Standing room only last night for two hours of how to oppose Sabal Trail and help the sun rise on Florida and the southeast, 7 PM, Thursday, January 12, 2017 at The Woman’s Club of Live Oak, called by Suwannee Riverkeeper.

Here are links to each of the videos, with a few notes, followed by a video playlist. Please share widely, and you can reuse any of these videos; just cite the source, WWALS Watershed Coalition.

• Preparing for Rivers against Sabal Trail in Live Oak Suwannee Riverkeeper

  Video. Tom Lynn of Suwannee Democrat meets Richard Luscombe of the Guardian.

• MC Gretchen Quarterman, Rivers vs. Sabal Trail, Live Oak, Suwannee Riverkeeper

  Video. The “stern but gracious watchful eye of Gretchen Quarterman”, according to Jim Tatum of OSFR in Rivers Against Sabal Trail in Live Oak —with Suwannee RIVERKEEPER.

• Host Eileen Box, Rivers vs. Sabal Trail, Live Oak, Suwannee Riverkeeper

  Video. This meeting was only possible because she arranged the venue. Eileen Box is the Conservation Chair of the Woman’s Club of Live Oak.

• Videoing, facebook, speakers, Rivers vs. Sabal Trail, Suwannee Riverkeeper

  Video. These are the videos WWALS took. Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson tried facebook live for a while, until her phone overheated.

• Dave Hetzel, WWALS Ambassador, Against Sabal Trail, Suwannee Riverkeeper

  Video. Dave told his origin story of WWALS. There are several others, which is why it’s a Coalition. And there’s room for more on the board.

• Three years against Sabal Trail –Chris Mericle

  Video. Much of what Chris mentioned is linked in here. And he organized this paddle down the Suwannee River way back before he and Deanna and the Hamilton County Commission booted Sabal Trail off the Withlacoochee River in Florida: Pictures and videos from Alapaha Rise, Sabal Trail pipeline, Five Holes, and Alapaha and Withlacoochee Confluences on the Suwannee River 2015-08-15.

• Holding polluters accountable through legal means –Suwannee Riverkeeper

  Video. What it means to be Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®.

• Sacred Water Camp on Suwannee River –Debra Johnson

  Video. Mother of camps Debra Johnson (also a WWALS member) talked about what they’re doing at Sacred Water Camp, including the day before in Tallahassee marched from the Governor’s Mansion to the Capitol.

• Water is Life Camp on Santa Fe River –Cindy Noel

  Video. Cindy got arrested while standing on a public road, along with a dozen other people, which put a crimp in Water Is Life Camp while they were under a no-association order. But the camp is still up and running, with Pete Ackerman giving tours.

• LNG export, trucks, and trains –Cecile Scofield

  Video. Cecile used a cardboard box to demonstrate how bad an idea LNG by truck or rail or ship is. She is a WWALS member, and she also sent us these slides: Martin County’s Vulnerability Analysis of Florida East Coast Rail’s Transportation of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), by Martin County Fire Rescue, December 2015.

• Oppose phosphate mine, Fort Butler 2017-01-17 –Jim Tatum OSFR

  Video. For more, see Jim Tatum and Merillee Malwitz-Jipson, St. Augustine Record, 13 June 2016, Guest Column: Bradford County phosphate mine is lunacy.

• Sabal Trail may be finished drilling under Suwannee River –Chris Mericle

  Video. Chris lives nearby and drove by earlier that same day. Under other rivers, it’s taken Sabal Trail 2-5 weeks (sometimes more) after they finish their pilot hole to complete horizontal directional drilling (HDD). They finished the Suwannee River pilot hole by 26 December 2016, so they’ve had three weeks or reaming already, and they could be finished by now.

• People don’t know and mindset to unpoison the rivers –Lori McGee

  Video. A main purpose of this meeting was to show people much of the picture so they could know. Please share these videos. You can reuse them as long as you attribute the source, which is WWALS.

• Two actions this weekend –Debra Johnson

  Video. WWALS is hosting a paddle Saturday morning from Suwannee Campsites to the Park. Around the same time, there will be a first-amendment march in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day up Stagecoach Road in Suwannee County and back to SRSP. At about 1PM (not a WWALS event), Sabal Trail Resistance is holding a mass civil disobediance action at the drill site; see the video of Pete Ackerman’s talk.

• Our Santa Fe River –Mike Roth

  Video. A likely new board member of Our Santa Fe River explains OSFR.

• Direct Action and Mass Sit-in on Suwannee River –Pete Ackerman

  Video. Direct action is empowering, he said, and see the mass civil disobediance planned for Saturday by Sabal Trail Resistance.

• Sole-source Floridan Aquifer and Recording violations –Merrillee Malwitz-Jipson

  Video. Merrillee is a campaign organizer for Sierra Club, and has an office in Fort White, FL. Sierra Club petitioned EPA to declare the Florida Aquifer a sole source aquifer. Sierra Club, Flint Riverkeeper, and Chattahoochee Riverkeeper filed a lawsuit challenging FERC approval of Sabal Trail. She used the WWALS list of addresses to report violations as bait to try to get people to show up at her office to go through facebook violation reports to compile a list to demonstrate that it’s not just in any one area.

• Bank Exits and Water Protector Alliance –Dylan Hansen

  Video. Bank exists, or #FLEXIT, could be the most effective tactic: if the investors get cold feet, no Sabal Trail. The Water Protector Alliance Dylan is now forming sounds very much like the Georgia Water Coalition except for Florida.

• Help the sun rise on Florida –John S. Quarterman, Suwannee Riverkeeper

  Video. Thanks to everyone for coming: twice as many as signed up! Thanks to all the speakers: every one of you agreed within a couple of days of being asked.

  In addition to stories of sporting with Andrea Grover and John Peconom, I mentioned FPL has admitted Florida needs no new electricity until 2024, so why Sabal Trail? Who funds FERC? Not the taxpayers. FERC recovers cost of operations through charges and fees from the industries it regulates. See also Solar power versus Sabal Trail –Suwannee Riverkeeper in VDT 2017-01-08.

  WWALS water trails are more fun than opposing Sabal Trail, but we all have to do it.

  So say we all to Sabal Trail: you shall not pass!

• Thanks and join up –Gretchen Quarterman

  Video. Join your local watershed organization. And thanks to all for coming!

Here is the WWALS video playlist:

Rivers Against Sabal Trail in Live Oak –Suwannee Riverkeeper 2017-01-12
Videos by John S. Quarterman for WWALS Watershed Coalition (WWALS).

 -jsq, John S. Quarterman, Suwannee RIVERKEEPER®

You can join this fun and work by becoming a WWALS member today!

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