Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community ■ Chesapeake Climate Action Network ■ Citizen Shale ■ Food & Water Watch ■ HoCo Climate Change ■ Interfaith Power & Light (MD.DC.NoVa) ■ Maryland Sierra Club ■ Myersville Citizens for a Rural Community ■ U. of Maryland Student Government Association
MD Groups: Cove Point Federal Review Timeline Ignores Key Safety and Environmental Concerns and Fails to Serve the Public
ANNAPOLIS—Late Wednesday afternoon, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission released its official notice of a schedule for reviewing Dominion Resources controversial $3.8 billion proposal to construct a liquefied natural gas export facility at Cove Point in Southern Maryland. The timeline formally commits the agency to releasing an “Environmental Assessment” on May 15, and omits any mention of opportunities for public participation. Maryland community, faith, environmental and student groups responded with the following statement:
“Federal officials are serving Dominion, not the public interest, in formally endorsing a low bar of scrutiny on a fast-tracked timeline. The announcement is a slap in the face to citizens and leaders across Maryland who have repeatedly called for a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS)—a type of review most protective of public health and safety and customary for a polluting project as huge as Dominion’s.
“A full EIS is the only legitimate way forward on a project that could simultaneously subject local residents to unprecedented safety risks, incentivize a region-wide wave of new fracking and pipelines, and trigger more greenhouse gas pollution than all seven of Maryland’s coal-fired power plants combined.
“Astoundingly, while endorsing this lower bar of scrutiny, the agency has also omitted any mention of public participation or hearings. This omission comes even as Maryland’s U.S. Senators Barbara Mikulski and Ben Cardin called on the agency to ‘go the extra mile’ in engaging the public and respond promptly to community leaders’ request for public meetings on the Cove Point project in Garrett, Frederick, Baltimore, Anne Arundel and Montgomery Counties.
“One thing’s assured: The growing, statewide grassroots movement to stop Dominion’s fracked gas export project is not going away and will only get stronger. We will continue to hold the Obama administration, the Maryland Public Service Commission, Governor O’Malley, and other federal and state leaders accountable for doing their job to protect the public.”
Statement endorsed by:
Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Citizen Shale, Food & Water Watch, HoCo Climate Change, Interfaith Power & Light (MD.DC.NoVa), Maryland Sierra Club, Myersville Citizens for a Rural Community, University of Maryland Student Government Association
Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org
