Category: Press Releases

Cove Point Fracked Gas Export Plan Draws Demonstration at Annapolis Courthouse

Sierra Club legal case challenging Dominion Resources brings activists from across Maryland in show of support

100 demonstrators gather with placards to ask appeals court for justice as Dominion seeks to fast-track massive fossil fuel export facility on the Chesapeake Bay

ANNAPOLIS—Demonstrators from across Maryland gathered at the steps of an Annapolis courthouse Wednesday to support the Sierra Club in a landmark case that could determine the long-term scope and size of gas “fracking” in Maryland and surrounding states. As demonstrators waved placards and held banners outside, oral arguments began inside the courthouse on the Sierra Club’s case challenging Dominion Resources’ plan to export natural gas to Asia through the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay.

Maryland Sierra Club director Josh Tulkin told demonstrators that Dominion, in proposing a $3.8 billion plant in Calvert County to liquefy and export gas from as far away as Ohio, is breaking an explicit and pre-existing legal agreement with the environmental group. That agreement gives the Sierra Club the ability to reject any significant changes to the purpose or “footprint” of the company’s existing facility that presently only imports liquefied natural gas (LNG) from overseas. The facility is located at Cove Point in southern Calvert County.

Activists Declare Fracking Moratorium a Must-Pass Priority in 2014 at Lawyer's Mall Rally

As key August deadline looms, Western MD landowners and environmental leaders call passage of statutory protections imperative this year

Rally-goers display map of gas basins at risk of being fracked across MD, including just south of Annapolis, to underscore the statewide threat

ANNAPOLIS—More than 100 grassroots supporters of fracking moratorium legislation rallied across from the State House in Annapolis on Wednesday to declare 2014 a make-or-break year for General Assembly passage of statutory drilling protections. Western Maryland and statewide environmental leaders warned that, with Governor O’Malley’s three-year executive order halting drilling permits set to expire in August, the decision as to whether or not to frack in Maryland could be made shortly thereafter—regardless of the results of as-yet-incomplete risk studies or the will of the General Assembly.

Rally-goers underscored these stakes by asking arriving lawmakers if they were prepared to sign a “waiver” ceding their “right to protect my constituents from the dangerous impacts of fracking.” Activists, who travelled to Annapolis from as far afield as western Maryland, Frederick, Baltimore, the DC suburbs, and southern Maryland, also displayed a large map of the five gas basins stretching statewide that are at risk of being fracked. Over the border in Virginia, a Texas-based gas company has already declared its intent to begin fracking in the Taylorsville basin—which extends underneath Charles, Prince George’s, Calvert, St. Mary’s and Anne Arundel counties—within the next 18 months.

Enviros warn investors: Cove Point gas plan is uncertain, controversial in MD

Environmentalists Warn Investors Over “Cove Point” Gas Plan in Maryland: Analysis Shows Dominion’s $3.8 Billion Export Proposal for East Coast Fracked Gas Could Rest on Thin Financial Ice

Research released today by project opponents reveals dearth of evidence that company has secured critical project loan amid escalating legal, grassroots and moral challenges. Opponents caution investors: You will step into instant controversy, uncertainty, and delay.

Cove Point Maryland

Statement of Chesapeake Climate Action Network regarding Maryland Wind Energy Area Announcement

BALTIMORE, MD– On December 17th, 2013, the U.S. Department of the Interior announced that “Secretary of the Interior Sally Jewell and Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) Director Tommy P. Beaudreau today joined Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley to announce the proposed notice of sale for nearly 80,000 acres offshore Maryland for commercial wind energy leasing.”

Offshore wind is Maryland’s single largest source of clean energy, with enough potential to power more than one third of Maryland’s homes and businesses. So it can and should be a foundational element of Maryland’s strategy for transitioning to a clean energy economy.

Chesapeake Climate Action Network's Response Letter Refuting Dominion Claims on Cove Point

December 11, 2013

Mr. Daniel A. Weekley
Vice President – Government Affairs
Dominion Resources
120 Tredegar St.
Richmond, VA 23219

Dear Mr. Weekley,

I am in receipt of you letter dated November 25, 2013. Please find below a point-by-point response to the issues that you raised. Given the very large scope of your $3.8 billion proposal to liquefy gas from hydraulic fracking and ship it to Asia via the Chesapeake Bay, we continue to regret Dominion’s resistance to conducting a standard Environmental Impact Statement. This resistance to a customary federal EIS, perhaps above all else, has become a widespread and deep concern among many, many Marylanders.

Chalk Point and Dickerson Coal Plants Set to Retire

Retirements will Protect Public Health, Continue Maryland’s Transition to Clean Energy

Annapolis, Maryland – This week, NRG Energy signaled that it plans to retire the Chalk Point and Dickerson coal plants in May 2017. Chalk Point, located along the Patuxent River in Prince George’s County, and Dickerson, located in Montgomery County, are 2 of only 7 remaining coal plants in the state. Advocates cheered the decision stating that these retirements will protect public health and continue Maryland’s transition from dirty, outdated coal towards more clean energy. Now advocates are calling for NRG Energy, Governor O’Malley and the Maryland legislature, and all people who care about justice and fairness to ensure a responsible transition for affected workers.

“As Maryland invests in more clean energy, polluting coal plants like Chalk Point and Dickerson are now obsolete,” said Michael R. Bloomberg, founder of Bloomberg Philanthropies which has contributed $50 million to Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign. “Marylanders will benefit from the retirement of these two plants with cleaner air, lower healthcare costs, and less climate-disrupting pollution. What’s more, this officially marks 30% of all the nation’s coal plants announcing retirement since 2010. Make no mistake — coal is going away for good.”

Statewide Coalition Launches Nine-Stop MD Tour Opposing ‘Radical’ $3.8 Billion Plan to Export Fracked Gas at Cove Point

Polling released same day shows 81% of MD voters at odds with Virginia-based Dominion over need for federal environmental impact statement

Ahead of 2014 public hearings, ‘Maryland Crossroads’ tour will carry ‘Clean Energy, Not Cove Point’ call to action from Appalachia to Eastern Shore

BALTIMORE—A statewide coalition of environmental, health, faith and public interest groups is today launching an unprecedented nine-stop tour to rally public opposition to what they call a “radical” plan to export fracked natural gas to Asia through southern Maryland. The tour, called “Maryland Crossroads 2013: Clean Energy, Not Cove Point!,” begins this evening in Annapolis and will tour the state from Cumberland to Salisbury by early December. Each town hall meeting will educate Marylanders about the dangers of a Virginia-based company’s plan to build a $3.8 billion fuel export facility at Cove Point—triggering pollution from drilling, piping, liquefying and shipping gas—when real clean-energy alternatives exist.

At a kick-off press conference this morning in Baltimore, tour organizers released polling data showing a large, bipartisan majority of Maryland voters—81 percent—believe federal regulators should complete a full, cumulative environmental impact statement (EIS) on the Cove Point project. Thus far, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has sided with project backer Dominion Resources and indicated that it will only complete a less rigorous environmental “assessment,” which is typically reserved for projects of smaller size and scope. The federal environmental review is one step in a series of federal and state permits Dominion needs before it can begin construction. The Maryland Public Service Commission will hold its first hearings on the Cove Point project in mid-February 2014.

Broad Coalition Unites to Challenge Construction of Dominion’s Cove Point LNG Export Facility

120+ groups from across Maryland and the region urge Governor O’Malley to intervene; as first step, he must demand a federal “Environmental Impact Statement”

$3.8 billion industrial project would trigger the state’s biggest single source of global warming pollution, endanger local communities and the Chesapeake Bay, and ignite a new wave of fracking and pipelines

BALTIMORE—An unprecedented coalition of concerned citizens—from business leaders to watermen to environmentalists—announced its opposition Tuesday to a proposed $3.8 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility on the Chesapeake Bay in Calvert County, Maryland. Standing outside the Public Service Commission office in downtown Baltimore, the group declared its intention to challenge an upcoming series of federal, state and local permits needed by Virginia-based Dominion Resources before it can begin construction. Against a backdrop of posters saying “No LNG Exports on Chesapeake Bay,” they unveiled a letter signed by more than 120 groups urging Governor Martin O’Malley to stand with them against the project, given the great harm it could inflict on Maryland communities, the climate and the Chesapeake Bay.

Coalition members said Governor O’Malley should, as a minimum first step, demand that the federal government prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that carefully considers the implications of building an LNG export terminal on the Chesapeake Bay. Much to the dismay of local citizens, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has indicated that it will only prepare an Environmental Assessment, which is a far less detailed impact review.

Maryland

DOE 'conditional' approval for Cove Point LNG exports is not in Maryland's interests

With LNG Export Approval, DOE Shortchanges American Public, Ignores Economic and Safety Concerns

Cove Point project would hike energy costs, threaten public safety, harm Chesapeake Bay

WASHINGTON, DC – The Department of Energy announced today it had granted conditional approval to the Dominion Cove Point LNG facility to export liquefied natural gas to non-free trade agreement countries, pending an environmental review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

The $3.8 billion project would transform a sleepy natural gas import facility on the Chesapeake Bay into a massive export hub and hasten the already hectic pace of fracking for natural gas in the nearby Marcellus and Utica shale regions.

But as recently as last week, FERC regulators were raising concerns with Dominion about the safety of the project pointing to the potential for a “fireball” connected to on-site chemical storage. And while economic benefits of the project are heavily in dispute, all experts agree that it would raise domestic energy prices.

Dominion still faces major hurdles before the project can proceed. The company needs approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which has yet to complete its environmental review. Dominion also needs approval from Maryland utility regulators as well as more than 60 permits and approvals. There is still pending litigation over whether Dominion has the right to build this facility or if it breaks an earlier legal agreement with Sierra Club.

The following are statements from groups that have aligned in opposition to this project:

Maryland

Offshore Wind is Off the Auction Block in Virginia, But How Long Will Dominion Sit On its Hands?

Beth Kemler, Virginia State Director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following response to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management’s announcement that Dominion Resources has won today’s auction for the rights to develop Virginia’s 112,800-acre offshore wind energy area:

“We’re excited to see that offshore wind power is inching closer and closer to being a reality off Virginia’s coast. We’re anxious to see this massive resource start powering Virginia homes and businesses with clean energy.

“While Dominion came out on top today, that unfortunately doesn’t guarantee that the company will actually erect a single turbine. The company could rent the wind energy area for years without moving forward with any development, preventing a more eager company from doing so. In fact, Dominion Virginia Power’s recently released long-range energy plan prioritizes new fossil fuel projects over offshore wind power development, rejecting offshore wind power even as a back-up plan. This doesn’t leave us with high hopes for Dominion’s speedy development of this clean energy resource.

Virginia