Tag Archives: FERC

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

Comments from SpectraBusters, Inc. against small LNG

Submitted in Public Comment Concerning Unregulated Small Scale LNG Processing Facilities:

600x306 Duke nuke and gas plant down Power Line Road, in Strom Inc. moves to Crystal River, by John S. Quarterman, for SpectraBusters.org, 29 September 2014
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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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).
  3. How is an LNG “export” facility that trucks LNG 440 yards to a dock not Continue reading Comments from SpectraBusters, Inc. against small LNG
#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

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

Waiting for Ted Yoho FL-03 to ask the Corps for a SEIS like he said he would

Video of Congressman Ted Yoho addressing concerns and agreeing that a Supplemental Environmental Study must be done before Sabal Trail is allowed to proceed after he hiked the proposed Sabal Trail route at which the company claimed the nearest sinkhole was 750′ away of pipeline route.  This “omission” which claimed there were no sinkholes within 750′ of the boring of ST’s pipeline could and most probably will cause damage to Suwannee River, nearby springs, AND millions of people’s sole source of water from the Floridan Aquifer. The original environmental study was Continue reading Waiting for Ted Yoho FL-03 to ask the Corps for a SEIS like he said he would

Etowah River boring incident, Transco Dalton Expansion Project pipeline

Transco spilled oil into the Etowah River, the same Transco of the Hillabee Expansion Project in the Southeast Market Pipelines Project with Sabal Trail. Map, crossing at Historic Ford According to a local report Transco did nothing to clean up the oil or damage to the riverbed. This was part of Transco’s Dalton Expansion Project, FERC docket CP15-117, one of the many segmented projects discovered by WWALS Watershed Coalition that should have been considered cumulatively by FERC as part of SMPP, according to FERC’s own rules and a federal court ruling.

The Etowah River crossing is by open cut instead of HDD. Here’s why. FERC Accession Number: 20160502-5381, “EPA Region 4 review/comments for Dalton Expansion EA, CP15-117”, Continue reading Etowah River boring incident, Transco Dalton Expansion Project pipeline

SpectraBusters leaflets Sabal Trail in Live Oak 2016-04-20

“No fracking!” said the students, as nine people protested outside Sabal Trail’s Contractor Fair at RiverOak Technical College, Live Oak, Suwannee County, Florida yesterday, 20 April 2016. Patricia says dont Frack with Our Water SpectraBusters, Suwannee-St Johns Group of Sierra Club Florida, and WWALS were among the groups with members on the ground, with the other groups listed on the flyer we were passing out there in spirit to say Short­term jobs are not worth long­term Sabal Trail risk. Here’s the press release, which was picked up by Valdosta Today.

SpectraBusters on the street

Many thanks to Continue reading SpectraBusters leaflets Sabal Trail in Live Oak 2016-04-20

Two Sabal Trail-feeding pipelines delayed by FERC due to opposition

Williams talked up Atlantic Sunrise to feed Transco and Sabal Trail, and Spectra bought into Penneast. Now both have been delayed many months, shortly after the Georgia legislature resoundingly rejected river-drilling easements for Sabal Trail and Hamilton and Suwannee Counties, Florida and WWALS Watershed Coalition asked the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to come see the sinkholes, springs, and caverns Sabal Trail didn’t tell FERC about. You can ask Congress to get the GAO to investigate FERC.

Elizabeth Skrapits, Popular Resistance, 2 April 2016, FERC Postpones Decisions On Two Gas Pipeline Projects, Continue reading Two Sabal Trail-feeding pipelines delayed by FERC due to opposition

Ask GAO to investigate why FERC Doesn’t Work

You can support hundreds of organizations and thousands of individuals who have already asked Congress to:

Help secure an independent investigation by the Government Accountability Office into the abuses of power, process and law by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) when it comes to interstate natural gas pipelines and LNG export facilities. Write your congressional representative now to urge their help in securing this necessary independent review.

Here’s a handy web form by Delaware Riverkeeper Network.

If you want something local to say, try reading Continue reading Ask GAO to investigate why FERC Doesn’t Work