Mrs. Tracy Ryder, Et al
2217 Eastgate Way
Tallahassee, FL 32308

Dear Fellow Property Owner,

My family is owner of Parcel No. 092 00131, located on Spain Road in Morven, GA, and we are the decedents of Russell G. McRae. After extensive research of the Brooks County Property Appraiser’s records, I have learned that you are owners of properties in Brooks County that like myself, are affected by the current high-pressure, 10 inch diameter, interstate natural gas line that was laid by the Southern Natural Gas Company, SONAT, back in 1955.

This year we were contacted by Sabal Trail Transmission regarding their plans to lay a high-pressure, 36 inch diameter, interstate natural gas line along the same corridor, parallel to, or abutting to the existing SONAT gas line. The current natural gas easement is 50 feet in width, and Sabal Trail Transmission wishes to add an additional 50 foot easement. This means that the effected property owners stand to lose full use of a 100 foot wide swatch of their land for current and future development. Once granted the easement rights are generally written in perpetuity, which in plain English means forever, and land development is gravely restricted. For some this encumbrance may be an inconvenience, for some a hardship, and for other this encumbrance may be devastating as they stand to lose the ability to perform any future development.

We attended an open house meeting conducted by Sabal Trail in Valdosta, GA, last October at which time people were able to view charts and map and ask questions regarding the proposed pipeline and corridors. Sabal Trail representatives were not releasing information about the corridors and specific properties that were to be impacted because they said they were still in the planning and research stages. They did state they wanted to lay their pipeline next to the SONAT line, and that they were no longer considering utilizing the corridor affecting Tifton, Georgia because “there were too many people involved”. My reply to that was that property owners in Brooks County are people, too, and that we are already negatively impacted by the pre-existing SONAT pipe line.

Most importantly, we did note that there was no representation of Brooks County people at that meeting, or at any of the following meetings in Lowndes County. Lowndes County citizens are quite organized in their resistance to this new pipe line. We are contacting you with a questionnaire to learn what your concerns are. If Brooks County property owners organize and form a united front, we should be able to have our concerns addressed. By organizing we will have greater leverage to if not to change the course of the new gas line, to demand and negotiate better compensation for our losses. As I fear they will be significant.

Please take the time to complete the enclose survey and return it in the self-addressed envelope. We will organize the responses provided, and contact those interested in meeting to further discuss possible individual and group actions that we may take in the future.

We await your reply.

Sincerely,

Tracy Ryder