Spectra Energy subsidiary Sabal Trail Transmission held a landowner one-on-one at Wiregrass Tech last night. Matthew Woody of the VDT was there, as was one Valdosta City Council member, one Lowndes County Commissioner, and at least two county staff, plus some landowners (“might as well get something out of this”, several said at the food bar), one of whom was a match for Andrea Grover.

Matthew Woody, VDT:

Andrea Grover (Spectra), Matthew Woody (VDT):

Brian Fahrenthold (Spectra), Tim Carroll (Valdosta City Council):

Tim Carroll told me after talking to Brian Fahrenthold that the pipeline wouldn’t go through Valdosta. I pointed out that, according to Andrea Grover in Moultrie, Sabal Trail had to submit a preferred option and an alternate, and FERC could pick the alternate. And the alternate is the path that goes through Valdosta. Carroll said he had just been told that the Valdosta route had been intended to go along a Georgia Power right of way, so that’s a bit of new information. Watch out, Valdosta! You don’t know this thing is going around you.

Brian Fahrenthold (Spectra), Jody Hall (Planning Commission), Mike Fletcher (Lowndes County Engineer), Demarcus Marshall (Lowndes County Commission):

Lowndes County Utilities Director Mike Allen was also there. None of the county people seemed happy about this pipeline.

Matthew Woody (VDT), Demarcus Marshall (LCC), Brian Fahrenthold (Spectra):

Commissioner Demarcus Marshall asked Brian Fahrenthold if he would speak at a Lowndes County Commission Work Session. Fahrenthold said yes. I think they tentatively agreed on 9 December 2013.

Philip and Carol Singletary (landowners), Andrea Grover (Spectra):

Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 16 October 2013.

Here we see Andrea Grover meet her match. Carol Singletary spent literally ten minutes asking for a list of landowners along the pipeline path. Andrea Grover kept saying whatever they could make available would be in the FERC filing, and in the meantime they were still finalizing the list as they talked to landowners. Carol Singletary eventually asked point-blank would Spectra make the list available before then, and Andrea Grover finally said “no”. More later about Carol Singletary’s efforts to organize opposition.

I complimented Andrea Grover on staying on message better than almost anybody I’d ever seen. She said she truly believed in the company and what it was doing and she would always tell the truth. That may be so, but not always the whole truth. For example, obviously Spectra does have a working list that they used to determine who they wanted to talk to in that meeting. You can figure out who the landowners in the path are by looking up the parcel numbers on the maps that were on display; see later post for pictures of them.

-jsq

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