Albany pipeline protesters take cause to Sabal Trail office | PHOTO GALLERY

ALBANY — A group of between 30 and 40 protesters gathered at the Sabal Trail Transmission office on Evelyn Avenue Friday to voice their continued opposition to the $3.5 billion natural gas pipeline that is projected to pass through Dougherty County on the way from central Alabama to central Florida.

Mobile users can view photos of the protest here

The group also is opposed to the location of one of five proposed project compressor stations in the county.

“The location they’ve projected for the new compressor station will definitely impact where I live,” protester Benny Hand, who lives in the Winterwood neighborhood in southwest Dougherty County, said. “The site they’re talking about is a mile or so from where I live. I don’t want my family’s quality of life impacted.”

Between 40 and 50 of the protesters took part in a first “silent protest” at the junction of Lockett Station Road and Oakridge Drive in southwest Dougherty County last Saturday morning. That site is less than a mile from Sabal Trail’s proposed new location of the compressor station. Many who took part in the Friday morning protest said they’d be back at the initial site for another vigil Friday afternoon.

The wave of anti-pipeline activity has ramped up in the past 10 days in advance of a scheduled Draft Environmental Impact Statement that is expected to be released by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in August. FERC will determine after completing its environmental review whether to allow plans for the pipeline to continue.

The 460-plus-mile pipeline will have the capacity to pump a billion cubic feet of natural gas a day from a facility in central Alabama to one in central Florida. Florida Power & Light is expected to use most of the gas pumped through the pipeline to provide energy in the northern part of the state.

Daniel Handelman, a sophomore political science major at Darton State College in Albany, said Friday he and other members of the college’s D.I.R.T. (Democrat, Independent, Republican Team) club are working to convince their fellow students to become more involved in issues like the local anti-pipeline movement.

“It’s difficult to get students from all over the country and the world to get involved in local politics, but local issues actually affect us more dramatically than most national issues,” Handelman said. “There are a number of eminent domain issues with this project that concern me.

“Looking at the (proposed) route of the pipeline, it’s obvious the company has ‘gerrymandered’ it around certain locations. Why they feel it must come through a densely populated area and the compressor station must be located in an area that will impact a large segment of the population I have trouble understanding.”

Kevin Grail, who came to the protest Friday as a representative of the Florida-based Grail Management Group, which owns four trailer parks in Dougherty County including the Countryside Village trailer park near the proposed compressor station site, said he’s concerned about the health and welfare of tenants in the park.

“I believe the issues with this pipeline and compressor station pose threats for our tenants, who are among the most vulnerable part of our population,” Grail said. “Their property values are going to decrease, and they have very few options once that happens. If they’re forced to move, it costs them around $5,000. Most don’t have that kind of money, and where would they go if they did?”

Once FERC issues its final Environmental Impact Statement, which is scheduled in November, a period of judicial review will follow. If a permit is granted to Sabal Trail, construction is expected to start in May of 2016.

Citizens may, through Monday, comment on individual pipeline concerns at www.ferc.gov (docket number CP15-17-000) or send letters to Kimberly Bose at 888 First St. N.E., Washington, D.C., 20426.