The Suwannee County Commission adjourned a special-called meeting Thursday after it declined to send a letter requesting regulators keep the Sabal Trail pipeline out of Florida and Suwannee County.

“The pristine nature of this area should be kept in tact,” the letter states. 

Commissioners debated the letter at Live Oak City Hall Thursday morning. It would have been sent to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which the pipeline needs a permit from, and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. 

After unanimously agreeing at their last meeting Dec. 1 to have staff draft the request, no commissioner made a motion to send it. 

“After quite a bit of discussion and research since last Tuesday,” said Commissioner Larry Sessions, “I found a lot of new information.”

At a Dec. 1 meeting, Sessions proposed asking regulators to keep Sabal Trail out of the area. In a phone interview the next day, he further added that it should preferably be kept out of the entire state, which was included in the wording of the letter. 

Excluding Commissioner Clyde Fleming, who was absent Thursday, board members discussed possible changes to the message’s text and their individual positions on the pipeline. 

Commissioner Wesley Wainwright was the first to elaborate on his stance at Thursday’s meeting.

“My business depends very heavily on energy,” he said, expressing concerns about how it would be impacted by rising costs.

“Natural gas is a viable alternative,” he continued. 

However, if the other commissioners wanted to send the letter, Wainwright would support it to maintain a unified front, he added. 

Wainwright said he believes the pipeline doesn’t pose a serious risk to the environment.

Environmental groups challenging the nearly 500-mile project, which would run from Alabama through Georgia and Florida, dispute that stance, though.

John Quarterman, president of WWALS Watershed Coalition, said in an interview there is no peer-reviewed evidence supporting claims it wouldn’t harm sensitive geological areas. It cuts right through Florida’s aquifer, he said, and threatens fragile layers of soluble rocks, which could create sinkholes. 

“The pipeline would be massively destructive,” Quarterman said. 

Commissioner Sessions clarified at Thursday’s meeting that he doesn’t oppose Sabal Trail in general, but doesn’t want it to run through Suwannee County. There are different routes it can take, he said.

“I think there’s better ways to go to bring the energy to Florida,” he said. “I’m just worried about our environment and the type of geology we have underneath us.”

Sessions said he recognized the need for energy.

“I’m just against bringing it through such a delicate part of our state,” he said. 

Later in the meeting, Sessions named Dixie and Taylor counties as possible routes Sabal Trail can take. 

River crossings and a controversial proposed compressor station in O’Brien, said Commissioner Ricky Gamble, were his two main concerns. Those specific issues should be addressed, he said, but he wasn’t sure about the message requesting the pipeline not come through the state or county. 

“I don’t know that I’m in favor of the letter the way it currently reads,” he said. “As far as the pipeline, I haven’t been opposed to it in the beginning and I’m not opposed to it now.”

The economic benefits the pipeline would bring to the county would be substantial, said Commission Chair Jason Bashaw. It would generate about $2.77 million in tax revenue, and the county wouldn’t have to offer incentives or provide infrastructure to get it, he said. 

“I believe the benefits far outweigh the risks,” Bashaw said. 

If the rest of the board wanted to send it, Commissioner Wainwright proposed rewording the letter to ask that Sabal Trail further evaluate the route. 

Commissioner Bashaw said he still stood in opposition to sending it.

Area resident Debra Johnson asked the commission for a brief time to speak, which it reluctantly agreed to. 

Natural gas is not a “bridge fuel” to sustainable energy, she said, but is actually one of the worst greenhouse gases. 

The pipeline would deliver gas to Florida Power & Light, but there’s another way, she said. Solar power could meet the company’s needs just as well, she added, according to a statement from FPL itself. 

A proposed port in Tampa could also be a better way to transport energy without threatening Florida’s aquifer, Johnson said. 

“No matter which way you look at it, that’s what this pipeline does,” she added. 

The commission called the special-called meeting due to a Dec. 11 deadline for public comments with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Commissioner Sessions said there was still time to come back to it later, though. 

The board decided to revisit the issue at another time instead of adopting a formal stance.