{"id":11449,"date":"2014-11-20T16:40:20","date_gmt":"2014-11-20T21:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=11449"},"modified":"2014-11-20T16:51:49","modified_gmt":"2014-11-20T21:51:49","slug":"sabal-trail-newspaper-assertions-contradicted-by-spectra-corporate-documents-and-ferc-filings-john-s-quarterman-to-ferc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/11\/sabal-trail-newspaper-assertions-contradicted-by-spectra-corporate-documents-and-ferc-filings-john-s-quarterman-to-ferc.html","title":{"rendered":"Sabal Trail newspaper assertions contradicted by Spectra corporate documents and FERC filings –John S. Quarterman to FERC"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n“I ask you and FERC to stop Sabal\r\nTrail from telling newspapers things that Spectra\r\nEnergy’s own corporate documents refute, and to start\r\npaying attention to multiple requests by county commissions\r\nand other affected parties.”\r\n

Back in December, Spectra’s Andrea Grover and Brian Fahrenthold were\r\n“not familiar”<\/a> with Spectra’s lengthy safety rap sheet<\/a> (see above picture).\r\nYesterday’s VDT had \r\nSabal Trail: Eminent domain accusation ‘hard to believe’<\/a>\r\nby Joe Adgie. Meanwhile, the Moultrie Observer has picked up<\/a>\r\nthe VDT story.\r\nMaybe some newspapers will also publish better information\r\nthan what trained pipeline PR people seem not to remember or believe, despite\r\ncopious evidence of the actual facts.

\r\nFiled with FERC\r\n\r\n19 November 2014 accession Number: 20141119-5232<\/a>. The attachments are in the PDF<\/a>, and they’re all in the links in the HTML version below. -jsq\r\n

\r\n

John S.\r\nQuarterman
\r\n3338 Country Club Road #L336
\r\nValdosta, GA 31605
\r\n19 November 2014<\/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,
\r\nSabal Trail Transmission, LLC Docket No PFl4-1-000<\/p>\r\n

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

I ask you and FERC to stop Sabal\r\nTrail from telling newspapers things that Spectra\r\nEnergy’s own corporate documents refute, and to start\r\npaying attention to multiple requests by county commissions\r\nand other affected parties.<\/p>\r\n

According to "Sabal Trail:\r\nEminent domain accusation ‘hard to\r\nbelieve’" by Joe Adgie in the Valdosta Times\r\ntoday, 19 November 2014,<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\n‘Andrea\r\nGrover, director of stakeholder outreach for Sabal Trail,\r\nsaid allegations from homeowners that surveyors threatened\r\neminent domain on their properties was “hard to\r\nbelieve.”’<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Please find attached\r\n\r\na two-page\r\nletter of 26 November 2013 from Hunton & Williams LLP<\/a> of\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nAtlanta, representing Sabal Trail, threatening Larry Rodgers\r\nwith use of Georgia eminent domain law for a pipeline\r\nsurvey. Many other landowners received similar letters.<\/p>\r\n

Does Sabal Trail really not know\r\nwhat its own attorneys are sending to landowners? If Ms.\r\nGrover does not know, perhaps you could get Vice President\r\nof Stakeholder Outreach Susan Waller or Spectra Energy CEO\r\nGreg Ebel to find out what their attorneys are doing.<\/p>\r\n

Similarly, you may want to ask\r\nthem about this statement in the same newspaper article:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

‘Grover\r\nsaid that Sabal Trail only works on properties that they are\r\nallowed to work on.<\/p>\r\n

‘“We\r\nare only on those properties that we have permission to be\r\nthere, or have agreements in place to be there,”\r\nGrover said. “These are things that we instill in our\r\nworkforce.”’<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nWhy then, was Sabal Trail\r\nsued for criminal trespass in Leesburg, Georgia 10 July 2014<\/a>\r\nby a\r\nlandowner in Mitchell County, Georgia? I saw Ms. Grover\r\nleading the Sabal Trail team in the courtroom in\r\nLeesburg.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, please also find\r\nattached\r\n\r\na two-page response of 4 December 2014 to Sabal\r\nTrail’s law firm from Larry Rodgers’ attorney,\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nBill Langdale<\/a>, spelling out that Georgia eminent domain law\r\ndoes not apply to a pipeline that is of no benefit to\r\nGeorgia.<\/p>\r\n

In the same newspaper article,\r\nMs. Grover admitted there are no agreements in place now for\r\nuse of Sabal Trail gas in Georgia:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

‘Grover\r\nalso said that those living along the pipeline’s route\r\nwill be able to get natural gas.<\/p>\r\n

‘“The\r\ncommunity can benefit from taking natural gas for their\r\ncommunity use when the pipelines are put in service,”\r\nGrover said. “We would put the local communities and\r\nmunicipalities in contact with our business development\r\ngroup and they can look for locations that are best for gas\r\nto come off, what the structure would look like, and timing\r\nand all of that, and work to get some agreements in\r\nplace.”’<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

So there are no such agreements\r\nin place now. Which, according to attorney Bill Langdale\r\n(and the judge in Leesburg), means Georgia eminent domain\r\ndoes not apply. Yet Sabal Trail’s law firm sent\r\nlandowners letters threatening Georgia eminent domain.<\/p>\r\n

Also in the newspaper article\r\nthere is an erroneous assertion about easements:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

‘Grover\r\nsaid that once the pipeline was constructed and the land on\r\nthe easement was replaced, landowners could do whatever they\r\nwanted with the land, including farming of the\r\nland.’<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Yet landowners cannot grow trees\r\non pipeline rights of way, for example. Please see\r\n"Spectra Energy’s Encroachment Policy" in\r\nSpectra Energy’s own Public Official brochure,<\/p>\r\n

\r\nhttp:\/\/www.spectraenergy.com\/content\/documents\/Brochures\/Public_Official.pdf<\/a>\r\n<\/small><\/tt><\/p>\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n‘Spectra\r\nEnergy investigates encroachment by non-company individuals\r\nin the pipeline right-of-way. These include activities that\r\nhave been reported by the encroaching party to the state one\r\ncall service by calling 811, and those activities that are\r\ndiscovered by the company through aerial and\/or ground\r\npatrol that have not been reported by calling 811.\r\nRight-of-Way encroachments include installation of such\r\nthings as:
\r\n• Buildings\/Mobile Homes • Fences • Utility\r\nLines
\r\n• Pipelines • Roads • Trees’<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

Why is Sabal Trail telling a\r\nnewspaper something its own brochure for public officials\r\ncontradicts?<\/p>\r\n

Finally, Sabal Trail’s\r\nproposed three-foot top cover is inadequate:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

‘For\r\nsafety reasons, the Federal Energy Regulatory Committee\r\nrequires three feet of cover for the pipeline, and Grover\r\nsaid that they would negotiate with landowners for different\r\nallowances, such as if they needed the pipeline to run\r\ndeeper than the minimum 36 inch allowance.’<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nSee my\r\n\r\nsubmittal 20141117-5040\r\nabout the incident just this month in Berrien County<\/a>,\r\nGeorgia where a ditch puller broke a SONAT pipeline.<\/p>\r\n

See the\r\n\r\nsubmittal 20141113-5199\r\nby Southern Natural Gas<\/a> about Sabal Trail’s inadequate\r\nplans for boring under existing pipelines, as well as far\r\ntoo many pipeline crossings.<\/p>\r\n

And please find attached\r\n\r\nResolution Number 2014-R-6 of the Colquitt County, Georgia,\r\nBoard of Commissioners dated 4 March 2014<\/a> and filed with\r\nFERC as submission 20140310-5098 of 10 March 2014, which\r\nreads in part:<\/p>\r\n

\r\n

‘NOW,\r\nTHEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Colquitt County Board of\r\nCommissioners adamantly urge that Sahal Trail Natural Gas\r\nPipeline should make every effort to ensure that the Sabal\r\nTrail Natural Gas Pipeline is buried with a minimum of five\r\n(5) feet of top cover when traversing agricultural\r\nproperties to include pasture land, cultivated lands,\r\nsurface drains, diversions, waterways, open ditches and\r\nstreams.’<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nHere is\r\n\r\na video of Colquitt\r\nCounty Attorney Lester Castelow informing FERC and Sabal\r\nTrail of that resolution<\/a> at the 5 March 2014 FERC Scoping\r\nMeeting in Moultrie, Georgia. He said he had already emailed\r\nthat resolution to FERC. You can see Sabal Trail’s\r\nAndrea Grover sitting in the audience listening, and\r\nFERC’s John Peconom sitting at the front table.<\/p>\r\n

\r\n