{"id":11669,"date":"2014-12-03T12:09:34","date_gmt":"2014-12-03T17:09:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=11669"},"modified":"2014-12-03T12:15:17","modified_gmt":"2014-12-03T17:15:17","slug":"spectra-backtracks-on-eminent-domain-in-vdt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/12\/spectra-backtracks-on-eminent-domain-in-vdt.html","title":{"rendered":"Spectra backtracks on eminent domain in VDT"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nSabal Trail tries to teach us how to read, plus redefining centuries\r\nof common law.\r\n

\r\nJoe Adgie wrote for the VDT today 3 December 2014,\r\n\r\nSabal Trail: Accusations ‘lack any substance’<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nTwo representatives with Sabal Trail Transmission disputed\r\ncomplaints from property owners in correspondence with The Valdosta\r\nDaily Times and with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\nLisa Connolly<\/a>, general manager of rates and certificates for Sabal\r\nTrail, said that letters sent to property owners should be read in a\r\ndifferent light than was presented.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“A fair reading of these letters\r\n\r\n confirms Sabal Trail’s\r\nposition that it has not threatened to institute proceedings against\r\nlandowners to acquire proprerty by eminent domain and demonstrates\r\nthat [Sandra Jones’s] allegations lack any substance,”\r\nConnolly wrote to FERC on Monday.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\nJones had sent letters to FERC on Nov. 19<\/a>, contending Sabal Trail\r\nhad illegally threatened eminent domain against her.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe first letter, dated Sept. 16, 2013, written by Sabal’s Right of\r\nWay manager Kitty Maidens, requested permission to enter the land\r\nfor survey purposes.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“Granting survey permission provides us only access to your\r\nproperty to complete the necessary survey activities,” Maidens\r\nwrote. “It does not authorize us to put a pipeline on your\r\nland.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nConnolly noted that Jones had declined to mention that in her filing\r\nwith FERC.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nSure, and pre-filing with FERC doesn’t lead to\r\nformal filing with FERC as Sabal Trail did two days after Jones’ letter<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nAnd who said those “survey activities” were “necessary” anyway?\r\nCertainly not the landowners to whom Sabal Trail is using eminent domain\r\nto try to scare them into letting the pipeline company on their property.\r\nInstead, maybe some landowners will call the Sheriff to arrest Sabal\r\nTrail or their agents for trespass.\r\n

\r\nOh, wait, Sabal Trail already has faced\r\n\r\nat least one criminal trespass charge<\/a>!\r\nSabal Trail’s Lisa Connolly declined to mention mention that in her filing with FERC.\r\n

\r\nThe VDT also quotes Spectra’s Andrea Grover:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“I am quite confident that any objective reading of the\r\nletters will determine that the letters are intended to be\r\ninformational and not threatening as suggested by a few\r\npeople,” Grover wrote in an email on Monday. “The\r\nletters are a pro forma process developed to fully and transparently\r\ninform the remaining property owners who refused survey permission\r\nof the state law related to the survey process.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nShe actually referred to the Georgia state eminent domain statute\r\nwhile claiming the Sabal Trail letters using it weren’t threats!\r\n

\r\nAnd the VDT quotes her as saying:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“These surveys are needed to fulfill Sabal Trail’s obligations\r\nto FERC, the Army Corps of Engineers, and other state environmental\r\npermitting agencies,” Grover wrote. “These letters were\r\ndeveloped to take measured steps in explaining the reasons for the\r\nsurvey activities and then to explain the legal basis for Sabal\r\nTrail’s right to access property solely for survey purposes under\r\nGeorgia state laws.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThat’s your problem, Spectra and Sabal Trail, that you signed a contract\r\nwith FPL without asking the affected landowners first.\r\n

\r\nJust like it’s your problem that you made and agreement with MGAG\r\nto buy Sabal Trail gas without you or MGAG asking the affected cities first.\r\nFunny how Ms. Grover has already started to backtrack from what she told the VDT last week<\/a>\r\non that one,\r\n\r\nlast night on WCTV<\/a>.\r\n

\r\nThe landowners, the cities, and the taxpayers and citizens of Alabama, Georgia, and Florida did not ask for this foreign invader pipeline from Houston.\r\nIt’s not necessary, and Ms. Grover and Ms. Connolly should take their Sabal Trail back to their Spectral office building in east Texas.\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sabal Trail tries to teach us how to read, plus redefining centuries of common law. Joe Adgie wrote for the VDT today 3 December 2014, Sabal Trail: Accusations ‘lack any substance’, Two representatives with Sabal Trail Transmission disputed complaints from property owners in correspondence with The Valdosta Daily Times and with the Federal Energy Regulatory […]","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":[70,8,20,6124,6687,133,177],"tags":[8728,8701,548,8702,8710,12,7,562,6076,6,8742,8748],"class_list":["post-11669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-georgia","category-law","category-natural-gas-2","category-pipeline-2","category-vdt","category-wctv","tag-ethics","tag-georgia","tag-john-s-quarterman","tag-lake","tag-law","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-natural-gas","tag-pipeline","tag-valdosta","tag-vdt","tag-wctv"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-32d","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11669","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=11669"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11672,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11669\/revisions\/11672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11669"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11669"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}