{"id":6222,"date":"2013-10-20T13:49:54","date_gmt":"2013-10-20T17:49:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=6222"},"modified":"2013-10-20T14:00:26","modified_gmt":"2013-10-20T18:00:26","slug":"lowndes-vs-florida-pipeline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2013\/10\/lowndes-vs-florida-pipeline.html","title":{"rendered":"Lowndes vs. Florida Pipeline"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nThe VDT got some good quotes from Spectra and from landowners, and even from a Lowndes County Commissioners at the\r\n\r\nSpectra dog and pony at Wiregrass Tech last week<\/a>.\r\nNot the whole story, though; this one has legs.\r\n

\r\nMatthew Woody wrote for the VDT today,\r\n\r\nLowndes residents oppose Fla. pipeline<\/a>,\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Andrea<\/a>\r\nSabal Trail Transmission held an open house at Wiregrass Georgia\r\nTechnical College last week to explain the Florida natural gas\r\npipeline expected to run through South Georgia.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nSabal Trail had bulletin boards depicting aerial photos with the\r\nproposed 600-foot corridor mapped out with two red dotted lines\r\nrunning parallel to one another. In the center of these dotted\r\nlines, there was a brown line which highlighted an existing\r\npipeline.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nHe got a bit more detail from Spectra rep Andrea Grover\r\nabout Option A (the current proposed pipeline path) vs. Option B:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nSabal Trail initially proposed two routes called “Option A,” and “Option B.” Option B was a worst-case\r\nscenario route for Lowndes County because it split the county\r\nstraight down the center. Sabal Trail has chosen to pursue the\r\nOption A route, which only intersects Lowndes on the lower westside\r\nof the county.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nAndrea Grover, Spectra Energy public affairs representative, said\r\nthat the pipeline has shifted more west to parallel an existing\r\nnatural gas pipeline.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n“Originally ‘Option A’ followed an existing overhead utility\r\nright-of-way, but now it has shifted more westward to follow an\r\nexisting pipeline corridor.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nPerhaps Andrea Grover neglected to mention what she told me in Moultrie,\r\nwhich was that\r\n\r\nOption B is the alternate route Sabal Trail plans to submit to FERC<\/a>.\r\nSo Valdosta doesn’t know the pipeline isn’t coming through the city:\r\nFERC could pick the alternate route.\r\n

\r\n

\r\n We wanted to move away from Valdosta\r\ncity limits, now we’re over 80 percent along an existing\r\npipeline,” Grover said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAlthough “along”, according to nearby landowners, means Spectra\r\nwants their new pipeline with its hundred-foot right of way to be\r\nnearby, not on, the narrower right of way of the previous pipeline.\r\n

\r\n

\r\nProperty owners are concerned they will have two natural gas\r\npipelines on their properties, as opposed to one.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nOne property owner was concerned because his 20-acre plot of land\r\nwas in the middle of the corridor. During the meeting, he said,\r\n“I’m not too keen on sitting on top of another gas line; we\r\nalready have one there.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAnd this:\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Philip<\/a>\r\n

\r\nAnother property owner was accompanied by her husband and her\r\nson-in-law, and she said that she felt as if she were being\r\nintimidated by the company.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\nShe said, “It feels like they’re telling us, ‘either you\r\naccept this offer, or you’ll get what you get,’ and I don’t\r\nappreciate that.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThat was Carol Singletary. I know this because I heard her say it,\r\nand I asked her this morning if she did, and she said yes, and \r\nI could use her name.\r\nThat’s her on the right in the yellow in the picture, with her husband\r\nPhilip to the left, and her son-in-law Tim on the far left.\r\n

\r\n

\r\n

\r\nSabal Trail will have to be granted easement of the land to obtain a\r\nright-of-way before they can begin construction; they will have the\r\nright to use the land until they have finished installing the pipe\r\nand restoring the land. Then the land reverts back to its original\r\nlandowner.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nThat’s not entirely accurate. I have two natural gas pipelines on\r\nmy property, and indeed I own the land, but they still have easements\r\ndecades after the pipelines were built.\r\nHow could they not?\r\nThey have to be able to get to their pipelines for maintenance\r\nsuch as mowing and (I hope never needed) repairs.\r\n

\r\nThe VDT story ends with a statement from County Commissioner\r\nDemarcus Marshall, the only Commissioner who showd up at that meeting:\r\n

\r\n

\r\n\r\n\"Matthew<\/a>\r\n“The county took a stance that they will not be endorsing any\r\nof that company’s actions. Myself, as well as other commissioners,\r\nare under the impression that it is up to the property owners to\r\noffer their property for the pipeline to come through. I haven’t\r\nseen the letter yet, but I am hearing from some citizens that the\r\nletter is implying a threat, and that doesn’t sit right with\r\nme,” Marshall said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

\r\nAnd how does it sit with John Page and Crawford Powell, the two\r\nCommissioners whose districts Spectra wants to plow through with this\r\npipeline?\r\nMaybe somebody might want to ask them, maybe at\r\n\r\ntomorrow morning’s Work Session or Tuesday evening’s Citizens Wishing To Be Heard<\/a>.\r\n

\r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The VDT got some good quotes from Spectra and from landowners, and even from a Lowndes County Commissioners at the Spectra dog and pony at Wiregrass Tech last week. Not the whole story, though; this one has legs. Matthew Woody wrote for the VDT today, Lowndes residents oppose Fla. pipeline, Sabal Trail Transmission held an […]","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":[40,14,16,88,6124,6687,3],"tags":[6967,7076,8717,622,8704,8706,8701,8702,12,7,8734,7074,562,6076,6597,6966,8700,6],"class_list":["post-6222","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-economy","category-environment","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-natural-gas-2","category-pipeline-2","category-transparency","tag-andrea-grover","tag-carol-singletary","tag-community","tag-demarcus-marshall","tag-economy","tag-environment","tag-georgia","tag-lake","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-matthew-woody","tag-natural-gas","tag-pipeline","tag-sabal-trail-transmission","tag-spectra-energy","tag-transparency","tag-valdosta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-1Cm","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6222","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=6222"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6222\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6228,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6222\/revisions\/6228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6222"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6222"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6222"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}