only place Spectra Energy is gouging its pipes: Georgia and Alabama, too, with implications far beyond.