Tag Archives: FERC

Larry Rodgers and Mindy Bland on Chris Beckham radio show right now



Lowndes County landowners Larry Rodgers and Mindy Bland on the

Chris Beckham radio show right now.
“Veiled threats” –Mindy Bland.
Larry Rodgers said:

These people do not have a customer in Georgia, so eminent domain
does not apply in Georgia.

His

attorney (Bill Langdale) responded to a

Sabal Trail lawyer letter
saying that, and as yet there is no response.

You continue paying taxes on that property forever.
They continue making profits on that property forever.

Chris Beckham remarked that there’s no other 36 inch pipeline
in Georgia, and Mindy is explaining Continue reading →

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 →

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 →

SpectraBusters against the Sabal Trail pipeline

Pipeline opposition got

written up in the Albany Herald.
You haven’t seen many pipeline posts here in the LAKE blog lately
because

SpectraBusters
has its own blog now.


SpectraBusters

Other recent developments include

Florida PSC tentatively approved pipeline,
Gertrude Dickinson’s

stream of opposition from Sumter County Florida,
and

schedule of Open House meetings in December required by FERC
among the

FERC filings about the Sabal Trail pipeline
and

how to file a comment or become an intervenor with FERC.

Remember

Spectra will be haunting the Lowndes County Commission Work Session 9 December 2013.



And if you want to see where Spectra’s gas comes from,
come see

Gasland II at VSU 7PM Thursday 7 Nobemver 2013.


SpectraBusters: We ain’t afraid a no pipeline!

-jsq

Schedule of Open Houses required by FERC for Sabal Trail

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.

Here’s
FERC’s definition of Open Houses: Continue reading →

Florida Southeast Connection pipeline preliminary filing with FERC

What costs

less than a latte or a slice of pizza?


A day’s electricity from Florida Power and Light, according to

FPL VP Pam Rauch who also is NextEraEnergy VP and President of yet
another pipeline company shell that wants to pull a 100 foot gas pipeline through
Georgia for the benefit of Florida.

Still more

names in the pipeline shell game:
Pamela Rauch who filed FP14-2 for

Florida Southeast Connection LLC (FSC),
is

Vice President, Development and
External Affairs for NextEraEnergy
and

Vice President of External Affairs for Florida Power & Light
Company (FPL) in January since 2008;
on her



LinkedIn profile
she has the NextEra logo next to the FPL name.
Here’s a nice picture of her

making a case for an FPL rate increase for, among other things,



“our ability to finance the billions of dollars in improvements that keep reliability high and bills low, and that create thousands of jobs for you and your neighbors.”

Those would include

“modernizations” as Spectra rep Andrea Grover put it in Moultrie like
closing coal plants and building
this

pipeline through Georgia
by Spectra Energy, a company with

a corrosive-record of property damage
and

PCB-spilling environmental damaga
for neighbors like hers in Florida.
We could have more jobs for people right here through rooftop solar, and we’d get energy, reduced bills, and no risk of PCB or other spills.

What do you think about this,
neighbors in Georgia?
Maybe you’d like to get the Lowndes County Commission to get Spectra and maybe FSC to

come explain themselves?

FERC
file list for FP14-2 and text of the preliminary filing approval for
Florida Southeast Connection:
Continue reading →

WCTV on the pipeline



Spectra said “more rural” “lessens stakeholder impact”.
What do you think about that, rural landowners whose land Spectra wants?
County Chairman Bill Slaughter said
the most positive thing he’s said so far,
“we’re going to be looking out for the citizens of Lowndes County”,
about this
natural gas pipeline potentially ripping a 100 foot right of way
through this county and many others in Georgia, Florida, and Alabama
for the benefit of Florida Power and Light.
And Valdosta, you’re not for sure out of the pipeline path:
remember

FERC could choose that Option B through Valdosta that is Spectra’s
alternate route.


Option B by WCTV

James Buechele wrote for WCTV yesterday,

Pipeline Would Cut Through Florida & Georgia, Continue reading →

Florida opposition to Spectra pipeline

The Sabal Trail roadshow rolled on to Florida, but hasn’t
bowled over at least one landowner.

Dave D’Marko wrote for mynews13.com yesterday,

Pipeline bringing gas, concerns to Floridians,



A new gas pipeline is coming to Florida that will pump up to a
billion cubic feet a day to Florida Power and Light customers.

But some property owners aren’t happy. The company plans to take
the pipeline right through their land. Sabal Trail Transmission met
with landowners in Kissimmee Tuesday night. Another meeting is
planned at South Lake High School in Groveland Wednesday.

Gertrude Dickinson, 82, got her first letter in June, warning her a
company was bidding to bring a gas pipeline to Florida and her
property was being considered. She didn’t wait for the project to
gain approval, which it did later in the summer, and started
fighting it immediately.

“I said I want a map of exactly where you are putting that pipe on
my land and how much you are going to use,” Dickinson said.


Sabal Trail Route Map

She said what she got in return was this map showing all three
states the 465 mile pipeline would go through, and a dot showing the
general area she lived in Sumter County. What it didn’t explain is
why they wanted to go through her land, and not the state-owned
prairie across the street.

Well, that all sounds familiar.
And look who’s down there speaking for Spectra:

Andrea Grover, a spokesperson for Sabal Trail Transmission, is part
of the “Right of Way” team meeting with 3,000 landowners along the
corridor. She said so far 80 percent have given permission for land
surveying.

But Dickinson posted no trespassing signs, refusing to let surveyors
on her land. Signs on her property point out she suffers from a
condition known as auditory recruitment, which means noise from
construction would be greatly amplified in her ears. She says
previous episodes have led to heart attacks.

The company said it will reimburse owners fair value for their
property, but Dickinson doubts that would be much in this economy.

“I can buy a few bags of groceries with the money and that’s it,
and for what? They’ve taken my property, and my entrance, and my
life possibly who knows,” she said.

-jsq

Sabal Trail pipeline preliminary filing with FERC

Look at the other company names in this filing:


Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Company, LLC (Transco),
Florida Southeast Connection, LLC (FSC),
and Merjent, Inc.
And another one, since filer Lisa A. Connolly is listed by Spectra as with

Gulfstream Natural Gas System, LLC.
Oh, and she’s also
General Manager, Spectra Energy Transmission, according to

Center for Houston’s Future.

United Way of Houston says she’s
General Manager, Rates & Certificates
for the Spectral puppet master, Spectra Energy.

All three shells, Sabal Trail, Transco, and FSC,
are hoping to get a common environmental rubberstamp
with Merjent ghost-writing their Spectral document:

Transco- and FSC-sponsored projects are requesting separate pre-filing reviews.
However, you have indicated that these three projects are connected actions and, as such,
my staff will perform a single environmental review of these projects and will prepare
one environmental impact statement that addresses all three projects….

My staff has reviewed the proposals submitted for the selection of one third-party
contractor to assist us in preparing the National Environmental Policy Act documentation
required for the Sabal Trail, Transco, and FSC Projects. We have selected Merjent, Inc.
(Merjent) as the third-party contractor to work under the direct supervision and control of
the Commission staff for all three projects. I request that you, Transco and FSC proceed
with executing a contract with Merjent so work may begin as soon as possible.

FERC

file list for PF14-1
and text of the letter: Continue reading →

Request pipeline town hall –Tim Bland to LCC

Received yesterday. Tim Bland wrote
“This is what I emailed to all of the commissioners on Friday.”
I added a few links and pictures.
-jsq

Commissioners,



I would like to start by thanking Demarcus Marshall for attending
the meeting held by Sabal Trail at Wiregrass Tech on Wednesday. It
is nice to know that some of our elected officials are concerned
about this project.

After talking with many of the affected landowners at this meeting,
it appears that there is a general misconception about the
certainty of this proposed pipeline. The officials from Sabal
Trail, both in writing and in person, are telling landowners that
this pipeline is coming and there is little any of us can do to
prevent it. This appears to be the main reason for the high
approval rating for the initial surveys. We were told that if we
did not willingly participate in the survey, there would be little
consideration given to our input and opinions when the pipeline is
built. We were also told Continue reading →