{"id":11438,"date":"2014-11-20T09:04:30","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T14:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=11438"},"modified":"2014-11-20T09:10:12","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T14:10:12","slug":"sonat-pipeline-break-in-berrien-county-ga-on-offshoot-of-same-line-sabal-trail-proposes-to-parallel-john-s-quarterman-to-ferc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/sonat-pipeline-break-in-berrien-county-ga-on-offshoot-of-same-line-sabal-trail-proposes-to-parallel-john-s-quarterman-to-ferc.html","title":{"rendered":"SONAT pipeline break in Berrien County, GA on offshoot of same line Sabal Trail proposes to parallel –John S. Quarterman to FERC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\"300x225<\/a>\r\n“The SONAT pipeline that broke in\r\nBerrien County, Georgia was only a 9- or 10-inch line,\r\nI’m told at 800PSI. Sabal Trail proposes a 36-inch\r\nline, at much higher pressure. I’m no expert, but that\r\nseems like at least twenty times the explosive capacity. I\r\ndon’t want that risk for any of my neighbors anywhere.”<\/p>\r\n

\r\nFiled with FERC 15 November 2014 (PDF<\/a>),\r\nposted by FERC\r\n\r\n17 November 2014 as Accession Number: 20141117-5040<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n

John S.\r\nQuarterman
\r\n3338 Country Club Road #L336
\r\nValdosta, GA 31605
\r\n229-242-0102<\/p>\r\n

VIA ELECTRONIC FILING
\r\nMs. Kimberly Bose
\r\nFederal Energy Regulatory Commission
\r\n888 First Street NE
\r\nWashington, DC 20426<\/p>\r\n

Re: Southeast\r\nMarket Pipelines Project, Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC\r\nDocket No PFl4-1-000<\/p>\r\n

Dear Ms. Bose,<\/p>\r\n

This is a response to\r\nFERC’s 15 October 2014 Supplemental Notice of Intent\r\n(NOI) To Prepare an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for\r\nthe Planned Southeast Market Pipelines Project.<\/p>\r\n

I read with interest\r\n"Comments to October 15, 2014, Notice of Intent to\r\nprepare an Environmental Impact Statement for the Planned\r\nSoutheast Market Pipelines Project of Southern Natural Gas\r\nCompany, L.L.C. under PF14-1-000." (Accession Number\r\n20141113-5199<\/a>), in which SONAT says:<\/p>\r\n

"Each\r\ncrossing poses a risk during construction of the crossing as\r\nwell as ongoing risks during operation and maintenance of\r\nthe pipelines. Since the SNG pipeline must remain in service\r\nduring construction of the crossings, each time Sabal Trail\r\nbores under, or cuts under, the SNG pipeline there is an\r\nincreased risk that the integrity of the SNG pipeline will\r\nbe compromised. Moreover, disturbing the soil around, and\r\nunder, the SNG pipeline during construction of each crossing\r\ncreates the additional possibility that the soil around the\r\npipeline could become de-stabilized, which could then cause\r\nundue stresses on the pipeline, potentially resulting in a\r\nfailure of the pipeline at some future date."<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"300x225<\/a>\r\nOn 6 November 2014 I was alerted\r\nto an example of soil destabilization of an offshoot of the\r\nsame SONAT pipeline referenced in the above SONAT ecomment.\r\nA friend called me about an emergency radio report of a\r\npipeline break on Bradford Road in Berrien County, Georgia,\r\na few miles from my house. I drove there to find Kinder\r\nMorgan trucks heading for the break.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"300x225<\/a>\r\nIn this picture you can see\r\nvehicles from the Berrien County Sheriff, the city of\r\nNashville, Georgia, the Georgia Department of\r\nTransportation, and Kinder Morgan. Not seen are Lowndes\r\nCounty Sheriff vehicles at the border between Lowndes and\r\nBerrien Counties.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"300x225<\/a>\r\nHere is a picture of the\r\nlocation of the break, in the ditch across from 986 Bradford\r\nRoad. That break was caused by routine maintenance of a dirt\r\nroad, when a ditch puller, which pulls dirt out of the ditch\r\nto be spread by a road grader, hit the pipe. My neighbors\r\nwho were evacuated were lucky there was no spark to set off\r\nthe gas, or they could well have had no houses to return to.\r\nEven with no spark, the neighbors tell me it was "like\r\na bomb going off". And that a cloud of dust 300 feet\r\nhigh was seen.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"300x225<\/a>\r\nIt turns out the valves already\r\nused by then to turn off the gas in that pipe are on my\r\nproperty in Lowndes County, Georgia, which you can see in\r\nthis picture with a Kinder Morgan employee who said he had\r\nbeen called from Tallahassee, Florida, 90 miles away, to\r\ndeal with the issue. For a year now I’ve been telling\r\npeople I am not a directly-affected landowner. No longer can\r\nI say that.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"300x263<\/a>\r\nThis pipeline feeds SONAT\r\ncustomers in Nashville, Georgia, as you can see by this map\r\nfrom PHMSA’s National Pipeline Mapper. This SONAT\r\npipeline was also installed in the 1950s, long before solar\r\npower was a viable solution. But now solar power is the\r\nleast expensive energy source available. It is also faster\r\nto install than a new pipeline, far less destructive to the\r\nenvironment, requires no eminent domain, and has zero risk\r\nof leaks or explosions.<\/p>\r\n

Unlike that existing SONAT\r\npipeline, the proposed Sabal Trail pipeline does not serve\r\nanyone in Georgia. Plus, as Nonami Oglethorpe, LLC<\/a> and\r\nGeorgia Rep. Winfred Dukes<\/a> pointed out to FERC the same day\r\nas SONAT filed the above-referenced ecomment, FPL and\r\nSpectra Energy have not demonstrated any need by anyone for\r\nthe Sabal Trail pipeline.<\/p>\r\n

The SONAT pipeline that broke in\r\nBerrien County, Georgia was only a 9- or 10-inch line,\r\nI’m told at 800PSI. Sabal Trail proposes a 36-inch\r\nline, at much higher pressure. I’m no expert, but that\r\nseems like at least twenty times the explosive capacity. I\r\ndon’t want that risk for any of my neighbors\r\nanywhere.<\/p>\r\n

I urge FERC to deny any permit\r\nfor the Sabal Trail pipeline.<\/p>\r\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\r\n

John S.\r\nQuarterman<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSee also\r\n\r\nPipeline break in Berrien County, Georgia<\/a>\r\nand\r\n\r\nPipeline neighbor in Berrien County, Georgia on WALB TV<\/a>\r\nand\r\nWhy accepting a natural gas easement is a bad deal<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"“The SONAT pipeline that broke in Berrien County, Georgia was only a 9- or 10-inch line, I’m told at 800PSI. Sabal Trail proposes a 36-inch line, at much higher pressure. I’m no expert, but that seems like at least twenty times the explosive capacity. I don’t want that risk for any of my neighbors anywhere.” […]","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[16,8,6124,6687,73,24],"tags":[549,8008,2217,8046,8706,8701,7622,8702,12,7,3276,562,6076,8047,6597,8731,8714,8010,8009,6966,6,8048],"class_list":["post-11438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-georgia","category-natural-gas-2","category-pipeline-2","category-safety","category-solar","tag-berrien-county","tag-bradford-road","tag-dirt-road","tag-ditch-digger","tag-environment","tag-georgia","tag-kinder-morgan","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-nashville","tag-natural-gas","tag-pipeline","tag-road-scrape","tag-sabal-trail-transmission","tag-safety","tag-solar","tag-sonat","tag-southern-natural-gas","tag-spectra-energy","tag-valdosta","tag-valve"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-2Yu","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11438"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11438\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11442,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11438\/revisions\/11442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}