Category: Press Releases

Environmental and Community Leaders Denounce Federal Ruling on Cove Point LNG Export Facility

Feds approve massive $3.8 billion source of pollution without a full Environmental Impact Statement

Groups weigh motion for rehearing to prevent safety, climate and economic harm

WASHINGTON, DC—Environmental and community groups are bitterly denouncing today’s decision by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to approve permits for the controversial liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility proposed at Cove Point in southern Maryland. They said FERC’s decision defies the facts that the massive $3.8 billion facility, proposed by Dominion Resources, will incentivize environmental damage from fracking across the mid-Atlantic region and, according to federal data, would likely contribute more to global warming over the next two decades than if Asian countries burned their own coal.
Groups that have intervened in the FERC case emphasized that they are assessing issues on which to file a motion for rehearing—a necessary step before appeal. They vowed to continue the fight to protect communities across Maryland and the region from the potentially unprecedented pollution and safety risks Dominion’s Cove Point project would trigger.
Groups also called the Cove Point decision a simultaneous stain on the records of Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley, Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), and U.S. Senators Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, who failed to substantively challenge FERC’s reckless process—including the agency’s refusal to conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement—despite pleas from voters and newspapers like the Baltimore Sun.
“FERC’s decision to allow LNG exports from Cove Point is fundamentally flawed because the agency failed to consider the simple fact that exporting LNG will mean more drilling and fracking, and that means more climate pollution, more risk of contaminated groundwater, and more threats to the health of people who live near gas wells,” said Deb Nardone, director of the Sierra Club’s Beyond Natural Gas campaign. “FERC should be standing up for the public good, not the interests of dirty polluters.”
“FERC’s decision to approve Cove Point is the result of a biased review process rigged in favor of approving gas industry projects no matter how great the environmental and safety concerns,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “FERC refused to even require an environmental impact statement for this $3.8 billion facility right on the Bay. We intend to challenge this ruling all the way to court if necessary. For the safety of Marylanders and for people across our region facing new fracking wells and pipelines, we will continue to fight this project until it is stopped.”
“FERC’s failure to demonstrate compliance with the most current safety standards in the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 59A 2013 is a fatal flaw in the Environmental Assessment that could cost residents and first responders their lives,” said Tracey Eno, a member of Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community. “Members of Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community (CCHC) believe that these new standards were a direct response to the horrific explosions that occurred at a Skikda, Algeria LNG export facility in 2004, resulting in serious casualties and extensive property damage. We have endured the betrayal of our own elected officials—most notably, our five Calvert County Commissioners, our federal representatives and Governor Martin O’Malley—who have all inexplicably refused to insist on the latest fire safety standards for the Dominion Cove Point LNG export expansion. We now call on the Secretaries of Homeland Security and Transportation to step in and insist on full compliance with NFPA 59A 2013 before Lusby becomes home to the first large-scale liquefaction train ever to be installed in a such a densely populated residential neighborhood in the history of the industry.”
“Potomac Riverkeeper is extremely concerned about the impact of this new LNG export facility on the entire Potomac and Shenandoah Watershed,” said Sarah Rispin, General Counsel for Potomac Riverkeeper, Inc. “We believe that FERC failed to take into account the cumulative impact that having a major export facility on the Chesapeake Bay will have on the watershed, by driving increased fracking activity in the Marcellus and Utica Shale formations, and the construction of new pipelines serving the facility that will crisscross the region.”
“We are carefully reviewing FERC’s decision to approve the Cove Point export facility with our clients and planning our next steps,” said Jocelyn D’Ambrosio, associate attorney at Earthjustice. “If FERC has refused to revisit its inadequate environmental review, will have no choice but to petition FERC to reconsider its decision, and ultimately we may have to take the case to court.”
“FERC’s decision today ignores the many diverse impacts that an LNG export facility will have on local communities both near and far away,” said Michael Helfrich, director of Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper. “LNG export threatens local communities’ health and safety and waterways, and is simply not in the public interest.”
The Chesapeake Climate Action Network and Earthjustice, the nonprofit law organization that has been representing the Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, Patuxent Riverkeeper, Potomac Riverkeeper, Shenandoah Riverkeeper, and the Sierra Club in the FERC proceeding, are poised to petition FERC and potentially to sue the agency to challenge an inadequate environmental review.
The Dominion Cove Point project would take gas from fracking wells across Appalachia and liquefy it along the shore of the Chesapeake Bay for export to Asia. The project would be the first LNG export facility ever built so close to so many homes, the first built in close proximity to Marcellus Shale fracking operations, and a potential trigger of more global warming pollution than all seven of Maryland’s existing coal-fired power plants combined. Yet, in its final order, FERC affirmed its highly limited Environmental Assessment, which omitted credible analysis of the project’s lifecycle global warming pollution, potentially catastrophic threat to hundreds of nearby residents, pollution of the Chesapeake Bay and risk to the critically endangered right whale, along with all the pollution associated with driving demand for upstream fracking and fracked gas infrastructure.
Dominion’s project has faced and will continue to face significant and widespread grassroots opposition. A coalition of state, national and community groups in opposition to the project submitted more than 150,000 comments to FERC by the June public comment deadline. In mid-July, more than 1,000 people marched on FERC’s Washington, DC headquarters calling on the agency to halt approvals of all LNG export projects, including the Dominion Cove Point facility, followed the next day by a peaceful sit-in that led to 25 arrests.

Contact:

Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org

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For Immediate Release
September 10, 2014

Report Warns Investors: AVOID Dominion’s Cove Point LNG Export Project

Analysis details serious financial, governance and sustainability risks of controversial Dominion Midstream master limited partnership to export fracked gas

NEW YORK—A report released today warns investors of serious financial, corporate governance, and sustainability risks associated with Dominion Resources’ new gas export subsidiary, Dominion Midstream, which would own a controversial $3.8 billion liquefied natural gas export facility at Cove Point in southern Maryland. The report, prepared by the financial research firm Profundo, recommends that investors avoid buying units in Dominion Midstream (DM.). The company is currently awaiting approval from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to make an initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange.
“Investors buying the common units of Dominion Midstream Partners (DM.) should realize that this company’s cash-flow is purely dependent on the Cove Point Liquefaction Project, for which further delays are expected,” said Jan Willem van Gelder, director of Profundo, the research firm that prepared the investor risk report. “In combination with the limited voting power of the unitholders and the dominant position of parent company Dominion Resources, investors are likely to face very uncertain returns.”
Key performance risks highlighted in the report include:

• Sustainability: The Cove Point project has already faced significant public protests and is likely to face mounting legal challenges because it threatens to cause significant air and water pollution, including impacts to the sensitive ecology of the Chesapeake Bay, to trigger more climate pollution than all seven of Maryland’s existing coal-fired power plants combined, and to drive the expansion of environmentally damaging fracking.
• Market volatility: The volatile and unpredictable prices of natural gas overseas could make export projects from the United States unprofitable, thus rendering Dominion’s Cove Point facility a stranded asset.
• Financial: Dominion Midstream’s undiversified cash flow and sole reliance on two customers increases the risks to investors from likely legal challenges or other delays, which could cause cost overruns or lead to missed contract deadlines for exporting gas overseas.
• Governance: Dominion Midstream unitholders would be last in line to receive cash distributions from the project. Meanwhile, no agreement requires parent company Dominion Resources to pursue a business strategy favoring Dominion Midstream, and the underwriters of the IPO are also investors in the parent company—constituting clear conflicts of interest.

“Dominion Midstream is concentrating significant financial risk on the success of Cove Point. The project faces continued delays in a business environment in which carbon pollution regulations are becoming stricter and the feasibility of the tax-free, master limited partnership structure is uncertain,” said Matt Patsky, CEO of Trillium Asset Management. “Long-term, I believe that investment in renewable energy infrastructure is a much smarter decision.”
Dominion Midstream filed an application with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in March 2014 to proceed with an IPO estimated to be worth approximately $400 million. In May, a Dominion shareholder and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network filed an official complaint with the SEC over Dominion’s failure to adequately disclose significant risks associated with the project.
“The Cove Point facility is already behind its original schedule. Even if Dominion receives the regulatory approvals it needs to begin construction, public interest groups are preparing for significant legal challenges that could cause further delay,” said Diana Dascalu-Joffe, senior general counsel at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “The project depends on an environmentally toxic and economically volatile fracking bubble, is vulnerable to the same climate change impacts it would worsen, and could be subject to increasingly costly regulations because of its large pollution footprint. This report warns investors of the full array of financial and reputational risks that come with Dominion’s massive fossil fuel bet.”
The $3.8 billion Cove Point gas export terminal, proposed on the Chesapeake Bay in southern Maryland, continues to face steep public opposition and protests because of its potential role in speeding hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” The proposal would also create global warming pollution on par with coal, and expose hundreds of nearby residents to potential explosion, flammable vapor cloud, and other liquefied gas catastrophes. Dominion is awaiting permit approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which received an unprecedented number of public comments—more than 150,000—gathered by dozens of community, state and national groups that oppose the project.
The Profundo risk report was commissioned by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
The full report is available at: http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Dominion-Midstream-IPO-Risk-Report-9-10-2014.pdf
Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Diana Dascalu-Joffe, 240-396-1984, diana@chesapeakeclimate.org

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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network is the first grassroots, nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Our mission is to build and mobilize a powerful grassroots movement to call for state, national and international policies that will put us on a path to climate stability. Learn more at www.chesapeakeclimate.org.

For Immediate Release
September 2, 2014

Climate Advocates Denounce McAuliffe Support for Dominion’s Massive ‘Atlantic Coast’ Fracked Gas Pipeline Project

Mega-project, which already faces stiff resistance from Va. landowners, counteracts the governor’s commitment to tackling climate change

RICHMOND—Today, Governor Terry McAuliffe stood next to Dominion Resources CEO Thomas Farrell to announce his support for a major expansion of Dominion’s proposal to build a pipeline to carry fracked natural gas from West Virginia, across central Virginia, to North Carolina. Once called the “Reliability Project,” the new 550-mile, $5 billion proposal is now the joint-venture “Atlantic Coast” pipeline.
Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response:
“Today Governor McAuliffe has made a huge mistake that harms the environment. Barely two months after re-launching the state’s climate change commission, the governor has regretfully embraced a Dominion gas pipeline project that threatens to contribute significantly to the climate crisis. Tom Farrell’s 550-mile, $5 billion pipeline system would incentivize more fracking across the region and contribute to emissions of methane, a powerful heat-trapping gas which, according to growing scientific data, could disrupt the climate on par with coal.
“In supporting this project, Governor McAuliffe is now complicit with Tom Farrell in locking Virginia into a multi-billion-dollar investment in more fossil fuels at a moment when scientists say we must be investing in truly carbon-free wind, solar, and energy efficiency technologies. We’ve come to expect this type of move from Dominion, the state’s top climate polluter and a company that has continually held Virginia back from serious commitments to clean energy. But we’re downright disappointed to see this from Governor McAuliffe.
“In making his announcement, Governor McAuliffe failed to mention the scientific data showing that methane, which leaks from fracking wells and pipelines, is as much as 87 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in heating the atmosphere over a 20-year period. The governor is lining up on the wrong side of farmers and landowners who live along Dominion’s proposed pipeline route and who see this project as a direct threat to their safety and livelihoods. The groundswell of grassroots resistance that Dominion is already facing will surely only grow in response to today’s news.
“Given the urgency of tackling climate change, this is the wrong project at the wrong time. Instead of touting a massive investment in more communities destroyed by fracking wells, divided by pipelines, and wrecked by runaway climate change, Tom Farrell and Gov. McAuliffe should be announcing a full-scale investment in Virginia’s vast and barely tapped clean energy resources.”
Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org

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RICHMOND — As reported in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Dominion has announced that it is considering building 220 megawatts of solar energy in Virginia over five years starting in 2017.
If pursued, this welcome announcement would likely represent a change in course from Dominion’s latest 15-year energy plan proposed to Virginia’s State Corporation Commission, which committed the company to increasing the proportion of clean energy in its mix by less than one percent over 15 years.
Dawone Robinson, Virginia Policy Director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response:
“This is Dominion’s first-ever announced plan for building utility-scale solar power in Virginia, and we fully welcome it. After spending years pressing Dominion to make serious investments in solar energy here in Virginia, we’re excited that Virginians could see the benefits of substantial amounts of clean energy from the state’s largest carbon polluter.
“Virginia’s solar potential is substantial, and we urge Dominion to build these solar facilities as quickly as possible, especially given our state is playing catch up with our neighbors. Even if Dominion’s newly announced 220 megawatts of solar power are fully developed by 2021, it will be little more than one third of North Carolina’s current installed solar capacity of 592 megawatts.
“Today’s news serves as an important first step towards what should be a long-term commitment by Dominion to increase development of fossil-free energy technologies. As rising seas increasingly flood our coastal communities due to climate change and Richmond’s asthma rates continue to lead the nation, the health and safety of Virginia’s families depends on replacing toxic fossil fuels like coal and fracked natural gas with abundant, clean and cost-effective energy sources like solar power.”
Contact:
Dawone Robinson, 804-767-8983, dawone@chesapeakeclimate.org
 

For Immediate Release
August 14, 2014
Contact:
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org

Environmental and Eastern Shore Leaders Call on Sen. Mikulski to Withdraw Language that Would Kill Somerset Co. Wind Project

Leaders release letter from 21 national and state groups urging U.S. Senator to make a real commitment to clean energy on behalf of Maryland and the nation

ANNAPOLIS — A group of environmental and Eastern Shore leaders today announced an effort to persuade U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski to withdraw language she recently inserted into a Defense Appropriations bill that would terminate efforts to build a clean energy wind project in Somerset County.
The leaders released a letter signed by 21 national, state and local environmental and clean energy organizations warning that, for a state that has championed efforts to promote clean energy, the language “would be a huge step back in the progress that Maryland has achieved, and the negative impacts of the bill could reverberate across the country for years to come.” The letter emphasizes, “This bill language sends a signal that wind energy investments are not welcome in Maryland and creates an uncertain business climate that we fear could have ripple effects elsewhere.”
Earlier this spring, both Governor Martin O’Malley and Comptroller Peter Franchot concluded that existing federal and state laws provide adequate protection to the military testing interests at the Patuxent River (PAX River) Naval Air Station. Following the General Assembly session, the governor vetoed legislation that would have blocked the Eastern Shore wind project. That veto cleared the way for construction of the $200 million Somerset County wind farm, and for a wind power industry on the Eastern Shore worth an estimated $1 billion—all now under threat from Senator Mikulski’s language.
The letter reminds Senator Mikulski that the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011 requires the wind project developers and the Navy to continue moving forward with good faith negotiations to find a solution that allows the clean energy facility to be built in a way that minimizes the impact on military bases such as PAX River.
The full letter follows below. Key leaders who object to Senator Mikulski’s language released the following statements:
Maryland Senator Jim Mathias, Democrat, Eastern Shore: “This project represents an important opportunity for both economic development and clean energy on the Eastern Shore. I truly believe that all of the science demonstrates that it is possible to craft a win-win agreement allowing the job creation to take place in our community without jeopardizing anything in Southern Maryland. I was so pleased when both Governor O’Malley and Comptroller Franchot, after stepping back and reviewing the research, agreed.”
Mary Ann Peterman, a fourth generation landowner in Somerset County whose property includes active farmland: “Revenue from wind power represents a significant potential source of new revenue for farmers, especially small farmers, on the Eastern Shore. For many, this revenue can represent the difference from being able to maintain their farming lifestyle and the open space of their land, or potentially having to consider alternate development far less friendly to the environment.”
David Belote, retired Air Force Colonel and Former Executive Director of the Department of Defense Siting Clearinghouse, which oversees negotiations between military officials and renewable energy developers, said in written testimony in April 2014: “I see zero danger to the ADAMS mission or to Pax River. Simply put, if the turbines aren’t spinning, there’s no interference to ADAMS. … I’m confident that the Pax River mission is safe, and I’m equally confident that no base commander or Pentagon official would sign an agreement that would endanger a unique, critical capability like ADAMS.”
Mike Tidwell, director, Chesapeake Climate Action Network: “It is disappointing that Senator Mikulski would attempt to use this Washington process to delay Maryland’s determined efforts to expand clean energy. There is a clear potential for a billion-dollar wind industry on the Eastern Shore, and we want our political leaders to work to accelerate that process, not delay or block it. ”
The full text of the letter follows, and is available at: http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Letter-to-Mikulski-MD-Wind-Appropriations-Language-8-14-2014.pdf

Center for Biological Diversity ● Chesapeake Climate Action Network ● Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility ● Clean Water Action ● Climate Reality Project ● Credo ● Earthworks Earth Day Network ● Energy Action Coalition ● Environment America ● Environment Maryland Food & Water Watch ● Friends of the Earth ● Green America ● Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVA) ● League of Women Voters of Maryland ● Maryland Environmental Health Network ● Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy ● Public Citizen Energy Program ● Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland ● West/Rhode Riverkeeper. Inc

August 14, 2014
The Honorable Barbara Mikulski, U.S. Senate
503 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC, 20510
Senator Mikulski,
We are writing to express our disappointment with the Senate Appropriations Committee report language that you recently added to H.R. 4870, the Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2015. We ask that you move to strike that language from the bill as soon as possible.
The language in that bill unnecessarily harms a proposed Maryland wind energy project in Somerset County by directing the Department of the Navy to not execute a memorandum of understanding that would allow the project to move forward. This language would kill a specific wind farm even though serious good faith efforts are underway between the wind developer and the military to execute a “win-win” agreement to avoid impacts to the Patuxent River Naval Air Station (PAX River) radar. By doing so, this language sets Maryland back in its efforts to fight climate change, which is threatening the state with sea level rise, increased extreme weather events, prolonged droughts and numerous other threats to our economy, environment and residents. This language also threatens hundreds of millions of dollars of investment in Somerset County, as well as hundreds of new construction jobs and $44 million in new local tax revenues.
We believe that this language is unnecessary because federal and Maryland state law already provide sufficient opportunities for any specific, localized concerns of the Navy and PAX River to be addressed. In order to ensure that wind energy and other energy infrastructure growth can coexist with America’s national defense system, Congress passed the Ike Skelton National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2011. This law establishes a clearinghouse process where energy project developers and the Department of Defense (DOD) engage with each other with the stated purpose to “protect DOD mission capabilities from incompatible development” in order to “prevent, minimize, or mitigate adverse impacts on military operations, readiness, and testing.”
As an added layer of protection, Maryland law provides that any wind farm within 46 miles of PAX River must seek a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity in a proceeding before the Maryland Public Service Commission. This proceeding would look beyond national security implications to actual economic impacts within the state. PAX River, as a party to this proceeding, has the full capability under existing law to present any concerns regarding economic impact to the state. These laws provide ample protection for the critical missions at PAX River.
Maryland is a progressive state with a strong environmental record of leadership. Over the years, the State has championed efforts to promote clean energy, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve local air quality, and grow its green economy. Tragically, this appropriations language would be a huge step back in the progress that Maryland has achieved, and the negative impacts of the bill could reverberate across the country for years to come. This bill language sends a signal that wind energy investments are not welcome in Maryland and creates an uncertain business climate that we fear could have ripple effects elsewhere.
This language undermines the federal and state level processes already in place to protect PAX River, it harms Somerset County, it sets a dangerous national precedent, and it would weaken Maryland’s standing as a national leader on clean energy. We sincerely hope you move to strike this language so that Maryland and the rest of the country can move forward—confidently and responsibly—towards a clean energy economy.
Sincerely,
Maryland Groups:
[bs_row class=”row”]
[bs_col class=”col-xs-6″]
Mike Tidwell
Executive Director
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Tim Whitehouse
Director
Chesapeake Physicians for Social Responsibility
Andy Galli
MD Program Coordinator
Clean Water Action
Joanna Diamond
Director
Environment Maryland
Joelle Novey
Director
Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVA)
 
National Groups:
Bill Snape
Senior Counsel
Center for Biological Diversity
Kenneth Berlin
President and CEO
The Climate Reality Project
Becky Bond
Political Director
Credo
Jennifer Krill
Executive Director
Earthworks
Kathleen Rogers
Director
Earth Day Network
 
[/bs_col]
[bs_col class=”col-xs-6″]
Susan Cochran
President
League of Women Voters of Maryland
Rebecca Ruggles
Director
Maryland Environmental Health Network
Tim Junkin
Executive Director
Midshore Riverkeeper Conservancy
Reverend Lisa Ward, Steve Buckingham
Co-Chairs
Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of Maryland
Jeff Holland
Riverkeeper
West/Rhode Riverkeeper. Inc
 
Maura Cowley
Co-Director
Energy Action Coalition
Anna Aurilio
DC Office Director
Environment America
Wenonah Hauter
Executive Director
Food & Water Watch
Ben Schreiber
Climate and Energy Program Director
Friends of the Earth
Fran Teplitz
Policy Director
Green America
Tyson Slocum
Director
Public Citizen Energy Program
[/bs_col]
[/bs_row]

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See below for the press release from the attorneys at AMP Creeks Council regarding the court decision late Monday

Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response to Monday’s Calvert County Circuit Court ruling against local zoning exemptions for the proposed Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility:
“For months, the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and our partners have been warning that corporate leaders and elected officials were cutting dangerous corners in the permitting process for the proposed fracked gas export facility at Cove Point in southern Maryland. Thankfully this week a Calvert County circuit court judge agreed with a big part of our argument. Judge James Salmon ruled with the AMP Creeks Council that Calvert County commissioners had illegally exempted mega-company Dominion Resources from a host of local zoning ordinances.
“At a minimum, this ruling will likely cause real delay in the ability of Dominion to begin major construction of this controversial $3.8 billion fossil fuel project. The ruling should certainly give pause to the Wall Street investors that Dominion is seeking to recruit to finance this expensive, risky project. As fracked-gas exports grow increasingly controversial nationwide, we believe the court ruling in Calvert County this week is just the opening step in exposing the truth about this unsafe, climate-harming, and economy-damaging facility.
“On behalf of CCAN’s supporters and concerned citizens nationwide, we congratulate the attorneys at the AMP Creeks Council in southern Maryland for their extraordinary—and now successful—legal work in this case.”
Contact:
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org
Diana Dascalu-Joffe, 240-396-1984, diana@chesapeakeclimate.org

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For Immediate Release
August 11, 2014

Contact:
Kelly Canavan, 301-237-5040, Kelly@ampcreeks.org

The AMP Creeks Council Wins Cove Point LNG Terminal Court Case Against Calvert County

Calvert County, MD – Calvert County Circuit Court Judge James Salmon handed down a decision that has significant implications for the proposed Cove Point LNG export terminal. Judge Salmon found a Calvert County law, passed specifically to clear the way for Dominion Cove Point’s export project, to be in violation of the Maryland Constitution.
The decision was the result of a legal challenge brought by the AMP Creeks Council. AMP Creeks filed suit to contest what it claimed was an attempt by Calvert County to illegally enact a “special law” to fast track Dominion’s pet project.
Judge Salmon ruled in AMP’s favor and specifically stated that “…Ordinance No. 46-13 is invalid for two independent reasons. First, the Ordinance violates the uniformity provision…of the Land Use article. Secondly, the Ordinance constitutes a “special law” that violates the provision of Article III, § 33 of the Maryland Constitution.”
In 2013, the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners and the Calvert Count Planning Commission enacted a text amendment exempting Dominion Cove Point’s LNG project from local zoning. This text amendment exempted Dominion Cove Point’s proposed LNG export facility from local permitting processes designed to protect and safeguard the community.
The AMP Creeks Council’s legal team is still sorting out the implications of this ruling. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has been widely expected to grant Dominion final permits to proceed with the construction of their LNG export terminal.
This ruling may throw a wrench in those works. “This is a remarkable victory for the people of Lusby, Maryland, and folks fighting fracking and LNG exports throughout the Mid-Atlantic region,” said Kelly Canavan, President of The AMP Creeks Council.
This is one three current cases the AMP Creeks Council is pursuing in the matter of the Cove Point project. A related case against Calvert County over the denial of a Public Information Act request is pending, as is an appeal of a Maryland Public Service Commission decision.

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For Immediate Release
July 30, 2014

Environmental and consumer groups hail the ‘Healthy Climate and Family Security Act’ as a needed response to deepening global warming impacts

WASHINGTON, D.C. – At a time of worsening global warming impacts, Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md) today introduced the “Healthy Climate and Family Security Act.” The bill is designed to help repair shrinking polar ice caps while at the same time aiding the shrinking American middle class.
The legislation, hailed by environmental and consumer groups, employs a straightforward, common-sense “cap and dividend” approach to tackling global warming. It would place a hard and steadily declining cap on emissions of heat-trapping pollution and rebate 100 percent of the proceeds from pollution permit auctions to U.S. residents, creating a healthier economy and more prosperous middle class.
“Two of the most pressing challenges we face as a country are the need to address the economic costs and public health risks associated with climate change, and to strengthen the middle class. We do both in this bill,” said Congressman Chris Van Hollen (D-Md), lead sponsor of the bill. “By capping carbon emissions, selling permits, and returning 100 percent of the revenue to everyone equally, this ‘Cap and Dividend’ approach achieves necessary greenhouse gas reductions while boosting the purchasing power of families across the country. Tackling our problems and moving everyone forward is America at its best. That’s what this bill does, and that’s exactly where we need to be.”
As the planet crosses the danger zone of 400 parts per million carbon in the atmosphere – with droughts and extreme weather and sea-level rise affecting broad parts of the nation – this bill sets a declining cap for carbon dioxide emissions that would start in 2015 and lead to a total emission reduction of 80 percent below 2005 levels by 2050. Proceeds from the cap — raised at auction from oil, coal, and natural gas companies — would then be rebated in equal-size shares to every U.S. resident with a social security number. The entire process is simple, fair, and designed to function efficiently over the next several decades it will take to fully “de-carbonize” the U.S. economy.
Under the bill, all Americans will receive a quarterly “dividend” payment as compensation from the roughly 2,500 companies who introduce carbon fuels into the economy. Even accounting for some rise in fossil fuel prices under this policy, the median American household of four will likely receive a net benefit of about $260 per year in the first year. That figure will grow steadily in following years. All lower and middle-income Americans will see a net increase in their annual income.
The bill already has the support of a broad coalition of local, state and national groups representing environmental, consumer, and justice communities.
“Hands down, the Van Hollen ‘cap and dividend’ bill is the strongest strategy to reduce climate pollution ever introduced in Congress,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Unlike ‘cap and trade’ and many other proposals, this one gets the job done in a way that’s simple, increases family budgets, and is utterly fair to all Americans.”
Original co-sponsors include Congressmen Matt Cartwright (PA-17), Alan Lowenthal (CA-47), Gerry Connolly (VA-11), Earl Blumenauer (OR-03), and Rush Holt (NJ-12).
To view the press release and infographic from Congressman Van Hollen’s office, click here.
Resources:

• Read the full text of the Healthy Climate and Family Security Act.
• View the letter signed by groups endorsing the Healthy Climate and Family Security Act.
• See answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the bill.

Contact:
Mike Tidwell, 240-460-5838, mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

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For Immediate Release
July 2, 2014
Contact:
Tommy Landers, 301-442-0134, tommy@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kelly Trout, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

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

 
ANNAPOLIS–Today, the United States Department of Interior’s Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) released the Final Sale Notice for Maryland’s offshore Wind Energy Area (WEA). BOEM will begin the auction to lease this area on August 19, 2014, and the agency reports that 16 companies have already formally expressed interest in bidding.
Tommy Landers, Maryland Policy Director at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, had the following statement in response:

“Today’s announcement marks a critical milestone in Maryland’s pursuit of offshore wind power. This plentiful energy source just a few miles off our shores is Maryland’s single largest source of clean electricity, with enough potential to power more than one third of Maryland’s homes and businesses. That’s why offshore wind power can and must be a foundation of Maryland’s strategy for combating climate change and transitioning to a clean energy economy.

“The O’Malley-Brown administration showed great leadership in championing offshore wind power legislation in Annapolis. The Chesapeake Climate Action Network was proud to work closely with the governor’s team and a broad array of partners to get that legislation across the finish line last year, laying the groundwork for this critical next step. Today’s announcement is a testament to the determination of the O’Malley-Brown administration, the Maryland Energy Administration, federal officials and many others to realize the vision of clean, local offshore wind power for our families and businesses.

“Moving forward, CCAN and our allies will continue pushing to ensure that this summer’s auction leads to turbines spinning off our coasts as quickly as possible. As climate change inflicts increasingly costly impacts on our economy, environment, and well-being, Maryland must do everything it can to speed the transition to clean energy solutions, from offshore wind power to land-based wind and solar to energy efficiency.”

The O’Malley administration’s press release about today’s announcement is available at: http://www.governor.maryland.gov/blog/?p=10587

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The Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) is the oldest and largest nonprofit organization dedicated exclusively to fighting global warming in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Our mission is to build and mobilize a powerful grassroots movement in this unique region that surrounds our nation’s capital to call for state, national and international policies that will put us on a path to climate stability.