LIVE OAK — Congressman Ted Yoho hiked with around 30 opponents to the Sabal Trail pipeline through Suwannee River State Park’s Big Oak Trail to look at sinkholes near the proposed route.

The Sunday morning hike was a result of an environmental geology report done by Dennis Price, a local practicing geologist. Price’s report directly contradicts what Sabal Trail presented during its permitting process, particularly sinkhole proximity to the proposed route.

Chris Mericle, a board member of the Withlacoochee, Willacoochee, Alapaha, Little and Suwannee River (WWALS) Watershed Coalition, invited the Republican representative for Florida’s third district to come and see these sinkholes in person. Yoho said he wanted to clarify some of the information he was given about the pipeline.

“These guys have done their homework. They’ve done a great job,” Yoho said. “We need to get this stuff clarified before we go any further.”

During the pipeline permit process, Yoho said, no issues were brought up. However, he heard different information from Mericle and other members of WWALS.

Mericle presented Price’s finding to Yoho and the other attendees just before the hike. Using an array maps, he indicated multiple sinkholes on or near the sight and discussed several inconsistencies in Sabal Trail’s report.

One inconsistency has to do with the Falmouth Cathedral Cave system. Sabal Trail estimated that the cave system is about 100 feet below the ground surface where the pipeline will cross. But, according to a different report, the system is about 30 feet below the land surface. This puts the cave system at great risk of collapse, the report stated.

Suwannee County Commissioner Clyde Flemming wrote a letter to the US Army of Corps Engineers to make a site visit inspection. It would determine the actual proximity of active sinkholes and other features of the aquifer and cave systems to the proposed pipeline route.

Yoho said he will be supportive of the Army Corps of Engineers doing another study.

“We were told the pipeline was 750 feet away from the nearest (sinkhole), but it’s clearly not,” Yoho said after the hike.