Desiree Carver | The Valdosta Daily TimesMembers of WWALS Watershed Coalition stood above the Withlacoochee River to express concerns over Sabal Trail and the Dakota Access Pipeline. 

QUITMAN, Ga. – The WWALS Watershed Coalition stood on the bridge between Brooks and Lowndes County Saturday to show solidarity with Dakota Access Pipeline opponents in Dakota and to continue its battle against the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline. 

According to a release from WWALS, the stance was to “help demand the Army Corps re-evaluate its permit for Sabal Trail just like its permit for the Dakota Access Pipeline.”

The WWALS Watershed Coalition has been battling Sabal Trail since it was announced in 2013. The Sabal Trail Pipeline is a proposed 515-mile natural gas pipeline that would run from Alabama to central Florida, passing through Lowndes County and Valdosta.

Group members held signs at the county line as part of #NoDAPL Solidarity Weeks of Action, bringing attention to concerns over both Sabal Trail and Dakota Access Pipelines.

The Dakota Access Pipeline is a 1,172 mile pipeline that would transport domestically produced light sweet crude oil from North Dakota to Illinois, according to Energy Transfer Crude Oil Company.

This pipeline has caught national attention as the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, whose reservation is near the pipeline’s proposed route, expressed concerns over potential leaks or spills.

According to a press release on the tribe’s website, “sacred places containing ancient burial sites, places of prayer and other significant cultural artifacts were destroyed by Energy Transfer Partners.”

As of Sept. 6, Enbridge Inc., one of the companies behind the Dakota Access Pipeline, merged with Spectra Energy, the company behind the Sabal Trail pipeline, according to the Spectra Energy website.

“We stand with the opponents up there (in North Dakota),” said John Quarterman of the WWALS Watershed Coalition.

Desiree Carver is Lifestyles Editor at the Valdosta Daily Times. She can be reached at (229) 375-5777.