Groups Oppose Cove Point LNG Facility

Several groups have filed arguments against the continued construction of the Cove Point liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility on the Chesapeake Bay at Lusby, Maryland. In September 2014, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorized the LNG export facility.

Since that time, Dominion has been constructing the massive $3.8 billion facility on the Chesapeake Bay. Groups and residents across the Bay region say that FERC’s decision fails to address the LNG export facility’s role in speeding fracking across the region, polluting the Bay, worsening the climate crisis, and threatening the health and safety of nearby residents in Calvert County.

On Friday, November 20, 2015, Waterkeepers Chesapeake, Potomac Riverkeeper, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper and several local groups represented by the Institute for Public Representation at Georgetown University Law Center filed an amicus brief in support of petitioners EarthReports, Inc., et al.’s challenge to FERC’s decision to license Dominion’s LNG export facility.

They argue that FERC’s EA is impermissibly narrow in geographic scope and ignores significant project-related environmental impacts.

The groups are urging the Court to find that FERC’s review of the project’s environmental impacts suffers from fatal flaws, and that the EA should be vacated and remanded to FERC to be replaced with either a more complete EA or a full Environmental Impact Statement.

Groups filing the amicus brief in support of petitioners EarthReports, Inc., et al.’s challenge to FERC’s decision to license Dominion’s Cove Point LNG export facility include: Waterkeepers Chesapeake, Potomac Riverkeeper, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper, Clean Air Council, Allegheny Defense Project, Wild Virginia, Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community, and Myersville Citizens for a Rural Community.