Activists Prepare July 13 Cove Point Protest, Lawsuits To Fight LNG Exports

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Gas export terminals might be the new oil pipelines. Taking a leaf out of Keystone XL protestorsโ€™ playbooks, organizers have scheduled a Washington, D.C. rally to โ€œStop Fracked Gas Exportsโ€ on Sunday, July 13. Based on RSVP numbers, thousands are expected toย attend.

The rally comes as the fight against liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports heats up around the U.S.

According to Ted Glick, national campaign coordinator of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), โ€œThere are 14 proposals before [the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)] to build gas export terminals around the U.S. coastlines.โ€

Cove Point, which CCAN has been organizing against for over a year, โ€œreally could be approved at any point from a month from now on,โ€ heย said.

Glickโ€™s comments came during a Climate Reality Check Coalition conference call about the July 13 rally. Also on the call were Sandra Steingraber, a biologist, author, and member of New Yorkers Against Fracking: Tyson Slocum, Director of the Public Citizen Energy Program: Keith Schue, an engineer from New York, and Linda Morin, a member of Calvert Citizens for a Healthyย Community.

Though all of the speakers addressed the greenhouse gas emission problems with natural gas extraction and LNG exports, they mostly focused on policy, law, and immediate health and safety concerns associated with LNGย transport.

Steingraber said there is โ€œno sense of where LNG falls on the scale of villainy compared to other fossil fuels,โ€ Steingraber said. Needless to say, proponents of LNG exports disagree with the โ€œvillainyโ€ characterization, with many citing potential economic benefits.

Slocum contested LNG export proponentsโ€™ economic claims. The big companies involved in fracking, he said, โ€œare not happy with what they see as artificially depressed prices for their natural gas.โ€ By globalizing the market and increasing demand for LNG, natural gas companies will potentially gain โ€œhigher rates of return for fracking in the Unitedย States.โ€

โ€œItโ€™s very important for people to understand that the LNG push is all about helping domestic producers,โ€ heย said.

Along with the office of Senator Ed Markey, Public Citizen will be investigating the legality of natural gas exports. Slocum said the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act potentially bans the exportation of naturalย gas.

Meanwhile, said Shue, the Department of Energy (DOE) has announced a policy change to the process by which LNG terminals are approved.

Previously, the DOE gave conditional approval to facilities before FERC went through environmental assessment and review process.

Under the proposed policy, the DOE will only decide whether LNG export projects are in the national interest after a final environmental review.

The new process will likely benefit companies who already have strong financial backing. The FERC process costs about $100 million, while the DOE export application costs aboutย $20,000.

However, health and safety concerns are top of mind for those living near the sites of proposed LNG export facilities. Itโ€™s certainly what seems to be motivating many of the activists traveling from Calvert County, Maryland to Sundayโ€™sย protest.

If the facility is approved, Calvert County would become home to Dominion Resourceโ€™s Cove Point LNG export terminal.

If LNG exports are allowed at Cove Pointโ€žโ€œaccording to Dominion’s own numbersโ€ฆ 3.2 million tons of greenhouse gases will be added to the air every year,โ€ said Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Communityโ€™s Lindaย Morin.

The terminal site is โ€œnext doorโ€ to the countyโ€™s largest recreational facility, Morin said. Itโ€™s also on the Chesapeake Bay, where LNG export operations would pollute the surrounding area with โ€œheavy metals and volatile organic compounds,โ€ materials which, โ€œall have the same common denominator. Theyโ€™re allย carcinogens.โ€

Additionally, gas from the Marcellus Shale contains radium, which, โ€œwill certainly decay into radon gas, which is yet another cancer causing agent,โ€ she said. In addition to potential toxins, she said, nearby residents will almost certainly have to deal with light and noiseย pollution.

Steingraber also detailed the risks associated with LNG. It canโ€™t be odorized, so thereโ€™s no warning of a leak; it explodes on contact with water; and vaporized methane can cause asphyxiation. If suddenly exposed to air, the cryogenic (super cooled and compressed) liquid can flash ignite, and an explosion would be hot enough to, โ€œburn human flesh from many hundreds of feetย away,.โ€

โ€œItโ€™s simply not safe,โ€ sheย said.

The July 13 rally follows a February rally at which an estimated 500 participants protested the Cove Pointย project.

More information about โ€œStop Fracked Gas Exportsโ€ can be found at http://chesapeakeclimate.org/event/july13/.

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Caroline is a freelance writer focusing on race, class, gender, and the environment. A 2012 graduate of St. Maryโ€™s College of Maryland, she wrote her senior thesis on the Keystone XL. Caroline has worked for the US Climate Action Network, the Global Campaign for Climate Action, the American Wind Energy Association, and the Energy Action Coalition. Currently, she blogs about her ethical living experiments atย www.zerowastegirl.com.

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