This is the easement for a 36-inch fracked methane pipeline that the Lowndes County Commission approved on January 26, 2016, saying it was a good business decision.

Nevermind the letter that the Chairman sent to FERC on April 11, 2014, Sabal Trail will be expected to adhere and honor all Lowndes County Ordinances -Bill E Slaughter, JR to FERC.

Anyway, this easement has a couple of interesting clauses.

On page 2, “4.a. Single Pipeline; Pipeline Depth. This Easement allows a single underground Pipeline with a maximum pipe outer diameter of thirty-six (36) inches, and with the maximum allowable operating pressure” of natural gas transported within the pipeline as permitted by applicable law, rule or regulation.”

Now that Sabal Trail wants a second pipeline, it will have to negotiate with landowners again, including the Lowndes County government. And it is already doing so; see a following post.

Sabal Trail pipeline Easement with Lowndes County 2016-01-26, Between Railroad Ave. and Madison Highway

Another interesting clause is on page 5, “13. Taxes. Grantee shall assume and pay the amount of any taxes lawfully assessed and applicable to Grantee and due and owing on the Pipeline, Pipeline Facilities or Easement Area.”

Evidently if you have enough leverage, you can get Sabal Trail to agree to things they never would have offered.

The property is between Railroad Avenue and Madison Highway, south of Clyattville. It is near Clyatt Mill Creek, and uphill from the Withlacoochee River. It has an old landfill on one of the parcels; thus the monitoring wells in the easement.

PDF of the easement, received in response to a LAKE open records request, is on the LAKE website.

Images of each page are below.

But first, here is a Sabal Trail alignment map that covers the subject property. For such alignment maps for the entire pipeline in all three states, see LAKE: Sabal Trail Transmission alignment maps 2016-04-07. Continue reading →