{"id":7770,"date":"2014-02-22T11:10:51","date_gmt":"2014-02-22T16:10:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/?p=7770"},"modified":"2014-02-22T11:23:08","modified_gmt":"2014-02-22T16:23:08","slug":"local-government-pipeline-responsibilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/2014\/02\/local-government-pipeline-responsibilities.html","title":{"rendered":"Local government pipeline responsibilities"},"content":{"rendered":"

\r\nMake pipeline companies answer questions<\/a>, motivate implementation of safety standards<\/a>, announce FERC Scoping meetings<\/a>, and enforce reasonable local zoning restrictions<\/a>:\r\nthese are things local governments can do, and NTSB and FERC say they should<\/em> do\r\nmost of them.\r\nGilchrist County Commission in Trenton, Florida has done most of them,\r\nand plans to continue doing more.\r\nThe Lowndes County Commission and the Valdosta City Council still can, too,\r\nplus all the other county and city governments along the proposed pipeline path,\r\nand their statewide county and city government associations.\r\nWill our local elected officials represent we the people?\r\n

Make pipeline companies answer questions<\/a><\/H4>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThere were\r\n\r\nReal questions at the Gilchrist County Commission meeting in Trenton, Florida<\/a> Monday.\r\nTwo hours of first questions from a citizens committee with\r\nSpectra’s reps expected to answer right there in front of everybody,\r\nthen questions from locals and people from many counties around,\r\nincluding attorneys representing landowners and other county\r\ncommissions cross-examining Spectra on the spot. The Chairman of the\r\nGilchrist County Commission said there was a general opinion among\r\nthe populace that they were asking specific questions and getting\r\nonly general answers. Congratulations, Chairman, Commission, staff,\r\nCommittee, and everyone who asked questions for showing the world\r\nhow it’s done, and for exposing Spectra’s evasions to public\r\nscrutiny.\r\n<\/p>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThis is in sharp contrast to\r\nfour questions asked by Lowndes County Commissioners<\/a>\r\nand the\r\n\r\ncut-and-paste public relations answers by Spectra Energy<\/a> to citizen questions forwarded by that Commission.\r\nPlus the Valdosta City Council has done nothing at all to question\r\nthe pipeline company.\r\nAll the local governments along the pipeline path could do what\r\nGilchrist County just did.\r\n

Motivate safety standards<\/a><\/H4>\r\n

\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nThe National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)\r\n\r\n18 May 2001 RESPONSE TO PETITION FOR RECONSIDERATION<\/a>\r\nabout Spectra’s Durham Woods pipeline fireball that burnt dozens,\r\nevacuated thousands, made hundreds homeless, and literally scared one\r\nwoman to death, concludes with this paragraph:\r\n

\r\n
    \r\n
  1. \r\nThe public will not benefit from the safety improvement\r\nrecommendations developed in RSPA’s public safety risk study without\r\nguidance containing implementation procedures and without motivation\r\nfrom associations representing local governments.\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

    \r\nThe Lowndes County Commission has close relations with the\r\n\r\nAssociation of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG)<\/a>.\r\nThe Valdosta City Council similarly has close relations with the\r\n\r\nGeorgia Municipal Association (GMA)<\/a>.\r\nWill Valdosta and Lowndes County ask GMA and ACCG to motivate safety standards\r\nfor the Sabal Trail pipeline?\r\n

    Notify constituents about FERC Scoping Meetings<\/a><\/H4>\r\n

    \r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nFERC’s 18 February 2014\r\n\r\nNOTICE OF INTENT TO PREPARE AN\r\nENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT FOR THE PLANNED\r\nSOUTHEAST MARKET PIPELINES PROJECT,\r\nREQUEST FOR COMMENTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES,\r\nAND NOTICE OF PUBLIC SCOPING MEETINGS<\/a>\r\nsays:\r\n

    \r\n\r\nState and local government representatives should notify their constituents about this process and encourage them to comment on their areas of concern.\r\n<\/strong>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n

    \r\nThe FERC Scoping Meetings start\r\nMarch 3rd in Albany,\r\nMarch 4th in Valdosta, and March 5th in Moultrie<\/a>.\r\nWill our local governments inform their constituents?\r\nWill any of our local elected officials or local governments testify\r\nat these meetings?\r\n

    \r\nSome local governments have been using FERC as an excuse for not getting involved.\r\nWell, FERC explicitly says they should get involved.\r\nAnd every one of the county commissions along the pipeline path\r\nare on the stakeholder lists Sabal Trail filed with FERC,\r\nso every one of them got that notice.\r\n\r\nWill they inform their constituents?\r\n

    Local governments can restrict pipelines<\/a><\/H4>\r\n

    \r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\nYes, I know FERC insists federal law supersedes state or local law.\r\nBut\r\n\r\neven the precedent FERC cites says local regulations apply\r\nas long as they’re not unreasonable<\/a>.\r\nAnd the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently ruled\r\n\r\nthat local zoning restrictions do indeed apply to pipelines<\/a>.\r\nPlus a judge in Nebraska just ruled that\r\n\r\nonly the state Public Service Commission can approve a pipeline<\/a>.\r\n

    \r\n\r\nHow does any or all of that apply to Georgia, Florida, or Alabama?\r\nHow about all of the affected county commissions and city councils\r\ntry to find out, assisted by\r\n\r\n<\/a>\r\n\r\nAssociation of County Commissions of Alabama (ACCA)<\/a>,\r\n\r\nAlabama League of Municipalities<\/a>\r\n\r\nFlorida Association of Counties<\/a>,\r\n\r\nFlorida League of Cities<\/a>,\r\n\r\n\r\nFlorida City and County Management Association (FCCMA)<\/a>,\r\n\r\nAssociation of County Commissioners of Georgia (ACCG)<\/a>,\r\nand\r\n\r\nGeorgia Municipal Association (GMA)<\/a>?\r\n

    \r\nWill our elected officials represent we the people?\r\n

    \r\n -jsq\r\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Make pipeline companies answer questions, motivate implementation of safety standards, announce FERC Scoping meetings, and enforce reasonable local zoning restrictions: these are things local governments can do, and NTSB and FERC say they should do most of them. Gilchrist County Commission in Trenton, Florida has done most of them, and plans to continue doing more. […]","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":[305,552,14,16,203,8,20,88,6687,21,73,54],"tags":[7453,8786,8759,7454,7455,6109,7452,8777,8704,8706,7457,7461,786,785,7459,8751,7456,7460,7458,8701,4164,7449,8785,8702,8710,12,7,8734,7448,7447,6076,8711,6597,8731,7451,6966,7450,6,8726],"class_list":["post-7770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alabama","category-comprehensive-plan","category-economy","category-environment","category-florida","category-georgia","category-law","category-lowndes-county-commission","category-pipeline-2","category-planning","category-safety","category-valdosta-city-council","tag-acca","tag-accg","tag-alabama","tag-alabama-league-of-municipalities","tag-alm","tag-association-of-county-commissioners-of-georgia","tag-association-of-county-commissions-of-alabama","tag-comprehensive-plan","tag-economy","tag-environment","tag-fac","tag-fccma","tag-federal-energy-regulatory-commission","tag-ferc","tag-flc","tag-florida","tag-florida-association-of-counties","tag-florida-city-and-county-management-association","tag-florida-league-of-cities","tag-georgia","tag-georgia-municipal-association","tag-gilchrist-county-commission","tag-gma","tag-lake","tag-law","tag-lowndes-area-knowledge-exchange","tag-lowndes-county","tag-lowndes-county-commission","tag-national-transportation-safety-board","tag-ntsb","tag-pipeline","tag-planning","tag-sabal-trail-transmission","tag-safety","tag-scoping-meetings","tag-spectra-energy","tag-trenton","tag-valdosta","tag-valdosta-city-council"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p585fK-21k","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7770","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=7770"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7770\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7778,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7770\/revisions\/7778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.l-a-k-e.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}