Here are videos of the whole thing.

Update 2014-03-08: Fixed date.

See also:

• FERC holds meeting to discuss Sabal Trail pipeline by Colter Anstaett, WALB

  “I just lost a contract on the sale of part of my property because of this pipeline,” said Larry Rodgers, a Lowndes County landowner.

  “Why is it set in stone that you pay one price forever for the value of the property they use when they’re gonna be makin’ profits on it forever…the landowner has to continue to pay property taxes. So, I don’t understand why they can’t share the profits,” continued Rodgers….

  One concerned landowner, Rick Hastings, questioned whether any information that the third party collected and presented to Sabal Trail would be truthful and unbiased.

  “What truly, honestly, is there to keep a corporation paying a consultant not to say exactly and do exactly what the corporation paying their bills wants them to say,” Hastings asked.

  Another concerned landowner questioned whether the public’s comment would actually affect whether the pipeline is ultimately built or not.

  “Do we really have a voice? Can we really stop y’all,” said the concerned landowner.

• Sabal Trail meeting gets personal by Matthew Woody, VDT

  Potentially affected landowners Jerry and Elaine Mercer spoke before the event. Mrs. Mercer said, “To them (Sabal Trail) it’s a business, but to us it’s personal. You can’t get more personal than land.” Mr. Mercer said, “My land will be gone once they put that pipe in because I can’t use it; our property values will drop, and most of all I am worried about safety.”

  Kelley Clark mentioned safety concerns and liability issues. “If something happens, who are we going to sue?” Clark asked. She also brought up the health concerns about the fracking process.

  Landowner Janice Anderson said she and her mother own land that has been in their family for 75 to 100 years, and sometimes they contract their land to farmers. She said that if the construction of the pipeline affects the farmers’ crop then the Andersons could be sued. Her mother said, “It will run right by my house, and I haven’t given permission for them to survey my land.”

  Ronald Kicklighter posed a question about the intent of the excess natural gas going to Florida. “They can’t burn all of that gas; are they going to export it?” Peconom answered, as of now, FERC has not received any distribution requests from Florida Gas and Light.

  Sheila Haner encouraged land owners to use their voice. Danielle Jordan mentioned the numerous fines being paid, and said that the pipeline will negatively affect the environment, devastating valuable land and natural resources. Carol Singletary, a landowner, said she has proposed several alternative routes to FERC.

  Dr. Michael Noll was the final citizen to speak at the scoping meeting, and he requested that FERC pursue renewable energy alternatives because the U.S. will eventually run out of its natural gas reserves. “We are doing this to ourselves, and it’s not American. We can do better. We can do better by our resources because they will run out,” he said.

  The VDT has corrected a number of typos, I see, including Dr. “Knoll”‘s name. They also seem to have removed some material, but the story stil includes many landowner quotes. You can see and hear all of the speakers in the LAKE videos.

• All against, except County Commissioners @ FERC 2014-03-04, by jsq in the LAKE blog

  Three Lowndes County Commissioners were there: Chairman Bill Slaughter, Joyce Evans, and Crawford Powell, and County Engineer Mike Fletcher and Utilities Director Mike Allen. Not one of them spoke….

  The people represented themselves, with many cogent arguments, ranging from specific route details to the big questions FERC wasn’t taking seriously to the huge Halliburton loophole in federal water quality protection that permits the fracking that this pipeline is intended to market. The audience clapped loudly after almost every speaker. Except when FERC or the contractor spoke. Then nobody clapped.

Here’s a video playlist:

Videos: Valdosta FERC Scoping Meeting
Sabal Trail Methane Pipeline,
Scoping Meeting, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC),
Video by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 March 2014.

Videos from last night’s meeting in Moultrie will be up soon.

-jsq

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