On the behalf of the Commission and Citizens of Lowndes County –Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter to FERC about the Sabal Trail methane pipeline

These are the fourteen items he promised two weeks ago at the SpectraBusters panel at VSU: Sabal Trail will be expected to adhere and honor all Lowndes County Ordinances –Bill E Slaughter, JR to FERC, 10 April 2014. I thank Chairman Slaughter for making that statement to FERC.

Despite his apparent refusal to speak on behalf of all the citizens of the county after the 24 February 2014 Commission meeting, he did actually say his ecomment to FERC was “on the behalf of the Commission and Citizens of Lowndes County”, and that he expects Sabal Trail to follow all Lowndes County ordinances, plus he supports Colquitt County’s request for a minimum depth requirement.

While his statement doesn’t go nearly as far as many including me would have liked, it is a step beyond what I at least expected. It’s certainly several steps beyond his first statement 25 June 2013 in which he seemed to disclaim all responsibility about the pipeline. It’s also a big step beyond the Spectra sales pitch at the 9 December 2013 Work Session and the uncritical forwarding by the county of Spectra’s PR answers to citizen questions. We’ve since seen much smaller Gilchrist County, FL show how to interrogate a pipeline company.

Maybe next we’ll see some of the other things Lowndes County (or any county) can do, such as Carol Singletary’s request for citizen input into what the county attorneys of Lowndes, Brooks, Colquitt, and Dougherty have been discussing, and pass some ordinances such as for minimum horizontal distance, like Mario Bartoletti suggested. Or ask for profit sharing like Tom Hochschild suggested, or check our work about the pipeline like Gretchen Quarterman suggested. Or help educate the public using materials such as Danielle Jordan provided, or talk to the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG) about guidance for safety procedure implementation as suggested by the National Transportation Safety Board.

Oh, and the Lowndes County Commission could pass a resolution opposing the pipeline coming into the county.

Meanwhile, thanks to Chairman Slaughter for a good step forward.

-jsq

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