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<\/a>\r\nRobert Hydrick on WALB today,\r\n\r\nSabal Trail gives information on pipeline project<\/a>,\r\nquoted Spectra rep. Brian Fahrenthold (one of five Spectra sent)\r\nabout Spectra’s feint of a former route through Valdosta,\r\nnow aimed through rural Lowndes and Brooks Counties instead:\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
<\/a>\r\nThis updated route, Fahrenthold pointed out, reduces the amount of\r\nthe city of Valdosta that would be affected as well as reduces the\r\noverall area of Lowndes County that would be affected.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\n\r\n“The first route was 31.3 miles and the [new route] is 15.6. That’s\r\na fifty percent reduction in our proposed route,” said Fahrenthold.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
\r\nWell, no, it’s a shift in Spectra’s proposed route for their\r\nSabal Trail Pipeline to go farther west, past Clyattville\r\nand through Brooks, Colquitt, Mitchell, and Dougherty Counties.\r\nHow does it feel to be expendable, rural landowners?\r\n
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<\/a>\r\nFahrenthold also emphasized that construction on the pipeline has\r\nnot yet begun, despite some residents’ concerns that it had.\r\nFahrenthold said officials are still in the process of surveying the\r\nland where the pipeline would be placed, adding that the survey\r\nprocess would have to be completed before any construction could\r\nbegin.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
\r\nCurious how Spectra having a high-powered Atlanta lawyer send threats\r\nof imminent domain and\r\n\r\n“Sabal Trail intends to enter upon your property”<\/a>\r\nmight have resulted in landowners fearing imminent construction.\r\n
\r\n\r\n“In Lowndes County,” Fahrenthold said, “we’ve had ninety percent\r\npermission for survey.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\nThe ten percent of residents that have denied Sabal Trail permission\r\nto survey their land have done so for a variety of reasons.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
\r\nStarting with many of them probably didn’t know they had any recourse.\r\n
\r\n\r\nChief among their concerns is the safety hazards that the pipeline\r\nposes and the pipeline’s potentially negative affects on the value\r\nof their land.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
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<\/a>\r\nLarry Rodgers owns land in the area where the pipeline is being\r\nproposed and he echoed these concerns.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\n“A huge impact on land values,” said Rodgers. “Not to mention the\r\nsafety factor, but I’m told that this could affect the land value of\r\nmy property up to fifty percent.”\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\nRodgers originally gave surveyors permission to survey his land, but\r\nsays he denied them any such permission in the future after the\r\nsurveyors left water bottles and trash on his land after completing\r\nthe survey.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
\r\nWALB quotes Spectra rep. Andrea Grover with squishy words about safety\r\nthat guarantee nothing “safety is another item that is top of mind”.\r\nWhen I asked her afterwards on WALB camera about\r\n\r\nthe PHMSA fines against Spectra delivered to her CEO last December<\/a>,\r\nshe said she wasn’t familiar with that.\r\nWhen I asked her about the\r\n\r\nrecord $15 million EPA fine against Spectra for spilling PCBs as 89\r\nlocations<\/a>,\r\nshe said she wasn’t familiar with that, either, but she\r\nclaimed after PCBs were made illegal int he 70s Spectra stopped using them. I noted that fine was well after the 70s (1989).\r\n
\r\n\r\nNo matter how well-intentioned the hearings are, Rodgers said he,\r\nlike many of the concerned citizens, feel that Sabal trail isn’t be\r\nentirely honest.\r\n<\/p>\r\n
\r\n“I’m not sure they’re providing all the information to the property\r\nowners,” Rodgers said.\r\n<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n
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<\/a>\r\nYou can try asking Spectra questions at the FERC-required\r\n\r\nOpen House 5-7:30 PM Monday 16 December 2013 at Clyattville Elementary School<\/a>,\r\nor at any other in that series.\r\n
\r\nOr do the one thing Spectra claimed would get them to actually answer questions:\r\n\r\nfile a comment with FERC<\/a>.\r\nNot that I’ve seen much evidence of them answering those, either,\r\nbut at least that gets your concerns in the federal public record\r\nwhere nobody can deny the questions exist.\r\n