As a Commissioner said,
“It don’t pass the smell test”
that Sabal Trail already bought land for a compressor station
before they even filed for a formal permit.
A Commissioner said
“We have to be more aggressive.”
Well, then, time to
pass a land-user ordinance against pipelines!
Thanks to Jennifer Maloney, you can see for yourself Albany and
Dougherty County citizens and Commissioners
opposing the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline
in
a community effort
at a Dougherty County Commission meeting 15 September 2014. Continue reading
Category Archives: Safety
Alternative 4: Richland, Preston, Americus, Cordele, Ashburn and I-75 FERC to Sabal Trail
Richland in Stewart County,
Preston in Webster County, Americus in Sumter County, Cordele in Crisp County,
Ashburn in Turner County,
if you thought you were off the Sabal Trail path, think again!
You’re in FERC’s eye for a 36-inch fracked methane pipeline
just like Tifton, Adel, Hahira, and Valdosta in Tift, Cook, and Lowndes
Counties Georgia, and in Florida Jennings in Hamilton County, Lake City in Columbia County, Alachua and Gainesville in Alachua County, Ocala in Marion County, Wildwood in Sumter County, and Ferndale in Lake County, and probably some other cities and counties you can find on the map.
And Alternative 4 would cross the Withlacoochee River in Lowndes County
just before passing right next to Lowndes High School and an exploding
pipeline segment’s throw from Valdosta Mall.
Alternative 4 in
FERC’s recent instructions for Sabal Trail to “include analyses” would start
even farther north on I-75 than
Alternative 1.
Alternative 4 beginning from Alternate 2 near Richland, Georgia and following Highway 280 to near Americus, Georgia; then following a high voltage transmission line (along Sabal Trail’s Hillabee Alternative route); then following Alternate 1 starting near Tifton, Georgia and extending to the proposed endpoint.
Alternative 3: Albany, Camilla, Thomasville, Monticello, Capps FERC to Sabal Trail
Watch out Dougherty, Mitchell, and Thomas Counties Georgia, and Jefferson, Taylor, Lafayette, Suwannee, and Columbia Counties, Florida, and the Flint, Ochlockonee, Aucilla, Ecofina, Suwannee, and Santa Fe Rivers: Alternative 3 is for you! County Commissions and city councils in the county seats of Camilla, Thomasville, Monticello, Perry, Mayo, Live Oak, and Lake City may want to take action like Jefferson County already did to stop water bottling, as may Alachua, Gainesville, Ocala, Wildwood, The Villages, and Ferndale in Alachua, Marion, Sumter, and Lake Counties, Florida.
Alternative 3 in
FERC’s recent instructions for Sabal Trail to “include analyses” begins
like
Alternative 2 near Armena, GA and goes through Albany,
then veers due south.
Alternative 3 beginning at approximately MP 141 (near Albany, Georgia) and following Highway 82 to Highway 19 (Slappy Boulevard) in Albany, Georgia; then following Highway 19 through Albany, Camilla, and Thomasville, Georgia to the FGT pipeline corridor south of Capps, Florida; then following the FGT pipeline corridor to I-75 and the Alternate 1 and 2 routes to the proposed endpoint.
Here’s a very rough map of the whole route of Alternative 3, including the FGT pipeline part: Continue reading
Alternative 2: MP 141 -> US 82 -> I-75 -> FL Turnpike FERC to Sabal Trail
Watch out Albany Mall, Deerfield-Windsor School, Kerr Gardens Park and Pond,
Miller-Coors Albany Brewery, Pilot Travel Center and of course the Flint River at the US 82 bridge!
If Sabal Trail’s mile point (MP) 141 is still on the Lee-Dougherty County
line just west of Armena, GA on US 82, then
Alternative 2 in
FERC’s recent instructions for Sabal Trail to “include analyses” would look very
much like
Alternative 1, plowing through the north edge of Albany, GA
and much of Dougherty County,
before heading on through Sylvester, Tifton, Adel, Hahira, Valdosta, Jennings, Lake City, Alachua, Gainesville, Ocala, Wildwood, past The Villages, to Ferndale, FL.
Alternative 2 extending along other pipeline and road rights-of-way from near MP 0 to approximately MP 141 (near Albany, Georgia), and then following Alternate 1 to the proposed endpoint.
Here’s MP 141 in the maps Sabal Trail sent to FERC in November 2013: Continue reading
Alternative 1: US 82 -> I-75 -> FL Turnpike FERC to Sabal Trail
After Dawson and Albany, new Georgia cities Sylvester, Tifton, Adel, Hahira, Valdosta in Georgia (right past Lowndes High School), and Jennings, Lake City, Alachua, Gainesville, Ocala, Wildwood, and Ferndale in Florida. If you thought this pipeline wouldn’t affect you, think again. Or some later pipeline if we let this one through. See also Alternative 2 (watch out, Albany!), Alternative 3 Camilla, Thomasville, Monticello, Capps and a row of north Florida counties), and Alternative 4 (Richland, Preston, Americus, Cordele, Ashburn and yet again down I-75 as in Alternative 1).
Update 2014-09-15: Added first paragraph and fixed typos.
FERC’s recent instructions direct Sabal Trail to “include analyses” of
Alternative 1 Alternative 1 extending from near MP 0 to MP 460.6 (the proposed endpoint) following the Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC (Sabal Trail) proposed Sabal Trail Project (Project) route until reaching Highway 82 near Dawson, Georgia; then following Highway 82 to Interstate 75 (I-75); then following I-75 to Highway 91 near The Villages, Florida; then following Highway 91 to Highway 27 near Ferndale, Florida; and then following a Florida Gas Transmission (FGT) pipeline to the proposed endpoint.
Here’s a very rough map of that route, and then let’s name some cities and towns thus targetted by the yard-wide fracked methane pipeline: Continue reading
Water issues in rezoning near VSU, appointments to Hospital and Tree Authorities @ VCC 2014-09-11
WWALS adds some water issues about that
Turner Brooks rezoning,
and there are appointments to the
Hospital
and
Authorities
at tonight’s Valdosta City Council meeting.
Here’s the agenda.
AGENDAContinue reading
REGULAR MEETING OF THE VALDOSTA CITY COUNCIL
5:30 PM Thursday, September 11, 2014
COUNCIL CHAMBERS, CITY HALL
Nova Scotia banned fracking; will southeast U.S. ban fracked methane pipelines?
Yesterday
Nova Scotia announced a ban on fracking.
Will local or state governments in the southeast, now threatened
by the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline,
ban such pipelines?
Especially since FERC has now directed Sabal Trail to examine
routes through Americus, Cordele, Ashburn, Tifton, Adel, Valdosta, and even Thomasville,
in addition
to the ones it already proposed through Dougherty, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties?
Sierra Club Canada wrote about public meetings in its Media Release of 28 August 2014, Government of Nova Scotia Needs to Ban Fracking,
“Public meetings held by the panel were attended by an overwhelming majority of well-informed citizens who had deep concerns about fracking,” according to [Gretchen] Fitzgerald, “Those concerns should be met with the type of leadership they deserve: an immediate, legally binding ban.”
And the Nova Scotia government listened. Bruce Erskine wrote for The Herald Business 3 September 2014, Nova Scotia to ban fracking, posting a video in which you can hear Energy Minister Andrew Younger say: Continue reading
A presentation and some rubberstamping @ LCC 2014-08-26
Congratulations to Ashley Tye for being
only the third in the state to attain
a certificate as a professional emergency manager.
“I was trying to break a record,” bragged County Chairman Bill Slaughter as several people reminded him not to skip approving the minutes, presumably referring to the previous morning’s three-minute Work Session. After the six-minute presentation, they took less than a minute on each of the remaining items, except they did find time for an Executive Session for Attorney-Client Privilege. Who are they suing this time? Crawford Powell had to remind the Chairman not to skip Citizens Wishing to Be Heard, but “There are none,” said the Chairman, with satisfaction.
This time the contractor had magically finished punchlist for Nottinghill that the previous morning the County Engineer said would take a week, but had not finished the work. What does this rubberstamp punchlist mean, then? They approved the Davidson Road drainage easement quit claim from the county back to the landowner.
Here’s the agenda with links into the videos and a few notes, followed by a video playlist.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Three minutes, three items @ LCC 2014-08-25
The contractor
hasn’t finished the punchlist for Nottinghill
but the County Engineer wants the Commission to accept that infrastucture anyway.
The
Davidson Road drainage easement quit claim is from the county back to the landowner.
The
third item must be for tomorrow evening.
Three minutes total for
only
two items from the agenda,
but that’s probably a record.
Normally we post videos of each item separately, but this time, why bother?
They vote Tuesday evening at 5:30 PM.
Here’s the video, followed by the agenda with a few notes, and links to the individual items inside the one video.
Three minutes, three items
Work Session, Lowndes County Commission (LCC),
Video by Gretchen Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),
Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 August 2014.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor
Emergency, Nottinghill, Drainage @ LCC 2014-08-25
Last December
Chairman Slaughter wanted relatives of those selling land for Nottinghill
to come forward and state their names
the day after
he didn’t ask Spectra Energy reps to do that
during their sales pitch for the Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline?
Well, the
county is now pondering accepting infrastructure for that subdivision.
Maybe the won’t accept that pipeline, which they could prevent by
passing or enforcing local land use zoning ordinances.
There’s also a
Quit Claim Deed for Drainage Easement on Davidson Road
and an
Emergency Management Certificate Presentation,
and that’s it, on the lightest agenda in recent memory.
LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERSContinue reading
PROPOSED AGENDA
WORK SESSION, MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2014, 8:30 a.m.
REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2014, 5:30 p.m.
327 N. Ashley Street — 2nd Floor