A local mom said she was one of many landowners being bullied
by a pipeline company and asked for help from local leaders,
at the
7 November 2013 Valdosta City Council Regular Session.
Here’s Part 1 of 2:
Carol Singletary’s impassioned and reasoned plea
got a response from Mayor John Gayle,
even if it was only Continue reading
Commissioners at least listened about the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission pipeline, at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2013-10-22. Now what will they do?
Video.
The Chairman started out reiterating his disclaimer of county responsibility from back in June,
but
at least this time said they’d take a look at it and they understood
what people were going through.
Carol Singletary started to respond, and Slaughter said they would
talk to her in a few minutes.
And they did.
Here’s Part 1 of 2:
Commissioners listened about the pipeline Part 1 of 2:
Regular Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2013.
Video of after adjournment. See
previous post about how unusual Continue reading
A citizen didn’t appreciate a pipeline company’s bullying, especially when a second pipeline would make his land mostly useless and hard to sell, at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2013-10-22.
Video.
He said he had an existing pipeline less than fifty feet from his back yard,
and this one would be less than sixty feet on the other side,
wiping out the use of much of his property,
including planting trees.
He said he probably couldn’t even sell his property with two pipelines on it.
He asked for help from the Commission.
Commissioner Crawford Powell asked for the name of the road Kicklighter lived on.
Here’s the video: Continue reading
A citizen brought up the sordid health and safety record Spectra Energy, at the Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2013-10-22.
Video.
He thanked Commissioner Marshall for coming to the
Spectra pipeline meeting at Wiregrass Tech 16 Oct 2013,
and said that meeting wasn’t very informative.
He asked Commissioners to put themselves in the landowner’s place.
Also to consider that there’s nothing in Georgia that needs a 36″ gas pipeline, which is actually going to to a power plant in Florida, coming out of Alabama. He wondered why it couldn’t run down highway rights of way instead.
He remarked on catastrophic failures, and noted the pipline company, Spectra, had been fined a record $15 million for PCB cleanup along another pipeline.
“This company is awful,”
he said. He noted a gas explosion of that size pipe could take out two football fields. He wondered if the pipeline would go through the county’s closed landfill.
He recommended they, as Commissioners or as individuals, contact FERC. He asked for them to set up a meeting with Spectra. They did later schedule Spectra to speak at their 9 December 2013 Work Session.
Here’s the video: Continue reading
A plea for help was at least partially heard by the Lowndes County Commission at their Regular Session 2013-10-22.
Video.
A landowner in the path of the proposed Sabal Trail Transmission pipeline
reminded the Commissioners of their own
mission statement,
mentioned the
Spectra pipeline meeting at Wiregrass Tech 16 Oct 2013,
said the letter the pipeline company sent her cited
Georgia law about eminent domain,
and urged Commissioners to
contact FERC.
She said:
You have a way to help the citizens of Lowndes County. … If you go on record saying you don’t have any impact, where does that leave us?
Commissioner John Page asked her to remain after the meeting so he could “gather some more information from her”. See separate post.
Here’s the video: Continue reading
LTE in the VDT yesterday, scan by Michael Noll. And you can also rescind. -jsq
Say no to Sabal
I have been contacted by Sabal Trail Transmission for the permission to survey our property for the proposed natural gas pipeline in Lowndes County Afier receiving several letters from Sabal and now having received the “scary” certified letter, my answer is still the same. No. We already have one gas pipeline on our property and having two will not be twice the fun.
Sabal is in the very early stages of gathering information to get a permit from FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission). They can only gather this information from surveys. If property owners allow them to survey It is the same as letting the fox in the hen house. They will have the information they need to obtain the permit.
Keep the fox out of your hen house! If you haven’t already said yes, just say no!
Don Brotherton
Valdosta
Here’s a sample letter
to deny permission to Sabal Trail Transmission.
And even if you already signed, you can resind permission. Here’s a sample letter to deny permission to Sabal Trail Transmission.
More on SpectraBusters.
-jsq
LTE in the VDT today. I added the images and the links. -jsq
Albert Einstein once said that “the world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” This philosophy can be applied to countless social and political issues and speaks of the dangers of apathy. Add to this situation a lack of information and our society is truly in danger, as companies like SPECTRA Energy not only count on our apathy, but will also try to hoodwink us.
The Sabal Trail Pipeline currently discussed in our community is really part of a larger story, a process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. Fracking allows companies like Halliburton to free oil and gas trapped in geologic formations, but in a fashion that is extremely dangerous to our environment (especially
groundwater aquifers) and human health. Exempt from the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act, fracking has created countless problems for communities from Pennsylvania to Texas, and may soon be coming to north Georgia.
The gas pipeline under discussion is literally a tentacle Continue reading
Andrea Grover of Sabal Trail Transmission has been telling Florida
landowners about another proposed pipeline route that completely
bypasses Georgia.
Received yesterday on
Request pipeline town hall –Tim Bland to LCC:
For those that are against having the pipeline run through their property, go to Ocala Star Banner on the web where there is a map with the proposed route for the pipeline from Alabama to Florida. This route barely touches the southwest corner
-Ronald Kicklighter
Contracts for natural gas pipeline through Florida get initial OK, by Morgan Watkins for Ocala StarBanner picked up a story first run in the Gainesville Sun,
A $3.5 billion, 600-mile natural-gas pipeline system that will stretch from Alabama into Florida is still in the planning stages, but homeowners near the Ichetucknee and Santa Fe rivers are concerned because the routes being proposed might run through their neighborhoods.
Landowners in Georgia don’t want it crossing their land or the Flint or Withlacoochee Rivers, either.
Florida Power & Light selected Continue reading
Received yesterday.
Good first step. Will the Commission also have Spectra speak at the Regular
Session, like they did ADS back in February?
Will it make that a public hearing?
Update 11:30 AM:
Pipeline meeting set:
Commissioner gathers opposing views by Matthew Woody, front page of the VDT this morning. -jsq
From: Demarcus Marshall <marshall at lowndescounty.com>
Date: Friday, October 25, 2013 7:51 AM
To: Tim Bland
Cc: Matthew Woody
Subject: Sabal Trail PipelineTim and Residents along the Proposed Sabal Trail Pipeline,
Brian Fahrenthold of Sabal Trail Pipeline contacted me yesterday and requested an audience with the Lowndes County Commissioners. I have submitted to the chairman a slot for him to address the commissioners at our December 09, 2013 work session.
I am writing you to ask Continue reading
After the series of divide-and-conquer landowner meetings
Spectra just held, another series of Open Houses starts in December:
here’s the schedule.
Later, FERC may hold and sponsor Scoping Meetings.
Local counties can hold public hearings in addition to all these,
and Andrea Grover said in front of multiple witnesses that Spectra
would speak and answer questions at such a county public hearing.
Update 3 Dec 2013: Brooks County, Georgia already had a citizen speak. Lowndes County, Georgia is having Sabal Trail speak. See the calendar. See also Sabal Trail’s own list of open houses.
There’s also a meeting of the corporate cast of characters with FERC on November 5, 2013. I wonder if intervenors could attend that meeting, at least by telephone?
The Open House roadshow gets to Albany Dec 11, Moultrie Dec 12, and Clyattville Dec 16, interleaved with meetings in Alabama and Florida.