On Monday, at 7:40 p.m., the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced its final order approving this radical, fracked-gas export facility proposed along the Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland.
Despite mounds of testimony and scientific data showing this $3.8 billion facility would incentivize harmful fracking throughout our region and bring unconscionable safety risks to nearby communities, FERC refused to even conduct an environmental impact statement for the project. Despite a study from the U.S. Department of Energy showing that gas exports are likely worse than coal for global warming over the next 20 years, FERC didn’t even try to quantify the project’s climate impacts before lending its rubber stamp.
In other words, the FERC decision on Cove Point is a giant lie — and we will challenge it. In the same way that TransCanada lies about the harms of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, FERC lies about Cove Point. In the same way that Peabody Coal lies about the harms of mountaintop removal mining, FERC lies about Cove Point. The secretive, truth-hiding collaboration between FERC and its gas-industry partner Dominion Resources (the energy bully and would-be builder of Cove Point), is an affront to every child, parent, and grandparent on this planet.
Which is why we are NOT going to stop fighting against Cove Point — from the streets to the courts. We’re just moving to the legal phase now. And we’ll move to the next phase and the next after that. And how could we stop fighting anyway?
There were 400,000 people in New York City just ten days ago, with a roar and a mass so big I’m sure satellites picked it up in outer space. The People’s Climate March, with babies wearing windmill crowns and senior citizens wearing “Stop Fracking” buttons, signaled that a new day is dawning in America. We’re the movement we’ve always been waiting for! We’re here. We’re big. And we’re going to win. Which means we have no time for a worse-than-coal export facility for fracked gas in Maryland. The FERC approval is a momentary setback. It’s just a prelude to the legal battle just ahead. CCAN and our partners will likely sue soon, demanding a proper and thorough environmental impact statement as our right by law.
What can you do right away to keep fighting? Here’s what:
1. Join the rapid response demonstration that CCAN and our allies are planning outside the FERC headquarters in Washington, DC this Friday.
Or, if you’re a Southern Marylander, join a solidarity demonstration Friday outside the Dominion Cove Point site in Lusby.
And if you live in Maryland:
2. Mark your calendar and join a statewide conference call on Wednesday, October 8th at 7 p.m. We’ll plot next steps on Cove Point, including how to stop all gas exports by flooding our state – and soon the planet – with solar panels and wind turbines. Join the call October 8th and learn more.
Meanwhile, at a moment like this, it’s important to thank your friends and hold your opponents accountable. The FERC decision on Monday is a setback. There’s no hiding that. It’s a massive failure of federal regulatory responsibility. And it’s a failure of political leadership. That failure starts with President Obama who, despite a world hurdling past 400 parts per million carbon in the atmosphere, has embraced a ludicrous energy policy of “all of the bove.” That explicitly includes fracking and fracked-gas exports despite the science showing such gas dooms his own children. Are the gas-industry donations to Democratic Party campaigns really worth that?
The failure continues with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. Despite the pleas of Calvert County Maryand residents near Cove Point, the Governor never ordered a comprehensive safety study to protect local citizens from accidental explosions at Cove Point. In fact, O’Malley literally fell asleep during a hearing on safety with citizen witnesses testifying just 30 feet across from him. Shame.
The failure continues with southern Maryland congressman Steny Hoyer and US Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski. All three refused to publicly oppose this economically and environmentally harmful project. Indeed, none of them even called publicly for an environmental impact statement despite the pleas of voters and newspapers like The Baltimore Sun. Shame.
But as much bad behavior as there’s been in this Cove Point fight, there has been good behavior from citizen angels all across this region. Among others, many thanks to: Citizen Shale, Sierra Club, Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility, Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community, Waterkeepers everywhere, Food and Water Watch, Maryland Environmental Health Network, Maryland League of Women Voters, 350.org, Labor Network for Sustainability, Environmental Action, Burks Gas Truth, and many, many, many more groups and individuals.
I can’t wait to work with you in the coming days and months to keep fighting for clean energy — not Dominion’s disaster at Cove Point — and to keep the spirit of the 400,000-stong New York City climate march alive and growing!
On we go,
Mike Tidwell
Director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Click here to read our joint press statement in response to FERC’s decision.