Tag Archives: 22 October 2013

Commissioners listened about the pipeline @ LCC 2013-10-22

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 →

It was an outright threat –Ronald Kicklighter on Sabal Trail pipeline @ LCC 2013-10-22

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 →

This company is awful –Phillip Singletary on Sabal Trail pipeline @ LCC 2013-10-22

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 →

All the rest of you are new –Sidney Blanton on SPLOST @ LCC 2013-10-22

A citizen expressed concerns about lack of transparency in SPLOST,
at the

Lowndes County Commission Regular Session 2013-10-22.



Video.
He remarked that Commissioner Joyce Evans was the only one he knew,
all the rest were new.

He said he would also talk to the Valdosta City Council that Thursday.
(Later I told him they had

cancelled that meeting due to lack of agenda items; he did speak
at the following Valdosta City Council meeting.)
He said he wanted the city to say the Withlacoochee Wastewater Treatment Plant was their first priority, and he attested that when he used to crop
tobacco on that site it was underwater then when it flooded.

He especially didn’t like that the county didn’t list what projects
it was going to fund with SPLOST.
I agree with him about that part.

Here’s

the video: Continue reading →

Help the citizens of Lowndes County –Carol Singletary on Sabal Trail pipeline @ LCC 2013-10-22

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 →

Videos: Pipeline, health, insurance, library, and alcohol @ LCC 2013-10-22



The big event was that
citizens speaking about the pipeline got
four of five Commissioners to come down and listen afterwards.
And
in a surprise addition to the agenda
D.A. J. David Miller asked for and got approval for a victim assistance program.
All this and

insurance plan,
health plan,
a

road closing,
a grant proposal to renovate the
Library (did the Commissioners get the whole
board packet this time?)
and let’s not forget a special performance on fire by
Chairman Bill Slaughter,
plus apparently
the County Commission is in charge of rain
like it’s in charge of
alcohol.

Here’s

the agenda with links to the videos, and a few notes.
See also
the previous morning’s Work Session.

LOWNDES COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS

PROPOSED AGENDA

WORK SESSION, MONDAY, OCTOBER 21, 2013, 8:30 a.m.

REGULAR SESSION, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2013, 5:30 p.m.

327 N. Ashley Street – 2nd Floor

Continue reading →

Pipeline complaints heard at Lowndes County Commission @ LCC 2013-10-22

You don’t see this every day.
After several citizens spoke in the Commission meeting against the proposed
Sabal Trail pipeline and asked for the Lowndes County Commission to help them,
four Commissioners stayed afterwards to listen to citizens:


Four Commissioners listening to citizens

L-R:

Tim Bland,
a citizen who spoke in the meeting,
Joyce Evans (District 1), Matthew Woody (VDT), John Page (District 4),
Bill Slaughter (Chairman),
Carol Singletary,

Demarcus Marshall (District 5), and other citizens.

Pictures by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),

Valdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 22 October 2013.

Richard Raines (District 2) left quickly, saying he didn’t feel well.

Crawford Powell (District 3) spent the same time talking to
County Engineer Mike Fletcher (who

was at the Spectra meeting a week ago)
about what could be done.
There are things the county can ask for, and maybe get,
that individual citizens cannot so easily accomplish.

Video of the Commission meeting will follow, including
the citizens speaking.

-jsq