Frack Off Spectra, We Want Solar @ LCC 2013-12-09
Some citizens spoke up before the
Lowndes County Commission meeting, even if the Commission didn’t want to hear from them during.
Tag Archives: John S. Quarterman
U.S. EPA, GA DNR, GA Health Dept., and landfill in Lowndes County @ EPA 2013-11-14
At the
EPA meeting in Waycross about the Seven Out Superfund site,
EPA, GA EPD, and state health officials also had information about
crossover contamination in Lowndes County.
Matthew J. Huyser, On-Scene Coordinator for U.S. EPA,
told me that before
EPA shipped those 196,500 gallons of wastewater from Seven Out to the Pecan Row Landfill in Lowndes County
they had applied procedures that were supposed to ensure those liquids
were no longer toxic and had tested them to be sure.
He said he would send me the specifics on that.
I didn’t ask him whether
CSX toxic wastes were shipped to Lowndes County.
Huyser also said EPA had checked the record of that receiving landfill
before sending anything there, and it had a good record.
He seemed surprised to learn Continue reading
Transparency not a problem –Bill Slaughter @ VLMPO 2013-10-23
Defining away another problem,
like he already did
Internet access,
Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter
said:
I can’t honestly just buy into the real problem of transparency in this community.
This was after numerous people in the room at the
VLMPO Open House on Common Community Vision at Mildred Hunter 23 October 2013
expressed concerns about needs to
video local government meetings and put them online,
and to make various processes more open.
Regarding videoing, Slaughter trotted out former Valdosta Mayor John Fretti’s old chestnut about allegedly in cities where meetings are televised citizens grandstand and the meetings drag on forever. Nevermind that there are numerous ways to do it, such as putting videos on the web and not simulcasting, and in places like Tallahassee that do both not many citizens usually show up. The people I’ve seen grandstanding consistently at local government meetings around here are Continue reading
Open House at Mildred Hunter on Common Community Vision @ VLMPO 2013-10-23
“We have broadband”, said Bill Slaughter, while other people had different opinions on that and other topics Wednesday night at the Mildred Hunter Community Center.
Corey Hull introduced the session and a small but vocal group of citizens
discussed all
the main topic headings.
He noted that there are more than twelve plans already in place
in the various cities and counties in the Valdosta Lowndes Metropolitan
Planning Area.
Yet there were many common themes in those plans, and VLMPO was looking
for other common areas in these meetings and online,
and more specifically strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
If you have a community group of any size, VLMPO can come talk to it.
They’ve been to the Chamber, to Rotary, to churches, etc.
They expect to wrap this process up in December,
with common vision and goals for the next ten or twenty years.
Local officials present included Matt Martin,
Planning and Zoning Administrator for the City of Valdosta,
and Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter.
Martin didn’t say much, but Bill Slaughter was quite vocal.
I thanked him for speaking up, even though I didn’t agree with everything he said.
He helped clarify current county codes for stormwater retention,
and Martin helped clarify the city’s codes.
As a long-time participant in local development (he’s CEO of Waller Heating and Air) Slaughter said when people are buying houses all they look at is Continue reading
Spectra maps @ Pipeline 2013-10-16
The path of the pipeline through Lowndes County
(and part of Brooks and Hamilton) is shown in these
maps that were on easels at the
Spectra presentation at Wiregrass Tech last night.
Brooks @ US 84 and Withlacoochee River:
Lowndes @ Spain Ferry Road:
Continue readingSpectra met Lowndes and Valdosta @ Pipeline 2013-10-16
Spectra Energy subsidiary Sabal Trail Transmission held
a landowner one-on-one at Wiregrass Tech last night.
Matthew Woody of the VDT was there, as was one Valdosta City Council
member, one Lowndes County Commissioner, and at least two county staff,
plus some landowners (“might as well get something out of this”,
several said at the food bar), one of whom was a match for Andrea Grover.
Matthew Woody, VDT:
Continue readingPipeline dog and pony in Albany Monday
Monday in Albany, Tuesday in Moultrie, and tonight in Valdosta, the pipeline roadshow is rolling through Georgia towards Florida. These are not public hearings or town halls: the pipeline company seems to be trying to get landowners in the path to show up, but anybody can attend.
Brad McEwen wrote for the Albany Herald yesterday, Residents attend pipeline forum,
Sabal Trail Transmission LLC, which is a joint venture between energy giants Spectra Energy Corp. and NextEra Energy Inc., hosted the event to give citizens an opportunity to ask questions and learn more about the proposed project.
Set up like an open house, the forum had 15 Sabal Trail subject matter experts on hand to greet residents and Continue reading
Spectra pipeline meeting tonight at Wiregrass Tech @ Pipeline 2013-10-16
Spectra Energy will tell us how great their proposed pipeline will be,
as it
cuts a 100-foot wide path from Anniston, Alabama to Orlando, Florida
through south Georgia,
using eminent domain to make you sell your land,
to deliver gas
from fracking in Pennsylvania
for the benefit of
Florida Power and Light.
Maybe you’d like to ask Spectra reps
Brian Fahrenthold
or
Andrea Grover a few questions,
like can we see a map of the proposed route, with parcel numbers,
and what about those
fines for violating federal regulations and Spectra’s own corporate operating procedures?
Added: facebook event.
-
Tonight (Wednesday) 16 October 2013 5:00-7:30 pm.
-
Wiregrass Georgia Tech (Atrium)
4089 Val Tech Road
Valdosta, GA
The Wiregrass Tech contact is Christy Cobb; she wasn’t in when I called yesterday. Tech’s web server still seems to be down, but Google has cached her as: Continue reading
GIS maps of Sabal Trail pipeline preferred route
Sabal Trail had an interactive GIS map of the entire pipeline route in Moultrie last night, with zoom and pan detail as good as the tax assessor maps for Brooks and Lowndes Counties. The Sabal Trail reps declined to provide a copy of the whole GIS, but they obligingly panned down the pipeline and waited while I took pictures with my smartphone.
Here’s GIS of the pipeline route through Brooks and Lowndes Counties:
This is zoomed in where the route crosses US 84 and then the Withlacoochee River, which is the county line:
Continue readingSabal Trail Pipeline Context maps –Spectra Energy and FPL
Where does Spectra Energy’s natural gas come from,
and where does it go?
These maps from
the Moultrie meeting help explain.
Spoiler: from fracking to FPL.
In “Our Portfolio of Assets”, Spectra Energy shows pipelines running from shale gas formations in and around Pennsylvania and down the Appalachians into Tennessee, through north Georgia, and into Alabama, as well as from gas storage facilities in Louisiana and shale fields in Texas.
So that’s where it comes from:
the Marcellus Shale and its relatives down through
(soon) the Conasauga Shale in north Georgia and Alabama
and into Louisiana and Texas.
Fracking, in other words.
That was not a word that was used by any of the Sabal Trail reps nor a word that appeared on any of their maps or in any of their handouts. But fracking is how natural gas is extracted from the Marcellus Shale, as Andrea Grover presumably knows, since she was sent to Pennsylvania in April to explain a Spectra Energy gas release from a compressor in Marcellus Shale country.
Where is the gas through the Sabal Trail pipeline supposed to go? Orlando, to the Sabal Trail Central Florida Hub. Why? Well, according to Andrea Grover, Florida Power and Light is “modernizing”. She explained that FPL has shut down some coal plants, and is converting to natural gas. She this map of the Florida Southeast Connection:
Continue reading