Status

The Gulfstream pipeline began operating on September 1, 2008. A Federal Complaint, originally filed in May 2008, and amended to include Motion for Injunction, filed August 29, 2008, awaits its turn to be heard in Federal court. Although the pipeline is in operation, the company is still working on fulfilling obligations to restore the construction areas by mulching and reseeding grass.

History

Gulfstream began construction of their 30 inch diameter natural gas pipeline in early April 2008. Construction was temporarily stopped that month in response to Everglades Earth First!'s permit challenge that Gulfstream was violating provisions of the permit intended to protect gopher tortoises in the area. The case is still under investigation and appeals have been filed, but Gulfstream continues construction.There have been two violations of water turbidity levels as laid out in the FDEP permit, which they chose to resolve via a $6,250 fine.

By August 1st, Gulfstram had installed and buried 99% of the total pipe length. On July 25, they had asked to put the pipeline into service on August 7, 2008, but were not approved until August 21. On August 29, the Palm Beach County Environmental Coalition filed an emergency injunction against the operation of the pipeline. The pipeline went into service on Labor Day, September 1.

Gulfstream is required to post biweekly status reports, showing their progress over the last two weeks, and their plan for the next two weeks. In addition to the links on our documents page, these reports are available online via the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission docket search: enter CP00-6 as the docket number, and 014 as the subdocket.

Everglades Earth First! has organized a public monitoring campaign including weekend campouts to keep an eye on the construction, check for permit violations, and protect wildlife.