Tag Archives: Activism

Children, cancer clusters, citizen water tests @ GA EPD 2014-07-17

Citizens are not convinced EPA, GA-EPD, and GA Dept. of Health are doing enough to find what’s causing widespread sickness and death in Waycross, GA. They asked questions and provided data and anecdotes for more than an hour, demanding more testing and answers, at a meeting about the Seven Out Superfund and other air and water contamination, for example from CSX and AGL.

Georgia Department of Health did offer a new survey, with local help. She also offered to send a local health dept. rep. right out whenever they were alerted a certain site stunk after rains. EPA and GA-EPD admitted there was a problem and said they were trying to fix it, which is a step forward from their preliminary Waycross meeting last November. But not a big enough step or quick enough to satisfy Waycross people who are or who know many who are sick or dying.

They asked very insightful questions, about Continue reading

Seven Out Superfund Assessment Public Meeting @ GA EPD 2014-07-17

6-8PM Thursday 17 July 2014
Memorial Stadium, 715 Dewey St., Waycross, GA 31501

The Environmental Protection Agency, GA Environmental Protection Division, and Georgia Department of Public Health will be present to discuss sample collection and results from the Seven Out Tank site in downtown Waycross.

EPD will also be available to address issues and answer questions regarding CSX.

From Satilla Riverkeeper’s facebook event. Here’s a map: Continue reading

Spectra opens Valdosta office next to Industrial Authority, scene of 2011 anti-biomass protests

VP of Stakeholder Outreach Susan Waller doesn’t want visitors at Spectra’s new office in Valdosta. Which is in the same building as the Industrial Authority, which also didn’t really want some visitors it got during the biomass controversy.

Matthew Woody wrote for the VDT yesterday, Sabal Trail opens Valdosta office,

Susan Waller, vice president of stakeholder outreach and sustainability said, “That is our right-of-way office. It has about 30 right-of-way agents, survey crews, our files and documents, and a few meeting rooms.”

The office houses agents for three counties and will be open in Valdosta for approximately five years, Waller said.

Sabal Trail has eight offices along the pipeline’s route, she said.

“These are not really the facilities for residents to drop by to express concerns because all of the agents will be in and out of the office constantly; however, they could call and make an appointment.”

The VDT didn’t mention that Continue reading

Sabal Trail meeting leaves questions unanswered –VDT

Looks like we have a theme here, of Spectra and Sabal Trail not answering questions, often accompanied by mentions of threatening letters, on WALB (Spectra reps not familiar with fines against their own company), from Shale Property Rights (“your statement is incorrect and misleading”), on WCTV (“tonight’s meeting didn’t ease everyone’s fears”), in the Moultrie Observer (“Sabal began sending letters to landowners”), on Chris Beckham’s radio show (“veiled threats” and no response to a landowner attorney’s letter of denial of access), and spelled out in the headline of yesterday’s VDT article.

Matthew Woody wrote for the VDT yesterday, Sabal Trail meeting leaves questions unanswered,

The formats for both the Wiregrass and Clyattville meetings were perceived by area residents as unfriendly and intimidating.

“It’s the same set up as the meeting at Wiregrass,” said affected landowner Carol Singletary. “I am disappointed.”

Brooks County landowner, Tracy Ryder, said the hardest part about the layout of the meeting was that residents had to come with the right questions to ask because Sabal Trail did not easily provide the information.

“Overall, the meeting has good presentations, but not good information. It seems to be designed to win admiration without providing value. Some of the representatives have been courteous, but they aren’t straightforward with residents,” said James Ryder. “After this meeting, I feel kind of let down. I didn’t get the information that I wanted.”

Many residents expressed concern about safety issues, property values, paying property taxes on land that cannot be developed, reselling their property, and proper compensation for the use of their land.

Here’s a report by the Ryders about the 16 October 2013 meeting by Spectra:

We attended an open house meeting conducted by Sabal Trail in Valdosta, GA, last October at which time people were able to view charts and map and ask questions regarding the proposed pipeline and corridors. Sabal Trail representatives were not releasing information about the corridors and specific properties that were to be impacted because they said they were still in the planning and research stages. They did state they wanted to lay their pipeline next to the SONAT line, and that they were no longer considering utilizing the corridor affecting Tifton, Georgia because “there were too many people involved”. My reply to that was that property owners in Brooks County are people, too, and that we are already negatively impacted by the pre-existing SONAT pipe line.

Most importantly, we did note that there was no representation of Brooks County people at that meeting, or at any of the following meetings in Lowndes County. Lowndes County citizens are quite organized in their resistance to this new pipe line. We are contacting you with a questionnaire to learn what your concerns are. If Brooks County property owners organize and form a united front, we should be able to have our concerns addressed. By organizing we will have greater leverage to if not to change the course of the new gas line, to demand and negotiate better compensation for our losses. As I fear they will be significant.

And according to the VDT, the Ryders remain disappointed in the pipeline company for not supplying information. They’re not the only ones.

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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

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

SpectraBusters Informational Meeting 2013-11-16

Standing room only while Ellis Black (GA Dist. 174), Bill Slaughter (Lowndes County Chairman), and Tim Carroll (Valdosta City Council) spoke after Gretchen Quarterman gave an introduction at the first SpectraBusters Informational Meeting last Saturday. A second meeting is scheduled for this Saturday morning at 10AM at the Valdosta City Hall Annex.

Video. Gretchen asked if there were any representatives from the pipeline company present. Nobody spoke up. Several affected landowners did speak: Beth Gordon from Levy County, Florida and Larry Rodgers and Carol Singletary from Lowndes County, Georgia.

Video. Elected officials spoke. Bill Slaughter (Lowndes County Chairman) said Continue reading

Pipeline opposition meeting planned this weekend –VDT

In the Valdosta Daily Times yesterday.

VALDOSTA — A group of citizens opposed to the Sabal Trail pipeline will meet at the Valdosta City Hall Annex, 300 N. Lee St., Valdosta, GA 31601, Saturday, Nov. 23, from 10 a.m. to noon.

The purpose of this meeting is to discuss the 36-inch natural gas pipeline that is proposed to run through Colquitt, Brooks and Lowndes counties.

Contact: Gretchen Quarterman (229) 834-1945, or Beth Gordon (352) 528-0111.

The VDT piece drew from this PR of 19 Nov 2013, More about the Sabal Trail gas pipeline and how to stop it: SpectraBusters Information Meeting #2.

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SAVE fossil fuel divestment on Spectator front page twice in two weeks

Winning PR by losing initial decisions: SAVE‘s doing it right.

Will Lewis write for The Spectator yesterday, SAVE fails to persuade Foundation,

“Compliance with your well-intentioned request is impractical for a number of reasons and perhaps even a breach of the fiduciary responsibility that all of our trustees take very seriously,” the refusal read.

Here’s SAVE’s request, and here’s SAVE’s president’s comment:

Danielle Jordan, senior anthropology major and president of SAVE, said, “There’s a lot of disappointment but we are not going to stop, we don’t see this as the end of our campaign. It lets us know where we stand with the Board of Trustees.”

The VSU Foundation’s Investment Objectives in the Investment Policy and Guidelines states that “Foundation funds should be invested to produce maximum total return consistent with prudent risk limits.”

On the other hand, the VSU Trustee Handbook says the Mission Statement of the VSU Foundation is: Continue reading

Keep the pipeline fox out of your henhouse! –Don Brotherton

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.

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