{"id":6069,"date":"2013-10-16T00:01:51","date_gmt":"2013-10-16T04:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=6069"},"modified":"2013-10-16T01:08:46","modified_gmt":"2013-10-16T05:08:46","slug":"sabal-trail-pipeline-context-maps-spectra-energy-and-fpl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/sabal-trail-pipeline-context-maps-spectra-energy-and-fpl.html","title":{"rendered":"Sabal Trail Pipeline Context maps –Spectra Energy and FPL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nWhere does Spectra Energy’s natural gas come from,\r\nand where does it go?\r\nThese maps from\r\n\r\nthe Moultrie meeting<\/a> help explain.\r\nSpoiler: from fracking to FPL.\r\n

\r\n\r\nIn “Our Portfolio of Assets”, Spectra Energy shows\r\npipelines running from shale gas formations in and around Pennsylvania and\r\ndown the Appalachians into Tennessee, through north Georgia, and into Alabama,\r\nas well as from gas storage facilities in Louisiana\r\nand shale fields in Texas.\r\n\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Our<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nSo that’s where it comes from:\r\nthe Marcellus Shale and its relatives down through\r\n\r\n(soon) the Conasauga Shale in north Georgia and Alabama<\/a>\r\nand into Louisiana and Texas.\r\nFracking, in other words.\r\n

\r\nThat was not a word that was used by any of the Sabal Trail reps nor a word that\r\nappeared on any of their maps or in any of their handouts.\r\nBut fracking is how natural gas is extracted from the Marcellus Shale,\r\nas Andrea Grover presumably knows, since she was\r\n\r\nsent to Pennsylvania in April<\/a> to explain a Spectra Energy gas release from a compressor in Marcellus Shale country.

\r\nWhere is the gas through the Sabal Trail pipeline supposed to go?\r\nOrlando, to the Sabal Trail Central Florida Hub.\r\nWhy?\r\nWell, according to \r\nAndrea Grover, Florida Power and Light is “modernizing”.\r\nShe explained that FPL has shut down some coal plants,\r\nand is converting to natural gas.\r\nShe this map of the Florida Southeast Connection:\r\n<\/p>\r\n\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Florida<\/a>\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nBut why run a pipeline through Georgia to get from Alabama to Florida?\r\nAndrea Grover explained that, too.\r\nFPL required in its RFP an independent third pipeline\r\nfor dependability.\r\n

\r\nThe Gulfstream pipeline runs underwater through the Gulf of Mexico\r\nfrom Alabama to Florida, and has been in service since\r\n\r\nMay 2002<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThe\r\n\r\nFlorida Gas Transmission pipeline<\/a> runs through the Florida panhandle.\r\nIt’s aparently been operating at least since 4 May 2009 when,\r\naccording to\r\n\r\nthe National Transportaion Safety Board<\/a>,\r\n

\r\nFlorida Gas Transmission Company’s (FGT) line 100, an\r\n18-inch-diameter natural gas transmission pipeline, ruptured\r\nabout 6 miles south of Palm City, Florida. The rupture occurred in a sparsely\r\npopulated rural area of Martin County and displaced about 106 feet of buried pipe onto the\r\nright-of-way between Interstate 95 (I-95) and the Florida Turnpike\r\n(SR-91). An estimated\r\n36 million cubic feet of natural gas was released during the accident\r\nwithout ignition.\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nHm, that may explain why, when earlier I asked a Sabal Trail rep why\r\nnot run a pipeline down the median of I-10, he laughed nervously\r\nand said no, they couldn’t do that….\r\nHe also said the Panhandle was difficult because of the national\r\nforests and the air force bases.\r\nThat was before I saw the map showing a pipeline already running\r\nthrough the Panhandle.\r\n

\r\nAnyway, FPL’s two existing natural gas feeds go through the Gulf\r\nand through the Panhandle.\r\nSo this third one, said Andrea Grover,\r\nthey want to go through Georgia as an independent redundant route.\r\nTo do that they actually go north first from Louisiana,\r\nusing a rented leg from Transco Station 85 up to Tallapoosa\r\nCounty, Alabama.\r\n

\r\nThe Sabal Trail route in Georgia\r\nshown on the Florida Southeast Connection map\r\nis the earlier route marked as\r\nOption B<\/a> on the map Sabal Trail sent to Lowndes County.\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n

\r\nThe current route is roughly the earlier Option A,\r\nand was chosen by Sabal Trail for various reasons, according to\r\nAndrea Grover, including that it partly follows some existing pipeline\r\nrights of way, and it better fits FERC criteria.\r\nYet several Sabal Trail reps confirmed FERC gets to decide:\r\nthe pipeline company sends FERC a prefered and an alternate route\r\nand FERC can pick the alternate.\r\nWhen I asked one rep whether FERC ever picked the alternate, he said,\r\n“it happens”.\r\n

\r\nSabal Trail’s current preferred route is shown on this\r\nProject Location Map:\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Project<\/a>\r\n
\r\nPictures by John S. Quarterman for Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange (LAKE),\r\n
\r\nValdosta, Lowndes County, Georgia, 15 October 2013.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nThe preferred path runs through\r\nTallapoosa, Chamber, Lee, Russell Counties in Alabama,\r\nthrough\r\nStewart, Webster, Terrell, Lee, Dougherty, Mitchell, Colquitt, Brooks, and Lowndes Counties in Georgia,\r\nand through\r\nMadison, Hamilton, Suwannee, Gilchrist, Alachua, Levy, Marion, Sumter, Lake,\r\nPolk, Orange, and Osceola Counties in Florida.\r\n

\r\nTo be continued<\/a>.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

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