Excellent article below by my friend and colleague Laurel Peltier that presents a brief and accurate summation of why a liquid natural gas export facility in southern Maryland is bad news for all of Maryland. And beyond.
http://www.baltimorefishbowl.com/stories/fracking-in-maryland/
Right before bed last night, I got word that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the construction of the proposed Dominion Cove Point liquid natural gas export facility in southern Maryland. For those of us who have been fighting for a comprehensive Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to be conducted before any approval is given, we knew we would likely see the authorization of the export facility without an EIS. We don’t call FERC the Federal Energy Rubber-stamp Commission for nothing. Still, the news is like a knife to the heart.
I woke up sad and furious, my head screaming at Governor O’Malley for starters. How can he stay silent on Dominion Cove Point when the health and safety of citizens from Lusby to Myersville to western Maryland are at serious risk? When the health of the Chesapeake Bay and the economy that depends on it are at serious risk? What about all the pipeline and LNG facility explosions that have occurred in the past year? How can they be overlooked? It’s mind boggling. Continue reading
Posted in Children, Clean Energy, Dominion Cove Point LNG Terminal, Fracking
Tagged Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community, CCAN, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, climate action, climate change, cracked gas exports, Dominion Cove Point, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC, fracking, Governor Martin O' Malley, LNG exports, Lusby Maryland, People's Climate March, Stop Cove Point, Waterkeepers Chesapeake
Most of us know the story of Horton Hears a Who by Dr. Suess. The beloved elephant Horton, with his great big ears, hears the cries for help from the Whos on Who-ville, a planet the size of a dust speck that rests precariously on a clover. Horton, with his big heart, commits to saving them because “a person’s a person no matter how small.” Yet, sadly, he can’t get others to hear their cries and acknowledge their lives.
And so it is with the citizens of Lusby, Maryland who live precariously close to a dormant liquid natural gas (LNG) import facility that Dominion Resources of Virginia is planning to turn into an LNG export facility as soon as they can get away with it. Continue reading
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!
Notice the LNG storage tank just beyond the gate!
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.
Cove Point rally in downtown Baltimore, February 20, 2014
I have been quiet for a while on the writing front. I’ve been more of an activist of late, compelled by the urgency to change where we source our energy before we poison ourselves right out of existence. I’ve been going to press events and rallies for such things as the proposed Dominion Cove Point liquid natural gas (LNG) export facility in southern Maryland. I’ve been making video shorts of some of the moving speeches given at these rallies. I’ve been speaking in places of faith about fracking. And I’ve been going to Annapolis, Maryland to learn how my state government works, how to meet with elected officials and educate them on what I know and why it matters.
In all these events and actions, I carry in my heart the people I have met over these past months and years who have been directly affected by the ramifications of high-volume, slick water hydraulic fracturing – more commonly known as fracking. They are sick. Their children are sick. Their drinking water and air have been contaminated by the fracking process with incredibly toxic chemicals that should never touch humans. They have lost the value of their homes and peace in their lives.
Now, Dominion Resources of Virginia wants to turn its dormant liquid natural gas import facility in residential Lusby, Maryland into an export facility, with a massive contract already in place to export the gas to India and Japan for the next 20 years. It will be the first LNG export facility on the east coast.
Cove Point LNG export terminal. Coming soon to a Chesapeake Bay near you?
In my constant state of vocation evolution, I now find myself focused on getting into places of faith to talk about fracking*, the new, unconventional natural gas extraction process I’ve been obsessed with over the past few years. I’m knocking on the doors of places of faith because the moral consequences of fracking are up in my face, screaming at me to let it be known that fracking is not the way to “love thy neighbor as thyself.”
There has been an impressive, growing effort in religious communities to become more actively engaged in energy efficiency, thanks in large part to Interfaith Power and Light. So fracking seemed to me a reasonable extension of this engagement. Turns out, a fracking presentation is a harder sell than I had hoped. Taking a look at how natural gas is extracted isn’t a priority, and I get that. There are so many social causes that call out for help; fracking seems a more abstract and less pertinent one. But I beg to differ.
Posted in Clean Energy, Clean Food, Air and Water, Dominion Cove Point LNG Terminal, Fracking
Tagged 40% by 2025, Calvert County, Calvert County Maryland, CCAN, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Clean Currents, CO2, compressor stations, Dominion Cove Point LNG export terminal, Dominion Cove Point LNG import terminal, fracking, Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light, greenhouse gas, high-volume slick water hydraulic fracturing, hydraulic fracturing, Interfaith Power and Light, liquid natural gas, love thy neighbor as thyself, Lusby Maryland, Maryland Crossroads 2013 Tour, methane, natural gas, natural gas infrastructure, natural gas pipelines, pipelines, solar energy, solar power, wind energy, wind power
Words for a Better World 