Category: Blog

Wow. On Sunday, the heat scorching the streets of DC was palpable. But, even more so, was the passion and power of our movement. THANKS to everyone who turned out to say NO to fracking, NO to gas exports at Cove Point, NO to runaway climate change, and YES to real clean energy solutions.
Click here to check out all the photos on Facebook, and share them to spread the word!
We know the gas industry is all about division — blasting apart the rock beneath our earth, running pipelines through our towns, and further disrupting our fragile climate — now to ship the gas overseas for higher profit.
On Sunday, we showed that our movement is all about unity. We converged from New York, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Ohio, Virginia, Louisiana, and beyond. We marched as people living upstream, downstream, and everywhere in between along the chain of impacts that would come from exporting fracked gas. Together, we made local and national news headlines¹ — and we made history: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has, hands-down, NEVER seen over 1,000 people protesting at their doorstep! We sent a loud and clear message to President Obama and FERC that climate leaders don’t frack — and that we’ll be back.

 
Then, early the next morning, 25 brave activists added their own punctuation mark. After peacefully blockading the entrances to FERC headquarters for two hours, they were arrested demanding that FERC reject the liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility proposed at Cove Point.

After such an inspiring few days of action, what’s the next step? First off, you can join the families of Calvert County, Maryland and demand an independent “quantitative risk assessment” of the worst-case explosion dangers of Dominion’s proposed Cove Point facility. FERC has refused to do this type of standard human risk study. Add your name to the petition calling on Governor Martin O’Malley to step in immediately and order one himself.
Beyond today, the immediate Cove Point campaign is likely to get tougher. We know it will take more than one or two powerful protests — or the record affordability of wind and solar power — to change the status quo at FERC or convince President Obama to reverse course on gas exports. This fight will almost certainly land in the courts, and involve more direct action in the streets. Stay tuned.
Ultimately, as we keep fighting together — and rocketing more stones of justice in Goliath’s direction — we do believe that we are winning. Ruth Tyson, the youngest speaker from the stage on Sunday, perhaps put it the best:

When I look out into this crowd, I see something a million times stronger than any current. I see something that Dominion [the company proposing to build Cove Point] should be afraid of. I see passion, commitment, hope, and love. … And because we all chose to stand up to a system of bullies and doubters and cowards, the direction of our current is changing.

Keep our current moving today: Click here to spread the word about Sunday’s powerful protest. Click here to sign the urgent safety study petition to Governor O’Malley.
Finally, click here to pitch in today and support CCAN as we continue building this people-powered movement.
–Much love from Mike Tidwell, Shilpa Joshi, Ted Glick, and the entire team at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network
1. Check out news coverage in WUSA TV, Politico, The Nation, Al Jazeera America, Reuters, EcoWatch (including Sandra Steingraber’s powerful speech), the Baltimore Sun, DeSmogBlog, and more!

Today the Chesapeake Climate Action Network released a report — Safe Coast Virginia — that details the climate change threats facing coastal Virginia and outlines ten bold but practical solutions for addressing them.

Click here to view and download a PDF copy of the report.

Click here to read the news release.

Coastal Hampton Roads is already ground zero for climate change impacts in Virginia. By the year 2100, sea levels are projected to rise by as much as seven feet or more, substantially higher than average global projections. That places much of Tidewater Virginia second only to New Orleans and Louisiana’s Gulf Coast as the largest U.S. population center at greatest risk of flooding and largely disappearing. But Hampton Roads also has an opportunity to be a ground zero for solutions.
Safe Coast Virginia lays out 10 important solutions that are within the reach of Virginia’s citizens and policymakers right now. These solutions can make Virginia a leader in reducing (“mitigating”) the actual source of climate change and sea level rise: greenhouse gas emissions. These solutions could easily make Virginia a global market leader in the growing clean technology sector. These solutions include realistic and necessary approaches to adapt and protect Virginia’s coastal communities from the rising tides and extreme weather impacts that can no longer be mitigated.
Top among the report’s policy proposals is a win-win solution that’s new to the policy discussion in Virginia: participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). This cooperative effort among nine eastern states from Maine to Maryland reduces greenhouse gas emissions through a cap on carbon emissions. By participating in this regional program, Virginia could reduce planet-heating emissions while raising hundreds of millions of dollars in dedicated funding for coastal adaptation. Indeed, the report finds that Virginia could raise up to $200 million annually by 2020.
Read the Safe Coast Virginia report here. Then stay tuned for ways you can help make these solutions a reality for Virginia.

Even as the facts about liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports get harder and harder to ignore, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) continues to bury its head in the sand. Last month, a Department of Energy study revealed that — even when using conservative estimates of harmful emissions — exports of US fracked gas to Asia provide absolutely no climate benefits for decades, if ever. In fact, exporting natural gas is worse for the climate over the next critical 20 years than if Asian countries burned coal overseas!
FERC wants to ignore this fact and rubber stamp the gas industry’s proposed export projects, but FERC is being met with a sea of opposition. Next week, opponents of FERC’s traditional cow-towing to fossil fuel interests will raise their voices on FERC’s doorstep using a tactic successfully employed by past social justice campaigns, ranging from women’s suffrage to civil rights: The picket line.
Each day during the week of June 23-27, from noon – 1:30pm, groups of concerned citizens from the region will descend upon FERC’s headquarters in downtown DC, just a block from Union Station. With signs and chants, we’ll highlight FERC’s wrongdoing in a whole new, unavoidable way — by picketing directly at their doorstep.
Sign up to join the first-ever DC picket line protesting Cove Point! Pick a day or two from 6/23-6/27, noon – 1:30pm outside of FERC headquarters in downtown DC.
And the timing couldn’t be more crucial. Earlier this year, President Obama made it clear that climate change is here now, and its impacts are already being felt across the nation and around the world. Then, on June 2nd, the Environmental Protection Agency released some of the most significant climate regulations we’ve seen yet, laying out requirements for each state to limit greenhouse gas emissions from power plants. The new regulations are an important step forward that could help promote the transition to cleaner energy across our region.
To achieve that switch, however, we need to address the 800 pound gorilla in the room: fracked natural gas. The studies are clear: a global shift to reliance on natural gas fracked from deep below the earth could be equally as bad, if not worse, for the climate than continued reliance on coal.
The natural gas industry has been selling the public a bill of goods. For years, they’ve tried to sell their product as a “bridge fuel,” a clean alternative to coal and oil. But now data from the DOE itself shows this is not true, especially when the gas exported to Asia. And FERC has yet to change course.
Enough is enough.
Join thousands of climate and anti-fracking activists on July 13th in an historic march on Washington on to say NO to FERC’s tradition of giving the gas industry what it wants at the expense of our climate, economy, and safety.
It’s abundantly clear that solving the climate crisis will require keeping gas in the ground — along with the tar sands, the coal and the oil.
The gas industry spends billions on ads touting natural gas as 50 percent cleaner than coal.Gas is cleaner only at the point of combustion. If you calculate the greenhouse gas pollution emitted at every stage of the production process — drilling, piping, compression, shipment to Asia — it’s just coal by another name.
Earlier this week, Karen Feridun of Berks Gas Truth wrote a great piece about the attendant risks that come with the increased fracking we know will result if any of the more than 20 proposed natural gas export facilities are built. Fracking poses safety risks to local communities as harmful chemicals are released into the air and water. It also triggers the start of a chain of climate pollution.
In the process of fracking, piping, and liquefying natural gas, the Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about 1.4% of natural gas escapes as methane into the atmosphere. Methane is 84 times more powerful at trapping heat in the atmosphere than CO2 over a 20-year time frame. Gas exports will increase the demand for fracking and transporting natural gas, meaning more and more climate polluting methane will be leaking into the atmosphere.
When you add it all up, gas export facilities like Dominion Resources’ proposed Cove Point plant would trigger global warming pollution that spells disaster for our climate; the cumulative, planet-heating emissions triggered would be equivalent to building more than 100 new coal plants or putting 78 million more cars on our roads.
But real alternatives exist. While we’re saying no to dirty fracked gas exports, Americans want to say yes to increasing our wind and solar power consumption and adopting policies committing us to more clean energy.
It’s time for the US to decide. Are we going to stay the course to a safe climate with bigger and better clean energy development, or are we going to move backward to dirty energy with fracked gas exports?
On Sunday, July 13th, here’s what’s happening: Tim DeChristopher, Sandra Steingraber, the Reverend Lennox Yearwood Jr., and anti-fracking activists by the thousands will gather for an historic national rally at the Capitol building. We’ll then march together — noisily, creatively, insistently — to the disgracefully pro-fracking Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
We need you there, too. Join Tim DeChristopher, Sandra Steingraber, and citizens like you to protest fracked gas exports — July 13th in DC.
Our message to President Obama and FERC is simple: Fracked gas is not clean and exported gas harms our climate. It’s time to leave the gas in the ground and move on to real solutions like wind and solar power.
 

This morning, the inbox of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is being flooded with tens of thousands of messages from people all across the nation saying “no” to fracked gas exports. Today is the final day to submit a public comment urging FERC to reject the “poster child” for a disastrous gas industry plan to export natural gas: the Cove Point terminal proposed just 50 miles from the White House on the Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland. (You can click here to take action by the 5pm deadline.)
And while we’re flooding FERC’s inbox today, anti-fracking marchers will flood the streets outside of FERC’s headquarters on Sunday, July 13th. Why?
The short story is this: FERC is on the verge of rubber-stamping a massive expansion of fossil fuel exports — fracked gas exports — that would spell disaster for the climate. It would harm communities all along the chain of new fracking wells, pipelines, compressor stations, and gas “liquefaction” plants involved in the process. And, as the gas is exported overseas (almost entirely to Asia) gas prices would even rise here at home, meaning virtually all Americans lose while wealthy gas corporations profit. This is exactly the wrong direction for our country and for our climate — and that’s where you come in.
On Sunday July 13th, we take our grassroots movement for clean energy, not fracked gas exports, straight to Washington, DC. We know that the five-member FERC commission – appointed by President Obama – has a shameful track record of rubber-stamping virtually all gas industry projects brought before it. Now is our time to demand a change in course.

Join thousands of Americans in Washington, DC on July 13th to send a strong message to President Obama and FERC: Keep the gas in the ground. Wind and solar power now!

To spread the word, the internet will be abuzz this week with the Stop Gas Exports Blogathon. Every day through Saturday, movement leaders like Bill McKibben, Sandra Steingraber, and Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. and everyday fracking fighters will be blogging about different aspects of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports and why they’re not the solution to our energy and climate woes. Follow #stopgasexports and www.stopgasexports.org for all the updates and to share with your friends!
To learn more today, check out the full run-down of frequently asked questions below.
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[bs_citem title=”Why are thousands of Americans coming to Washington DC on July 13th?” id=”citem_3062-c96d” parent=”collapse_a1f3-fc1b”]
From the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Mexico to the Oregon coast, the gas industry is proposing to build more than 20 LNG export facilities.If the gas industry has its way, it will ship so much carbon overseas it will be like building 100 new coal plants. Fracking wells and their associated explosion-prone infrastructure will proliferate. And over time it could double or even triple the current domestic price of gas.
As we call out the president for his support of fracking, we’ll turn up the pressure on FERC to protect the American public and stop being puppets to the fossil fuel industry. To date, FERC has approved virtually all oil and gas infrastructure proposals brought before it. That’s why we’re demanding change — thousands of Americans from areas affected by gas exports will say “no way” to more rubber stamps that subject more and more communities to expanding pipelines, compressor stations, export terminals and other fossil fuel infrastructure.
But we’re not just opposed to things, and we’re using our people power to push for the positive change we need. On July 13th we’ll proudly and loudly say “yes” to wind power and solar energy and efficiency investments. Wind farms don’t cause earthquakes. Solar panels don’t poison our drinking water. And energy efficiency doesn’t leak methane. But they DO create jobs and a stable climate.
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[bs_citem title=”Why is exporting natural gas bad for the climate?” id=”citem_9aca-e4b3″ parent=”collapse_a1f3-fc1b”]
Natural gas is mostly comprised of methane, a potent heat-trapping gas that can leak into the atmosphere at every stage of the drilling and export process. The gas industry has run an elaborate hoax, touting itself for representing the “clean” fossil fuel. But if you consider the full lifespan of exported gas, from fracking, piping and compressing it across America, liquefying it, shipping it 6,000 miles to Asia, and then regasifying it, piping it more and finally burning it, this process has a climate impact that is is as bad as — or worse than — burning coal! A recent study by the U.S. Department of Energy found that, over a 20-year timeframe (the critical window for tackling the climate crisis), LNG exports to Asia would likely be worse for the climate than if Asian countries burned coal. According to Climate Progress, “a close reading of the DOE report in the context of the recent literature indicates that exporting natural gas from the U.S. as LNG is a very poor idea.”
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[bs_citem title=”Who is responsible for approving a natural gas export facility?” id=”citem_77fb-52df” parent=”collapse_a1f3-fc1b”]
Before a natural gas export facility can be built, it needs a number of local, state, and federal permits. For Cove Point and other projects on FERC’s existing docket, the US Department of Energy (DOE) was responsible for first analyzing whether or not shipping LNG to countries where the US doesn’t have an existing free trade agreement is in our national interest. Then, FERC looks more specifically at the safety and environmental impacts of the project, based on standards laid out in the National Environmental Policy Act. In the case of Cove Point, FERC released an Environmental Assessment on May 15, and gave the public a mere 30 days to comment in return. In late May, DOE changed up the federal review process for future LNG export projects — DOE will now release its final public interest determination only after environmental reviews for proposed plants are completed.
Ultimately, President Obama’s administration needs to reverse its approach to these destructive projects. President Obama can’t meet his promises to solve the climate crisis by overseeing a massive expansion of fracked gas infrastructure that vents harmful methane into our warming atmosphere.
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[bs_citem title=”If there are significant risks involved, isn’t FERC obligated to reject these plans?” id=”citem_60f3-382e” parent=”collapse_a1f3-fc1b”]
Morally, yes. And, if FERC fully followed the law, yes. However, FERC has approved almost every project that the oil and gas industry has put before it, rubber-stamping several facilities that have gone on to have fatal accidents. Earlier this spring, a case brought against FERC by residents of Minisink, NY to challenge FERC approval of a compressor station, highlighted this track record. Attorneys for Minisink argued that FERC is “predisposed to sign off on projects.”
In many cases, FERC will “segment” its review of permits, considering individual parts of a gas infrastructure project to, in effect, disguise the cumulative environmental consequences. In another recent case, the DC Circuit court ruled in favor of the Delaware Riverkeeper Network, New Jersey Highlands Coalition, New Jersey Sierra Club finding that, in reviewing a pipeline expansion proposal, “FERC acted arbitrarily in deciding to evaluate the environmental effects of the Northeast Project independent of the other connected action.”
In the recent case of Cove Point, FERC’s Environmental Assessment swept the project’s many dangers under the rug, absurdly concluding that this $3.8 billion fracked gas export plan would have “no significant” impact on the environment or human health while failing to analyze its role in driving expanded fracking or the cumulative climate change pollution it would trigger. Unless FERC substantially revises its insufficient analysis, environmental groups will likely sue the agency for violating the National Environmental Policy Act.

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There are currently 14 U.S. LNG export facilities proposed to FERC, from Oregon to Texas to Louisiana to Mississippi to Maryland. In Maryland, the Cove Point terminal, proposed by Virginia-based Dominion Resources, would be the first fracked gas export facility on the East Coast, and the first facility located so close to schools, daycares, a public park, and many private residences. There are 4,000 homes within 2 miles of Dominion’s proposed export facility, and local residents are deeply concerned about an accident on the facility that could escalate into a major fire or other life-threatening event.
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If all the proposed LNG export projects in the U.S. are approved, the result would be the export of more than 40 percent of our current production of natural gas. This means more competition at home, and thus, higher prices for domestic consumers and industries. In fact, a study commissioned by the Department of Energy shows that exporting natural gas would harm every major sector of the U.S. economy — except the gas industry.
In the example of Cove Point, the Maryland Public Service Commission concluded that the “LNG facility will not provide net economic benefit to Maryland citizens,” despite granting Dominion a conditional partial permit. In fact, the 130 megawatt gas-fired power plant Dominion would have to build onsite to fuel the energy-intensive “liquefaction” process will provide ABSOLUTELY NO electricity for Maryland’s grid. That means we see all of the pollution and risk and none of the energy.
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The past month has been one of the most eventful yet in the fight against Dominion Resources’ proposed Cove Point fracked gas export facility. To help you stay informed as the urgency picks up, here’s a timeline of the important events and some of the media coverage this fight has seen recently.

May 6th: CCAN and Dominion shareholders file SEC complaint over failure to disclose potential investor risks in Cove Point.
On the eve of Dominion’s shareholder meeting in Cleveland, Ohio, (the site of a catastrophic natural gas explosion that killed over 200 people in 1944,) a Dominion shareholder and environmental advocates submitted an official complaint to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) detailing how Dominion Midstream, a new gas export subsidiary of the larger Dominion Resources, has potentially omitted or inadequately disclosed significant financial and environmental risks of its proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal.
Learn more about the SEC filing:

• The Daily Record reported on the filing, pointing out that “Dominion was expected to begin construction of the facility during the first quarter of this year, but that has already been delayed.”
• CCAN director Mike Tidwell published a piece in the Cleveland Plain Dealer detailing the risks inherent in such a project.

 
May 15th: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Released its Environmental Assessment (EA) of the Cove Point project.
After failing to consider a number of critical factors, the EA found that Cove Point would have “no significant environmental impact.” Immediately, Dominion celebrated the release of such an inadequate study that ignored local safety impacts of the project as well as fracking impacts and life cycle climate pollution.
Learn more about FERC’s inadequate EA:

• Why is the EA totally deficient? Check out CCAN’s Fact Sheet.
• Baynet quotes CCAN director Mike Tidwell on why we need a full Environmental Impact Statement for Cove Point
• DC Media Group reports that FERC Report on Cove Point Misses Big Picture with its Cove Point EA.
• Even oilprice.com asks if it’s the Wrong Time For This Natgas Project. –
• The Nation wants you to take action: Want to do something about Climate Change? Stop Cove Point.

 
May 18th: This ad runs in the Baltimore Sun, calling on Maryland’s legislators to demand accountability on the proposed Cove Point project.
May 21st: Members of Congress and Cove Point opponents request public comment period extension from FERC
A coalition of faith, health, and environmental groups came together to ask FERC for an additional 60 days to submit public comments on the Environmental Assessment, bringing the end of the comment period to August 13th. Senators Cardin and Mikulski also joined the call for an extension.
Learn more about the request for an extended comment period:

• Reuters reported that U.S. groups seek more time to comment on Dominion LNG export project
• The Calvert Recorder published Group files for FERC comment period extension on LNG project

 
May 22nd: Activists around the state visit Senators Mikulski and Cardin’s offices, calling on them to stand with Maryland and demand a full Environmental Impact Statement. 
At each of Senators Cardin and Mikulski’s offices, activists assembled to speak with staffers and deliver a letter to the Senators detailing why Cove Point needs a more detailed environmental study and a full safety review.
Learn more about the action at the Senators’ offices:

• The Appalachian Independent covered the story of Frostburg State University students calling on the senators.
• Read CCAN’s press release about the day of action.

 
May 29th: U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Issues Report Showing that natural gas is worse for the climate than coal when exported to Asia.
According to DOE’s own report, the “results show that US LNG is nearly as bad as coal when exported to Europe and worse than coal when exported to Asia when the climate impacts of methane leakage are measured over a 20-year timeframe.”
Learn more about the DOE report:

• Read CCAN’s summary of the DOE report and its implications
• ClimateProgress broke the news that LNG has no climate benefits now, if ever.

 
May 30th: The Maryland Public Service Commission delivered its decision about key permits for Cove Point.
The PSC granted Dominion a “Certificate of Public Necessity” for Cove Point that is contingent on the final decision from federal regulators and other conditions. In its report, the PSC noted that Dominion’s project would be a net negative for Maryland’s economy and asked the to pay to mitigate those impacts. The PSC asked Dominion to “include more safety and environmental protections for the controversial project, and to donate $48 million to promote clean energy in the state and to help low-income Marylanders pay their power bills.” (Baltimore Sun)
Learn more about the PSC’s decision:

• The Calvert Recorder quotes Mike Tidwell as saying “The PSC expressed concern for the safety of people living closest to the proposed plant but failed to actually protect these people.”
• The Baltimore Sun reports that the PSC “declared that the export terminal would not provide net benefits to state residents.”

 
May 31st: FERC held its one and only public meeting about Cove Point at Patuxent High School in Lusby, MD.
At the hearing, which lasted over six hours, 100 people from across Maryland testified. Of those 100, 66 spoke out against the project, and 34 spoke in its favor. Many opponents of the project spoke about the safety risks it poses to local residents. Outside the hearing, opponents built a mock “sound wall” detailing the “air pollutants and carcinogens that Dominion’s proposed plant would routinely or accidentally send from its compound into the lungs of playing children and their parents.” (a tale of two walls) Among those who testified was 13-year-old Katie Murphy who brought tears to the FERC representatives’ eyes, calling on them to stop Cove Point and protect the nearby residents and plants and animals who would be hurt by the proposal. In one of the most notable testimonies of the day, a Dominion supporter began his testimony by calling for a full Environmental Impact Statement, a more detailed study than FERC’s flimsy EA.
Learn more about the FERC public meeting:

• Baynet’s Marty Madden gave background for the meeting and talked about preparations on both sides in his piece, Pros and antis prepare for FERC meeting
• Fox 45 reported that the community is Divided over Cove Point natural gas plan
• Attendees show colors at Cove Point hearing Baynet
• Elisabeth Hoffman’s blog “a tale of two walls” covers the drama of the day.

Sign up to take action!
Thousands of Americans opposed to fracked natural gas exports will gather in Washington DC on July 13th to march on FERC and deliver a strong message: Stop Gas Exports and Stop Cove Point. Sign up here to join the biggest action yet in this fight.
 

Following the release of Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)’s draft Environmental Assessment (EA) of Dominion Resources’ proposed $3.8 billion Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility, environmental, student, community, and health groups across Maryland voiced their concerns through a full-page advertisement in the Baltimore Sun on Sunday, May 18th. The ad called on Governor O’Malley, Senator Mikulski, Senator Cardin, and Representative Hoyer to protect Maryland citizens by demanding a full and customary Environmental Impact Statement for Cove Point.
See below for the full ad:
 

Today, Marylanders are turning up the volume on Cove Point!
Dozens of activists are visiting each of Senator Mikulski and Senator Cardin’s district offices across the state to call on them to demand a thorough and comprehensive federal “Environmental Impact Statement” (EIS) for Dominion’s $3.8 billion fracked gas export plan.
From Cumberland to Salisbury, activists are making sure our senators know what’s at stake for every Marylander — and why we deserve to get all the facts on the table.
Check back here later today for photos from each action.
Want to take action but couldn’t join the demonstrations? You can add your voice in solidarity by calling your MD Senators TODAY and asking them to demand that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission conduct a full and customary Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for Cove Point.

Sen. Cardin: (877) 292-7298
Sen. Mikulski: (877) 559-7809

Today’s actions are in response to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)’s release last week of a draft “Environmental Assessment” for Cove Point. Community, environmental, health and student leaders across Maryland have criticized the draft federal review for failing to address many serious potential consequences of the project, from worsening climate change to expanded fracking and pipelines to potential explosions threatening nearby homes in Calvert County.
 

This is a cross post from Words for a Better World by Lisa Bardack.
On Saturday I went to my stepson’s graduation from St. Mary’s College in southern Maryland. It was a beautiful day, and attending family were filled with love and pride as we took in this milestone. We snapped lots of pictures when the ceremony was over, with big smiles on our faces, attuned to both the impressive accomplishments achieved and the opportunities on the road ahead.
Speaking of the road ahead, it turns out Dominion’s Cove Point was on the way home, very close to the college. My husband Gregg and I decided to drive by the dormant liquid natural gas (LNG) import facility that Dominion Resources of Virginia hopes to turn into an export facility as soon as possible. I wanted to see for myself how close the facility is to family residences. I had heard they were just across a two-lane road and, lo and behold, they are!
I got out of the car to take a few photos, and as soon as I got back in, security pulled up behind us, lights flashing. They asked what I was doing there. I explained that I had heard about Dominion Cove Point and wanted to see for myself how close the LNG facility was to the community. He asked for my ID and then went around and took down Gregg’s license plate. He was on his walkie-talkie the entire time and continued to detain us there, as if we were a threat of some sort. After a few minutes, Gregg said we had been detained long enough, and we parted ways.
Really? Was it necessary to detain us for taking a couple of photographs outside of the facility? Who’s the real threat to security? A concerned citizen or a proposed LNG export facility that has the proven potential to explode right beside a residential neighborhood? The answer should be a no brainer. Apparently it’s not.
Domion Cove Point’s LNG export facility is currently being rubber-stamped by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Despite the insistence by concerned citizens, environmental organizations, health professionals and faith leaders that FERC conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), FERC instead conducted an Environmental Assessment (EA). It is a profoundly inadequate study of the potential impacts this LNG export facility would have on the environment and public heath and safety.
I am not going to go into the extensive details on the EA in this post (see links below). What I am going to say is that not conducting an EIS makes a bold statement that people are expendable, that the risks to their lives, to their health and safety, is the price we must pay in order for Dominion Resources and related gas industry companies to make obscene profits by shipping our natural gas overseas to India and Japan.
Not conducting an EIS says that it doesn’t matter that this LNG export operation will allow for intolerable amounts of methane to enter our atmosphere – a greenhouse gas 84 times more powerful than carbon dioxide over 20 years – at a time when we desperately need to stop contributing to climate change.
Not conducting and EIS says it doesn’t matter that a web of pipelines and compressor stations will cross the state and region, putting in jeopardy the safety and health of communities. Pipelines leak and explode. Compressor stations can explode, too. They also pour tons of nitrogen oxide and volatile organic compounds into the air and, therefore, into the lungs of children, their families and their communities. The current compressor station Dominion is ready to build in Myersville, Maryland – despite the town’s objections – is less than a mile from the town’s elementary school.
Not conducting an EIS says that FERC, Dominion and the gas industry don’t care about people in states like Pennsylvania and West Virginia – people whose health and economic welfare are being ravaged by fracking, which will increase in activity to an intolerable degree once the LNG export facility is built. Fracking is poisoning drinking water and air at an alarming rate, and the effects to citizen’s health are significant and disastrous. Dominion acts as if the LNG terminal has nothing to do with fracking, but, in fact, fracked gas is what they will convert to liquid natural gas. They plan to transport per day through Maryland four times the amount of fracked gas that all of Maryland uses in one day!
I am stunned that citizens are not the priority when it comes to the construction of this LNG export facility that is smack dab in the middle of a neighbor and next to a big, beautiful park filled with baseball fields, picnic areas, playgrounds and children. An LNG export facility has never been built in a residential neighborhood for good reason!
There are thousands and thousands of us in the region and across the country that are not going to allow this LNG export terminal to be fast-tracked. The natural gas industry has pockets as deep as they get, but the mothers, fathers, grandparents, students and others who wish to safeguard our natural resources and protect our fellow citizens and our future are a force that won’t back down. We stand for the security of people over profit. This kind of security should be a no brainer, but apparently it’s not.