{"id":5701,"date":"2013-09-19T17:54:34","date_gmt":"2013-09-19T21:54:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=5701"},"modified":"2013-09-19T17:56:04","modified_gmt":"2013-09-19T21:56:04","slug":"pipeline-opposition-growing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/09\/pipeline-opposition-growing.html","title":{"rendered":"Pipeline opposition growing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nWhy should Georgia landowners have to cede property rights\r\nto benefit nobody in Georgia, and at risk of our aquifer and\r\nenvironment?\r\nBut Dougherty County residents are still playing NIMBY instead\r\nof trying to stop it entirely.\r\n

\r\nCarlton Fletcher wrote for the Albany Herald 7 September 2013,\r\n\r\nLocal opposition to natural gas pipeline growing<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\nDougherty County landowners who’ve been contacted by representatives\r\nof a group planning the 465-mile Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline\r\nprojected to run underneath their property say they’re not convinced\r\nby assurances that the $3 billion project is safe.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAnd they’re preparing to challenge the pipeline even as project\r\nsurveyors seek access to their land.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“This is not just a threat to my land, to our region’s water,\r\nto the environment and to my family’s safety,” one property\r\nowner said. “It’s a threat to what Albany is. This is a black\r\nnebula that threatens every person in this region.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nHouston-based Spectra Energy announced plans for the Sabal Trail\r\nTransmission pipeline, a joint project with Juno Beach, Fla.’s\r\nNextEra Energy Inc. and Florida Power & Light, in July. The project\r\nis expected to initiate in central Alabama’s Tallapoosa County and\r\nterminate in central Florida’s Osceola County. The 465-mile on-shore\r\npath of the pipeline, which will have the capacity to pump 1 billion\r\ncubic feet of natural gas per day, includes 55 miles in Alabama, 196\r\nin Georgia and 214 in Florida.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe route proposed for the project would come through a large swath\r\nof Dougherty County.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThe article has more details about opposition, and there’s even a quote\r\nfrom a Sabal Trail spokesperson, “early in the vetting process”,\r\n“potential corridor”, “listening to the landowners”.\r\nThey should listen to this landowner response:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nSome of those landowners, though, aren’t interested in talking with\r\nproject officials. Roselyn Beasley Bridges, who owns property near\r\nthe point where Mitchell, Worth, Colquitt and Dougherty counties\r\nshare boundaries, said she’s tried to make that point clear to\r\nofficials seeking permission to survey her land.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“My family has been on this land for seven generations,”\r\nBridges said. “My mom and dad taught us that we are the\r\ncaretakers of our land, and I feel if we don’t protect our land\r\n— protect our water and our ecosystem — we’re going to\r\nlose it. Every person in this region who turns on a faucet and gets\r\na glass of pure, clear drinking water should thank God.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“And that, more than anything, is what I feel is at stake\r\nhere.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nHere’s something different about Dougherty County:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nContacted about the language of Maidens’ letter, Dougherty County\r\nCommission Chairman Jeff Sinyard said he would look into the matter\r\nfurther.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nImagine that!\r\nA county chairman actually looking out for the county!\r\n

\r\nAnd it seems Sabal Trail is already trying to use eminent domain.\r\nThis part is pretty bad:\r\n

\r\n

\r\nDougherty Sheriff Kevin Sproul said he’s not received any complaints\r\nfrom landowners about the efforts of Sabal Trail representatives,\r\nbut he confirmed that the company does have the right to survey\r\nprivately-owned land, with or without permission, under Georgia law.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“I researched the section of the Code mentioned in the letter,\r\nand it looks like it’s pretty much black and white,” Sproul\r\nsaid. “Under Georgia’s eminent domain law, the right to\r\nexercise such power is granted. Landowners’ hands are pretty much\r\ntied.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n“I would hope that our folks would, in the spirit of\r\ncooperation, allow this surveying to go on with no trouble.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAsked what his office’s response would be if landowners refused\r\naccess and ordered surveyors off their land, Sproul said, “I\r\nwould hope it wouldn’t come to that.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nI think it will come to that.\r\nAnd I think it will be really bad publicity for the pipeline project.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nHere’s something all the landowners in Georgia need to address:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n“We understand that this pipeline is going to go\r\nthrough,” one said. “When there’s that much money at\r\nstake, it’s going to happen. But we want them to take a closer look\r\nat their pipeline route and find a way to impact fewer people. The\r\napproach needs to be more rural, not urban.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nBut that argument, an official warned, poses another problem:\r\n“When you do that, you’re just putting your concerns on\r\nsomeone else.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThe pipeline doesn’t have to go through, and yes, it can be stopped.\r\nIf enough of us want to stop it.\r\nAnd we should.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Why should Georgia landowners have to cede property rights to benefit nobody in Georgia, and at risk of our aquifer and environment? But Dougherty County residents are still playing NIMBY instead of trying to stop it entirely. Carlton Fletcher wrote for the Albany Herald 7 September 2013, Local opposition to natural gas pipeline growing, Dougherty […]","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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[16,19,20,6124,6687,55],"tags":[206,8706,8701,8709,8702,8710,12,7,562,6076,6597,6],"class_list":["post-5701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-environment","category-history","category-law","category-natural-gas-2","category-pipeline-2","category-water","tag-dougherty-county","tag-environment","tag-georgia","tag-history","tag-lake","tag-law","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-natural-gas","tag-pipeline","tag-sabal-trail-transmission","tag-valdosta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-1tX","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5701","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=5701"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5701\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5703,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5701\/revisions\/5703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}