Bulletin

An administrative judge ruled against an environmental group in the legal challenge against the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline.

Judge Bram Canter entered his decision Dec. 11, allowing the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to issue a permit for the approximately 500-mile pipeline.

It still needs permits from the US Army Corps of Engineers and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 

John Quarterman is the president of WWALS Watershed Coalition, which brought the legal challenge forward to try and block the state from issuing a permit. 

“The judge’s decision is not unanticipated, but disappointing,” Quarterman said. “We’re considering our options.”

The basis of the lawsuit was that the DEP didn’t do its due diligence in making sure Sabal Trail’s assurances about environmental impact were accurate, he said.

Though the agency hasn’t done so yet, it intends to grant the permit. Until it does, WWALS can’t appeal the judge’s decision, Quarterman said. 

Sabal Trail was treated like any other permit applicant, Quarterman said, according to the DEP’s own statements. However, the Suwannee and Santa Fe rivers, which the pipeline would cross, have a special legal classification giving them higher levels of protection, he added. 

Environmental groups such as WWALS oppose the pipeline for concerns about its affect on the fragile geology of Florida, especially in Suwannee County. 

“This pipeline would be massively destructive,” Quarterman said in a previous interview.

It would run from Alabama through Georgia and Florida, ending at a station in Osceola County.

The Suwannee County Commission was poised to send a letter to FERC and the US Army Corps of Engineers, requesting the regulatory agencies require the pipeline avoid Suwannee County. However, the wording of the letter also asked that it avoided the entire state.

The commission, in a special meeting last week, opted not to send it at the time. 

Andrea Grover, spokesperson for Spectra Energy, majority shareholder in the Sabal Trail venture, could not be reached for comment. 

Tallahassee-based public relations firm Bascom Communications did, however, reach out to the Suwannee Democrat in an email on behalf of Grover.

“We’re pleased with the administrative law judge’s recommended order, based on the facts presented by Sabal Trail and the DEP during the hearing,” it reads. 

The company expects the DEP to review and issue a final order in the first quarter of 2016, according to the email. 

The judge in the WWALS challenge ruled the group had no legal standing unless the pipeline crosses their property, Quarterman said. He had previously taken the stance that the environmental group had standing as citizens who recreationally use the potentially affected rivers. 

Sabal Trail would run around the border of Hamilton County and through Central Suwannee County.  

It could provide over 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day in the Southeastern market, according to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

FERC, in a report, asserted the pipeline would have a minimal environmental impact.

The Environmental Protection Agency disagreed, sending FERC a letter in October expressing “very significant concerns.” The EPA recommended Sabal Trail find an alternate route. 

The official Sabal Trail website claims the project will create over 520 permanent jobs, $22 million in annual wages and $74 million on total economic output. For Florida specifically, the website projects 288 permanent jobs and over $43 million in revenue generated for the state.   

The pipeline company is scheduled to begin operations May 2017, according to the website.