Category Archives: Florida

Florida Small Scale LNG – Two High Risk Chemical Experiments Upon Citizens

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

  1. 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.
  2. 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

  1. 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.
  2. 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.

Continue reading Florida Small Scale LNG – Two High Risk Chemical Experiments Upon Citizens

#BombTrain

LNG – Liquefied Natural Gas & Small Scale Processing Facilities-Action Needed

The Plan We Must Stop

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.

Small Scale LNG Truck Terminal
Small Scale LNG Truck Terminal

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.

This a very dangerous and unhealthy addition of unregulated Continue reading LNG – Liquefied Natural Gas & Small Scale Processing Facilities-Action Needed

Hands Across the Sand 2017-05-20

The SpectraBusters board unanimously supports Hands Across the Sand this Saturday, May 20, 2017:

“…rejecting projects that expand the extraction and use of fossil fuels — and instead accelerate the shift to clean, renewable energy.”

There are many events Saturday in Florida, one in Georgia, and so far none in Alabama.

You or your group can add an event through any of the above web pages. See also facebook and twitter.

SpectraBusters is not holding an event Saturday, but endorses this following event organized by SpectraBusters board member Tim Canova: Continue reading Hands Across the Sand 2017-05-20

Call FL Sen. Nelson statewide to oppose Sabal Trail 2017-04-18-21

The SpectraBusters board unanimously endorses this action.

When: 9AM-5PM April 18-21, 2017

Where: Call Florida Sen. Nelson’s offices

Event: facebook, courtesy Tim Canova

Why: No new piplines! Solar power now for the Sunshine State.

NelsonSabalCalls

Statewide Week of Action: Continue reading Call FL Sen. Nelson statewide to oppose Sabal Trail 2017-04-18-21

SpectraBusters seeks new Allies and Board members

Especially since the Army Corps issued its permit for Sabal Trail last summer, Allies 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.

The oldest name in Sabal Trail opposition, SpectraBusters, invites applications for two things: Continue reading SpectraBusters seeks new Allies and Board members

Report violations and Events to stop Sabal Trail

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.

If you want to go somewhere to do something, Continue reading Report violations and Events to stop Sabal Trail

Complaint to FDEP stops FSC construction in Okeechobee County, FL

Many eyes watching pipeline construction can catch shoddy work, and even FDEP will step in to deal with the most egregious violations, as Spectra and Rockford for FPL rush to try to finish by May 2017.

[21040-510-ALS-00097 STA: 4587+00 TO 4638+00, OKEECHOBEE COUNTY, FLORIDA]

Shannon Larsen’s complaint to Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) at least briefly shut down destruction by Florida Southeast Connection (FSC) at Ft Drum Creek, just south of Ft. Drum, Florida. On the telephone just now she told me work had indeed been halted.

Right now Shannon is in Okeechobee City starting a rally to stop pipelines across Florida at Continue reading Complaint to FDEP stops FSC construction in Okeechobee County, FL

Emera, Inc – A Natural Gas Exporter Acquires TECO – Tampa Electric

Canadian based, Emera Inc., has acquired TECO – Tampa Electric Company.

“The acquisition of TECO Energy advances a number of important strategic objectives for Emera,” said Chris Huskilson, president and CEO of Emera Inc. “We expect it to be Continue reading Emera, Inc – A Natural Gas Exporter Acquires TECO – Tampa Electric

JACKSONVILLE FLA: DOE GRANTS LONG-TERM, MULTI-CONTRACT ORDER TO EXPORT & PROCESS LNG BY TRAIN TRUCK OR SEA VESSEL FROM, OR IN ISO CONTAINERS LOADED FROM EAGLE LNG’s FACILITY AT ST JOHN’S RIVER, TO FTA NATIONS

Fracking Industry, Sabal Trail pipeline, LNG Export To Other Countries With No need or Necessity for the Citizens of our Florida as well as Georgia and Alabama. If you ever questioned the plan to export fracked gas then this should quell those misconceptions!

Heads up Jacksonville and the citizens of the state of Florida! The first major LNG processing of fracked natural gas, transportation via truck and train — moving bombs as experienced in other states that have been invaded by the fracked gas export/transport pipelines through populated areas — has been given the Green Light.

The DOE has permitted Eagle LNG with a Continue reading JACKSONVILLE FLA: DOE GRANTS LONG-TERM, MULTI-CONTRACT ORDER TO EXPORT & PROCESS LNG BY TRAIN TRUCK OR SEA VESSEL FROM, OR IN ISO CONTAINERS LOADED FROM EAGLE LNG’s FACILITY AT ST JOHN’S RIVER, TO FTA NATIONS

Sabal Trail pipe on trucks 2016-08-11

Bill Sagues reports:

Looks like 36-inch pipe
Photo: Bill Sagues Creative Commons License

Driving to Tampa from Tallahassee and back I saw over a half a dozen of these trucks heading east and south on I-10 east and I-75 south yesterday 8/11/16.

I suppose that could be somebody else’s pipe, but Sabal Trail announced back in November 2014, before it even entered the formal FERC filing process, that it had contracted to buy its pipe from Berg Pipe of Mobile, AL and Panama City, FL. Sabal Trail’s press releases didn’t mention, but Berg’s owner Salzgitter Group even earlier did, that “The two companies in Panama City and Mobile are subsidiaries of EUROPIPE GmbH, Mülheim, Germany, a joint venture of Salzgitter AG and AG der Dillinger Hüttenwerke.” So the pipe purchase profits go to Germany. And even Sabal Trail couldn’t come up with a press release about this for Georgia, because there are no economic benefits to Georgia. Even the temporary pipe jobs in Florida and Alabama are just that: temporary. Continue reading Sabal Trail pipe on trucks 2016-08-11