Tag Archives: Sabal Trail Transmission

Sabal Trail not a common carrier with open access in Georgia –Mindy Bland @ LCC 2013-12-10



A local landowner said that with no open access in Georgia,
Sabal Trail Transmission should have no standing to use
Georgia eminent domain law.
And Sabal Trail must comply with local, state, and federal laws and
ordinances, including ones that could be passed by the Lowndes
County Commission, she said at their

10 December 2013 Regular Session.



For example, a depth ordinance, or an ordinance requiring
a minimum distance from homes or schools.
Or a tax on the pipeline easement.
She recommended

PipelineSafetyInfo.com.
She asked for the Commissioners to use their voice.

As
WCTV quoted her in their coverage, she said,

I don’t want to have to fear for my children as they sleep at night.



County Manager Joe Pritchard shuffled papers and

alleged County Attorney Walter G. Elliott yawned during these
citizen presentations.

Mindy Bland
noted Commissioner Powell had asked for Continue reading →

The supposed pipeline economic benefits –Thomas Hochschild @ LCC 2013-12-10

How about a profit-sharing venture the pipeline partners and
the County?
A VSU professor asked that at the

10 December 2013 Regular Session of the Lowndes County Commission.

Dr. Hochschild listed a few benefits Spectra rep. Brian Fahrenthold

had claimed the previous morning.



Considering the vast profits Florida Power and Light and Sabal Trail
stand to make from the use of our land,
I know they can do a lot better than hotel stays, Big Macs, and temporary jobs.
Mr. Fahrenthold claimed the pipeline would be economically beneficial
because it will supposedly bring in $460 million in property taxes
over the next sixty years.



First I’d like to know if an independent agency came up with that projection,
or if Continue reading →

Nash County, NC has agendas and minutes for many local boards online



A county

no bigger than Lowndes County has

agendas and minutes online for
its Board of Commissioners, Board of Health, Local Emergency Planning Committee,
Board of Adjustment,
Board of Elections,
Social Services Board,
and yes, its Planning Board.

Why can Nash County, NC afford this yet Lowndes County Chairman Bill Slaughter
says Lowndes County can’t afford to put agendas and minutes online for
the Greater Lowndes Planning Commission?


And if a county can require a solar farm to follow stormwater management
and numerous other regulations, why can’t a county require a natural
gas pipeline to follow local regulations?

It can, if its elected officials actually stand up for their citizens.
And why can Nash County, quite a bit north of Lowndes County,
install solar farm after solar farm while there are none in Lowndes County?

The Nash County online documents also include the details of what the
various boards were considering, such as in the

Agenda and Minutes of the Nash County Planning Board 21 October 2013,
which include this item:



  1. Conditional Use Permit Request CU-130901 (Previously Tabled Item).


    Made by Chris Killenberg With Community Energy Solar on Behalf of Castalia Solar LLC to
    Develop a Solar Farm on an Approximately 22.91 Acre Portion of Two Tracts Located on
    the West Side of N NC Highway 58 and South of NC Highway 56 in the A1 Agricultural
    Zoning District.

And not just the agenda item, also

extended discussion in the meeting, including: Continue reading →

Ask your Congress members to oppose TPP today

Here’s

a handy form by EFF
to oppose the secretly-negotiated privacy-deleting corporate-greed-defending
natural gas export pipeline-enabling Trans-Pacific Parternship treaty.

Parker Higgins and Maira Sutton
wrote for the Electronic Frontier Foundation
28 December 2013,

2013 in Review: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement,


Stop Secret Copyright Treaties

The biggest TPP story this year was the publication by WikiLeaks
in November of the chapter titled “Intellectual Property.” Unfortunately,
its contents confirmed many of our worst fears: from
ratcheting up copyright term lengths
around the world, to
boxing in fair use, to mandating a draconian legal regime around DRM software, section
after section contained clauses plucked from corporate wishlists and
snubbed the public interest altogether.

And then there’s

Ted Poe’s House Subcommittee pushing TPP for LNG exports that would propel
“natural” fracked gas pipelines
such as Spectra Energy’s Sabal Transmission gas pipe
through private property and

public rivers and watersheds and

aquifers.

Here’s what’s up next: 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 →

Susan Waller refusing to answer a question @ Sabal 2013-12-17



Here’s Susan Waller of Spectra

refusing to even listen to a question that she had just asked for:



FERC-required Open House about the
Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline

by Sabal Trail Transmission and Spectra Energy,

Video by Blake Clark, Madison, Madison County, Florida, 17 December 2013.

Blake Clark remarked on this video he took:

This short clip speaks for it’s self. Notice Susan Waller’s
condescending tone through out the clips entirety. It is assumed,
and I have witnessed her speaking to most landowners inquiring more
information in the same tone here. Are the people at Sabal (Spectra)
or “what ever they may be calling themselves this week” really
concerned for you, your questions, or your property? You decide!

Visit

Spectrabusters.org for more information on the Sabal Trail
Pipeline, Thank you!



Earlier

she complained that someone who presented her with evidence
was “disruptive”.

What I wanted to ask her about was Continue reading →

Video of Spectra answering a question about Sabal Trail in Madison, FL @ Sabal 2013-12-17

When someone took Susan Waller up on her offer
to answer questions about the Sabal Trail pipeline, she seemed to find the truth as reported by her own company to a
federal pipeline oversight agency to be “disruptive”.




Disable Sabal – Sabal Trail (Spectra Energy) Open House Madison, FL,

We are a very genuine, safe, law-abiding company.

So said Spectra VP or Shareholder Outreach Susan Waller.
She then complained that “your group”
was “disruptive” and “you don’t want to hear the truth”.

So Ben Vieth showed Waller

lists of incidents of corrosion reported by Spectra to PHMSA.
To which another Sabal Trail rep. said,
“We have a safe operation”.

Here’s

the video:



Video of Spectra answering a question about Sabal Trail in Madison, FL

Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline,

FERC-required Open House, Sabal Trail Transmission and Spectra Energy (Sabal),

Video by Blake Clark, Madison, Madison County, Florida, 17 December 2013.

It’s interesting that even after Continue reading →

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 →

Coal tax and a gas pipeline for Christmas?



This was an op-ed submission to the VDT, which didn’t respond.
Today’s the GA PSC vote, so I’m blogging it now.

On Tuesday, the Georgia Public Service Commission (PSC) wants to do
for coal what

the Florida PSC already did for that gas pipeline
Sabal Trail wants to gash through here: raise utility customer
rates!



Who wants a Christmas present of higher electricity rates and
continued coal smoke, plus increased guaranteed profit for Georgia
Power of 11.5%? They

already raised rates each of the last three
years for gas and nuclear plants not yet even built; why should we
permit more rate hikes when the PSC votes December 17th? Last week’s
Public Policy poll

found 69% of Georgia voters oppose that rate hike.

Is a one-time payment enough to let a huge 36 inch fracked methane
pipeline gash through our communities while Spectra Energy of


Houston and FPL of Juno Beach, Florida profit forever, and your
property values go down and your hazards go up?

Those FPL profits come from rate hikes on your cousins the Florida
ratepayers.

AARP opposes that, saying: 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 →