Category Archives: Natural gas

Take a stand against the the pipeline –Karen Noll

Received today on Spectra reps unfamiliar with Spectra fines @ LCC 2013-12-09. -jsq

Take a stand against the the pipeline by sending in your comment to FERC.gov. At the website you eRegister and they send you an email. Once registered you can submit a comment on docket # PF14-1. Find below an example of a comment, feel free to copy any or all as you please:

Sabal Trail pipeline proposal poses a significant safety threat to our community through accidents. Leaks from such pipelines in the US have caused explosions and have destroyed homes and killed people 29 times this year alone. Since the proposed pipeline is much larger than any of these recent explosions, a pipeline of 36 inch radius could do extreme damage if such an accident should occur in the Lowndes county area where it is proposed. Not only those living near the pipeline but Continue reading →

Spectra reps unfamiliar with Spectra fines @ LCC 2013-12-09

Both of Spectra’s principal representatives to the Lowndes County Commission and the Dougherty County Commission claim not to be familiar with Spectra’s well-known public record of safety violations, and some of what they say contradicts the public record, so how can we believe any of their safety assertions about Spectra’s proposed Sabal Trail Transmission pipeline?

Update 3PM: more evidence from Pennsylvania and elsewhere.

As I’ve mentioned before, Spectra’s Andrea Grover told us that everyone in Pennsylvania was happy now, after I asked her about the Steckman Ridge compressor station leak in front of reporter Matthew Woody, at the 16 October 2013 Spectra meeting at Wiregrass Tech in Valdosta. There’s more beyond the article about pipeline fines and incidents Woody wrote 24 November 2013 for the Valdosta Daily Times (VDT), the local newspaper of record.

Her excuse for the compressor leak, if I recall correctly, was that Continue reading →

Duke spokesman for closed nuke rate hikes touts new plant for Sabal Trail gas

Would you trust a salesman of failed nukes to sell you a gas plant? Is eminent domain on your property and your community “reasonable and prudent” so Duke can make another bad bet, this time on methane, after Citi GPS and Edison Electric Institute and former FERC Chair Jon Wellinghoff all warned them that solar is going to overtake every other power source within only a few years?

That’s the same Sterling Ivey who announced 2 August 2013 that Duke’s Levy County nuclear plants were cancelled ( Duke Energy Cancels $24.7B Florida Nuke Plant Project, ENRSoutheast, 08/02/2013, by Scott Judy). A few days later, Florida PSC approved a rate hike to pay for Duke’s forever-closed Crystal River nuclear plant. Dave Heller wrote for WTSP 5 August 2013, Florida regulators OK Duke Energy nuclear rate hike,

“These are reasonable and prudent costs as Continue reading →

Sabal Trail answers: Commissioners did forward questions @ LCC 2013-12-09

Nobody said last Monday that Commissioners had asked for a written response from Sabal Trail. All we knew was the four questions Commissioners asked. Maybe the county should hire a public information officer; I see they no longer have one listed on their website front page, and the last website public notice is from April. Fortunately, Commissioner Demarcus Marshall forwarded Spectra’s answers yesterday. He also copied the Valdosta Daily Times, with attached PDF. -jsq

From: Demarcus Marshall
Date: December 13, 2013, 3:01:32 PM CST
Subject: FW: Sabal Trail/Lowndes County Commissioner response FINAL 12122013.pdf

Concerned Citizens,

These are the responses from Sabal Trail regarding the questions forwarded to me. Please forward to those in opposition of the surveys and those that have agreed to them.

Commissioner Demarcus Marshall, M.P.A.

From: Fahrenthold, Brian C
Sent: Thursday, December 12, 2013 9:46 PM
To: Demarcus Marshall
Cc: Bill Slaughter; Joyce Evans; Richard Raines; Crawford Powell; John Page; County Manager; Belinda Lovern
Subject: Sabal Trail/Lowndes County Commissioner response FINAL 12122013.pdf

Commissioner Marshall, Mr. Chairman, Commissioners and County Manager Pritchard:

Attached is a more detailed summation to the questions posed to the Commission by Ms. Singletary.

Should you need Continue reading →

I don’t want to have to fear for my children as they sleep at night –Mindy Bland on WCTV @ LCC 2013-12-10

The Commission didn’t let citizens speak after Spectra’s sales pitch for the Sabal Trail Pipeline Monday, but some citizens spoke up in Citizens to Be Heard Tuesday and WCTV covered that.

Winnie Anne Wright wrote for WCTV yesterday, Citizens Address Lowndes County Commission About Sabal Trail Pipeline,

Residents covered topics such as the lack of economic impact on Lowndes County, the legality of the pipeline, and also the safety.

“As a mother of three, I don’t want to have to fear for my children as they sleep at night. And you hear a lot of people say that natural gas line explosions don’t happen, and for those that feel that they don’t, I really encourage them to go on the internet and google gas line explosions and then tell me that they don’t happen. As a mother, I feel like I have to step up and do what I can to protect my children”, says Mindy Bland, an impacted homeowner.

Continue reading →

Landowner list for Sabal Trail pipeline?

Later that same day, in Williston, Florida, Beth Gordon asked a Sabal Trail blueshirt a simple question. Here’s the non-answer:


Landowner list for Sabal Trail pipeline? “I’ve never been asked for that.”
Video by Beth Gordon, Williston, Levy County, Florida.

Oh, look, it’s Andrea Grover!

To be continued….

This was at one of the Open Houses required by FERC. Coming up tonight, Tuesday, December 10, 2013, 5:00pm to 7:30pm: Continue reading →

All 4 Commissioner questions about the pipeline –VDT @ LCC 2013-12-09

The VDT let local citizens speak, unlike the Lowndes County Commission. Perhaps the VDT, like many local citizens, does not think transparency means what the County Commission thinks it means.

Matthew Woody wrote across the top of the front page of the Valdosta Daily Times today, Sabal Trail presents at County Commission work session,

Protesters stood outside of the Lowndes County Judicial and Administrative Complex at 8:30 a.m. in opposition to the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline project as representatives from the company made a presentation at the Commission Work Session.

That’s Matthew Woody across the street taking that picture, and here are more pictures of the protesters.

“We strive everyday for zero incidences,” Fahrenthold said “All of our meetings, company wide, starts with a safety update.”

Really? So why afterwards did both Brian Fahrenthold and Andra Grover Continue reading →

90 percent approval? Larry Rodgers doubts that @ LCC 2013-12-09

WCTV isn’t just publishing Spectra press releases or sales pitches, unlike the Lowndes County Commission.

Winnie Anne Wright for WCTV today, Sabal Trail Addresses Lowndes County Commission,

“Gas needed to come from one point and end up at another. We looked for those existing corridors that are already in place, to be able to run adjacent and parallel to those so we are lessening the impact on stake holders and the environment and this path that we are currently on, is over 80% adjacent or parallel to those types of things”, says Andrea Grover, Director of Stakeholder Outreach for Sabal Trail.

Well, no it doesn’t need to. Some fat cats in Houston and Juno Beach, Florida want to pump methane through here for their profit and our hazard, but that’s not the same as “needed to”.

But not everyone believes Sabal Trail has Lowndes County’s best interest at heart.

The proposed pipeline would run through Larry Rodgers’ property. He says he gave Sabal Trail access Continue reading →

Frack Off Spectra, We Want Solar @ LCC 2013-12-09

Some citizens spoke up before the Lowndes County Commission meeting, even if the Commission didn’t want to hear from them during.

Continue reading →

A huge impact on land values, not to mention the safety factor –Larry Rodgers on WALB @ LCC 2013-12-09

WALB did what the Lowndes County Commission did not after Spectra’s sales talk this morning: let local citizens speak.

Robert Hydrick on WALB today, Sabal Trail gives information on pipeline project, quoted Spectra rep. Brian Fahrenthold (one of five Spectra sent) about Spectra’s feint of a former route through Valdosta, now aimed through rural Lowndes and Brooks Counties instead:

This updated route, Fahrenthold pointed out, reduces the amount of the city of Valdosta that would be affected as well as reduces the overall area of Lowndes County that would be affected.

“The first route was 31.3 miles and the [new route] is 15.6. That’s a fifty percent reduction in our proposed route,” said Fahrenthold.

Well, no, it’s a shift in Spectra’s proposed route for their Sabal Trail Pipeline to go farther west, past Clyattville and through Brooks, Colquitt, Mitchell, and Dougherty Counties. How does it feel to be expendable, rural landowners?

Fahrenthold also emphasized Continue reading →