On October 16, 2014 at 09:58AM, jsq at WWALS Watershed Coalition published the following article:
Due to fine work by WWALS members Chris and Deanna Mericle in Hamilton
County, Florida,
Sabal Trail proposes to move its fracked methane
pipeline off of the Withlacoochee River in Florida, and invites the public
to an Open House in Jasper, FL Tuesday October 21st about that and
other matters. We can ask them to move it off the Withlacoochee River
in Georgia, too. And it’s still possible to file ecomments with FERC,
and to contact your local, state, and national elected and appointed officials.
In FERC’s 15 October 2014
Sabal Trail Notice of EIS Intent and Route Alternatives,
To address concerns regarding the planned route’s impact on karst
terrain and known springs, the Withlacoochee River Crossing Route
Alternative would deviate from Sabal Trail’s planned route near MP
260.8 and extend for approximately 11.4 miles in a generally south
and southeasterly direction, crossing the Suwannee River State Park
via horizontal direction drill and rejoining the planned route at
approximately MP 270.4.
Concerns such as FERC’s John Peconom and Spectra’s Andrea Grover
and other FERC and Sabal Trail reps heard and saw first-hand
when Chris and Andrea Grover
got them to come see for themselves
the fragile karst limestone sinkholes and springs
Sabal Trail proposed to gouge through:
<a
title=”FERC and Sabal Trail at the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, FL”
href=”http://www.wwals.net/2014/09/17/ferc-sabal-trail-withlacoochee-river-hamilton-county-fl/”>
Those of you who came on the
WWALS September Outing on the Withlacoochee and Suwannee Rivers
saw these springs and felt their cool waters.
<a
title=”Video of Springs on the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, FL”
href=”http://www.wwals.net/2014/07/30/video-withlacoochee-river-springs-sabal-trail-pipeline-cross/”>
alt=”Video of Springs on the Withlacoochee River in Hamilton County, FL”
src=”http://i0.wp.com/i.ytimg.com/vi/_i6dtB3mF2U/mqdefault.jpg”>
You can see these springs online in
the Mericles’ video.
Our Withlacoochee River and its springs from our drinking water
Floridan Aquifer are more important than profit for companies
from somewhere else.
The day before that FERC posting (14 October 2014),
Sabal Trail ran an ad in a Florida newspaper announcing an Open House
in Jasper, Florida,
5-7PM Tuesday 21 October 2014 at the
Florida Gateway Golf & Country Club,
8055 U.S. Highway 129 South, Jasper, Florida 32052:
As a result of extensive survey work and feedback received from
stakeholders, Sabal Trail is considering an alternative pipeline
route, the Withlacoochee Alternative, which would eliminate the
Withlacoochee River crossing in the Hamilton County area and has
scheduled an Open House in your area.During the Open House, Sabal Trail representatives will be available
to answer your questions, including environmental, construction,
operation and other aspects about the Project and the Withlacoochee
Alternative under consideration. FERC representatives will also be
available to answer your questionsWe encourage your attendance to learn about the Sabal Trail Project,
the Withlacoochee Alternative, review mapping and displays, collect
information and ask any questions you may have. The public is
invited and we encourage all interested persons to attend.
SpectraBusters has taken Sabal Trail up on that offer and posted
a facebook event,
Road Trip: FERC and Sabal Trail in Jasper, Florida,
Let’s take up Sabal Trail’s invitation to the public for an Open House at the Florida Gateway Golf & Country Club in Jasper, Florida.
<a
title=”Alternative 4 down I-75 past Tifton, Adel, Hahira, Valdosta, Jennings, Valdosta Mall and Lowndes High School”
href=”http://www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/2014/09/alternative-4-richland-preston-americus-cordele-ashburn-and-i-75-ferc-to-sabal-trail.html”>
alt=”Alternative 4 down I-75 past Tifton, Adel, Hahira, Valdosta, Jennings, Valdosta Mall and Lowndes High School”
src=”http://i0.wp.com/www.l-a-k-e.org/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/89ad70736e0b6bd6db74ca0f7cbde9cb.jpg” data-recalc-dims=”1″>
WWALS members may want to go to Jasper and ask Sabal Trail and FERC
to move their proposed pipeline off the Withlacoochee River in Georgia, too.
After all, it’s the same fragile karst limestone where they propose
to drill under the Withlacoochee near US 84 between Brooks and
Lowndes Counties.
And the same where several of the other alternatives
would run down I-75 past Tifton, Adel, Hahira, and Valdosta in Tift, Cook, and Lowndes Counties Georgia,
and would drill under our Withlacoochee River
just west of Valdosta near Valdosta Mall
and Lowndes High School.
Plus Sabal Trail’s triplet Florida Southeast Connection (FSC)
has already filed with FERC for the formal permit process.
You can file ecomments with the new FSC FERC Docket CP14-554-000,
or you can become an intervenor.
And you can contact your local, state, and federal elected and appointed
officials and ask them to
take action
against this unnecessary, environmentally damaging,
and hazardous pipeline that companies from Juno Beach, Florida and
Houston, Texas want to gouge through our local lands and drinking water aquifer.
There are
three already-authorized liquid natural gas (LNG) export
operations right where the Transco -> Sabal Trail -> FSC pipeline chain
would go in Florida.
FPL itself (co-owner of Sabal Trail Transmission LLC).
has bought into an Oklahoma fracking company.
Spectra Energy (the other co-owner) not only pipes gas from shale fracking
in Pennsylvania and Texas;
Spectra is building a pipeline in British Columbia
explicitly to an LNG export terminal, and Spectra CEO Greg Ebel has said
Spectra “expects” to export.
All the evidence indicates this pipeline is for LNG export
to get much higher overseas prices, which would run up domestic natural gas
prices.
Is that any excuse for federal imminent domain to take local lands?
Maybe it profits Florida Governor Rick Scott, who
owned Spectra stock before FL PSC approved that pipeline
and who still owns stock in other natural gas companies.
Maybe it profits
the re-election campaigns of
Alabama Governor Robert J. Bentley
and Georgia Governor Nathan Deal, each of which accepted $10,000 from Spectra
Energy’s PAC; Deal also took more from three other pipeline companies,
adding up to $21,300.
<a
title=”Spectra Safety Violations”
href=”http://spectrabusters.org/hazards/spectra-safety-violations/”>
<img
alt=”Spectra Safety Violations”
style=”float:right;border:none;” src=”http://i0.wp.com/i1.ytimg.com/vi/NyMbaZ9FVjA/mqdefault.jpg” data-recalc-dims=”1″>
But how can a one-time payment for an easement on your land
compensate for long-term environmental destruction and hazards to life and limb?
How can no payment to local and state emergency responders and hospitals
compensate for cleaning up any future sinkhole, leak, or explosion
by a company whose own SEC filings say
doesn’t carry sufficient insurance?
A company with
a long rap sheet of corrosion, leaks, and explosions?
Elected and appointed officials
can pass ordinances, deny permits, speak up in Congress and in the press.
And you can write letters to the editor, call radio shows, and talk
to your neighbors.
Plus you can talk directly to FERC and Sabal Trail in Jasper, Florida,
next Tuesday, October 21st.
-jsq
The post Sabal Trail Withlacoochee River Alternative and Jasper Open House 21 Oct 2014 appeared first on WWALS Watershed Coalition.
Read this article at WWALS Watershed Coalition at http://www.wwals.net/2014/10/16/sabal-trail-withlacoochee-river-alternative-jasper-open-house-21-oct-2014/.
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