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Cove Point

Cove Point Residents Unnerved By LNG Tanker ‘Backing Up Right Onto Our Beach’

February 28, 2018 Anne Meador, Dcmediagroup.us , ,
People living near the docking platform of the Dominion Cove Point terminal were alarmed on Sunday afternoon to see an LNG tanker headed toward the shallows of their beach. The Shell liquefied natural gas carrier Gemmata arrived February 25–three days early–at the vicinity of the docking platform for the Cove Point LNG export terminal, which is in the commissioning process before starting full operations. About 4pm, the 290-meter-long Gemmata left the Chesapeake Bay’s northward shipping channel and entered the cove just before its final destination at the LNG terminal’s offshore platform. Then the tanker pulled back out and anchored off the point. It’s still not clear why the Gemmata’s pilot took this course. He either performed a spectacular three-point parking maneuver–with a ship weighing thousands of tons–or simply took a wrong turn.

Dominion Cove Point Allowed To Emit More Air Pollutants

February 9, 2018 Anne Meador, Dcmediagroup.us , ,
The Maryland Public Service Commission will allow higher levels of certain air pollutants from the power plant at Dominion Energy’s Cove Point LNG export terminal. The Commission approved Dominion’s request for a permit amendment, clearing the way for it to begin operations. Dominion asked the PSC for fugitive emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at the power plant to be exempted from numeric limits, claiming there was no good way to measure them. The Commission agreed, calling numeric limits “practically unenforceable due to the lack of available technology.” “Removing the numeric limit will neither alter the operation of the Project nor impact the surrounding environment,” the PSC order says.

Back-To-Back Bad Hearings For Dominion This Week

November 17, 2017 Staff, wearecovepoint.org ,
By Staff of We Are Cove Point - The last two days saw two hearings about different Dominion Energy gas infrastructure projects in Southern Maryland. Tuesday night, there was a zoning permit for a compressor station Dominion wants to build near Accokeek, and Wednesday, there was a hearing to change Dominion’s largest state-level permit for its export terminal being built at Cove Point in a way that would allow more pollution into the surrounding community. Dominion representatives left both hearings with grumpy faces. The Tuesday night hearing was in front of the Charles County Appeals Board, which is deciding whether to issue the special exemption Dominion needs to build a compressor station in an area otherwise set aside for conservation near Accokeek, right near the line between Charles and Prince George’s Counties. This was the fourth of five hearings on the matter, and this one was devoted entirely to hearing public comment. Dominion and the unions it typically works with kept up their practice of requiring union members to come from all over the area to create an image of public support for Dominion’s side. This is often done by fining the workers if they don’t show up. Perhaps two hundred workers crowded the parking lot outside the hearing and eventually the hearing room. Most were dressed in their work gear, many having recently gotten off a shift at the export terminal in Cove Point. A string of about 10 pro-Dominion speakers opened up the public testimony.

Marylanders Oppose Dominion’s Request To Pollute More

October 5, 2017 Staff, www.wearecovepoint.org , , , ,
By Staff of We Are Cove Point - LUSBY, MD — The public showed up in force last night to urge the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) to reject Dominion Energy’s application to increase the pollution that would enter the air surrounding its fracked gas export terminal and liquefaction plant that is being built in the Cove Point neighborhood of Lusby, Maryland. For three hours, speaker after speaker gave the lone PSC representative on the stage an earful, telling the regulatory agency exactly how they felt about the prospect of living with even more pollution than they’re currently facing. This public comment hearing was part of an application process in which Dominion is asking the PSC to remove the restriction to emit no more than 2.53 tons per year of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), as well as to use more generators in the power plant aspect of the facility. Dominion is requesting to have no numeric VOC limit and instead use a program where it would detect and repair excessive VOC leaks on its own schedule. In Dominion’s filings for its 2014 PSC permit, the company said it would have 15,000 valves, gauges, fittings, inspection ports and other connections that would be associated with fugitive VOC emissions.

Dozens Return To Rally At State House For Safety Study

July 4, 2017 Staff, www.wearecovepoint.org , , ,
By Staff of We Are Cove Point - On Monday July 3, 2017, a few dozen people gathered again outside the State House in Annapolis to urge Governor Hogan not to turn his back on the people of Southern Maryland. A week and a half ago, Governor Hogan’s office finally responded to our request for a safety study, known formally as a Quantitative Risk Assessment or QRA, for the gas refinery, power plant and export terminal being built by Virginia-based Dominion Energy in the neighborhood of Cove Point with a resounding, “No.” The news has been a great disappointment to say the least, but We Are Cove Point and allies are not giving up the fight. Given the gas explosion yesterday in Lancaster, PA that shredded an entire house beyond recognition, killing one man and injuring three people, anxiety levels ran high at the rally today. If one small gas pipe can destroy a house, damage surrounding homes and be felt miles away, the thought of what a 410,000 gallon tank of propane and other large tanks of chemicals to be stored in Cove Point could do is terrifying. A group of five, including Jeff Dixon who lives close to the facility, Craig Stevens, an anti-fracking activist from Pennsylvania and Dr. Margaret Flowers of Baltimore, a resident of Annapolis and a resident of North Beach, went into the State House to deliver a letter to the Governor asking that he reconsider his refusal to order a safety study.

Governor Hogan: Energy Profits More Important Than Lives

June 28, 2017 Staff, www.PopularResistance.org , , ,
By Popular Resistance. Governor Larry Hogan of Maryland let it be known last week that he supports the Dominion Energy fracked gas export terminal in southern Maryland and will not order a safety study to determine the risks to the community. The people of Lusby, Maryland and other communities near Cove Point along with their allies have entered a new phase of their campaign now that Hogan has essentially said -- your lives are less important than Dominion's profits. The failure to examine the risks of the Dominion fracked gas export terminal in a Qualitative Risk Assessment is the height of irresponsibility and shows that people of Maryland, especially those in rural areas, they cannot count on Governor Hogan to treat them fairly or protect their safety. Take action to urge Governor Hogan to order a risk assessment. Call his office at 410-974-3901 and join us at the rally in Lawyer's Mall in Annapolis, this Monday, June 3, 2017 at noon.

Governor Values Gas More Than Constituents’ Lives

June 22, 2017 Margaret Flowers, www.wearecovepoint.org , , ,
By Margaret Flowers for We Are Cove Point. Lusby, Maryland - For the past year, residents of Cove Point and their allies have petitioned Governor Larry Hogan with a very reasonable request: order a safety study (officially known as a Quantitative Risk Assessment or QRA) for the gas refinery, power plant and export terminal that Dominion Energy, a Virginia-based corporation, is building in Cove Point. Thousands of petitions have been delivered to the Governor. A letter signed by 84 organizations was delivered. Residents spoke personally with the Governor at parades and other events and met with his staff to present the concerns. On June 20, due to the lack of response from the Governor's office, a small delegation traveled to Annapolis yet again to request the safety study.

Gas Industry Execs Get A Very Bumpy Tour Of Cove Point

October 6, 2016 Staff, www.wearecovepoint.org , ,
By Staff of We Are Cove Point - Activists made an impact on both sides of a tour of Dominion’s export terminal at Cove Point this morning, with a lockdown onto the tour bus as it tried to leave Washington, DC, and local residents greeting it with a large banner as it came into Cove Point, Maryland. Kiewit, the lead contractor in the construction of Dominion’s $3,8 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal at Cove Point, scheduled a tour of the Cove Point facility as the closing activity of the North American Gas Forum in Washington, DC.

Heather Doyle Jailed For Complaining About Police Abuse

May 29, 2016 Seed Coalition, www.seedcoalition.wordpress.com , , , ,
By Seed Coalition for SEED. Heather and another activist with Stopping Extraction and Exports Destruction (SEED) climbed a crane on a site being used for the construction of a massive fracked gas export terminal in the community of Cove Point, Maryland. They hung a banner from the top of the crane that read “Dominion, go home. No gas exports. Don’t frack Maryland. Save Cove Point.” The climbers’ lives were jeopardized when law enforcement officers tried to remove them from the crane in an unsafe way — an allegation that the state’s attorney didn’t challenge in court. The complaint Heather filed that is central to this case stems from her being assaulted during the extraction by a 6’4”, 285 lb. cop while surrounded by numerous officers, Dominion employees, and contractors. A statement about the assault and endangerment was released after the court process from that action ended, in order to not incriminate the defendants when they had open legal cases.

Cove Point Defender Convicted Of Making False Statement To Police

May 28, 2016 Anne Meador, www.dcmediagroup.us ,
By Anne Meador for DC Media Group - Prince Frederick, MD — A jury found an activist who has opposed the Dominion Cove Point project guilty of making a false statement to police. Judge Marjorie Clagett of Calvert County Circuit Court sentenced Heather Doyle to three months in jail (all but 15 days suspended), 240 hours of community service, two years of supervised probation and $165 in court costs. Doyle pulled off a climbing feat on a crane with fellow activist Carling Sothoron in February 2015 to draw attention to the detrimental effects of Dominion Cove Point’s gas export terminal in Lusby, MD.

Trial Concludes With Cove Point Activist’s Emotional Testimony

May 27, 2016 Anne Meador, www.dcmediagroup.us ,
By Anne Meador for DC Media Group - Heather Doyle gave a tearful account in Calvert County Circuit Court on Thursday about how a Sheriff’s deputy assaulted her, a story which State’s attorneys assert is untrue. This was the third day of her trial on the charge of making a false statement to police stemming from a demonstration against Dominion Cove Point in February 2015. By the end of the day, closing statements were delivered, and the verdict lay in the hands of the jury.

Officers Deny Allegations Of Assaulting Cove Point Activist

May 26, 2016 Anne Meador, www.dcmediagroup.us , ,
By Anne Meador for DC Media Group - A year ago, defendant Heather Doyle and fellow protester Carling Sothoron had the tables turned on them when they filed an official complaint with the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office. They claimed that they had been endangered and Doyle assaulted on February 3, 2015 when they conducted a publicity stunt to draw attention to Dominion Cove Point, a fracked gas export terminal. Unfortunately for the young women, not only did an internal investigation conclude that no deputies were at fault, the County filed charges against them for making a false statement to an officer.

Trial Begins For Cove Point Activist

May 25, 2016 Anne Meador, www.dcmediagroup.us , , ,
By Anne Meador for DC Media Group. Prince Frederick, MD - The first day of an unusual trial of an anti-fracking activist began with jury selection, opening statements and testimony from four witnesses for the prosecution. Charged with making a false statement, Heather Doyle is the object of retaliation for political reasons by the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, according to SEED Coalition, the grassroots group she is affiliated with. On Tuesday, the prosecution challenged the veracity of the complaint she made alleging police brutality and unsafe conduct and attacked her credibility. The whole process started more than a year ago with a protest initiated by Doyle and Carling Sothoron on February 3, 2015. They were trying to draw attention to Cove Point LNG, the massive gas liquefaction facility being constructed by Dominion Resources in Lusby, MD.

Kayactivsts Protest Fracked Gas Terminal At Cove Point

March 13, 2016 Jimmy Betts, www.PopularResistance.org , , , ,
By Jimmy Betts for We Are Cove Point. In protest of the construction of Dominion’s liquefied natural gas export terminal, dozens of activists and community members held a rally on March 13 on the boardwalk at Solomons Island that was accompanied by a flotilla of kayaks in the Patuxent River. Among those assembled were people fighting LNG export terminals in Texas and Oregon, as well as those fighting fracked gas infrastructure throughout the mid-Atlantic. The action was organized by a coalition of groups that coalesced at the recent Cove Point Spring Break camp, including We Are Cove Point, SEED, the Backbone Campaign and many others. Today’s rally was a message that people won’t stand by as their communities are overrun by corporations looking to make a profit at the expense of our health and well-being.

Your Charity Case, Frack That, Oil Trains & Paradigm Lost

January 13, 2016 Eleanor Goldfield, occupy.com/actout , , , ,
By Eleanor Goldfield for Act Out. This week:--- 'tis better to give than to receive – but who are you giving to and who's really receiving the gift? With the help of non-profit employee and activist, Anna Kaminski, we dive into the non-profit industry and peek behind that shiny charity veneer. Next up, from coast to coast, let's talk the fossil fuel industry – fracking, oil trains, export terminals oh my. Activists are making gains but they need your help in taking this fight up to the next level. But first, you have to lose it – a paradigm lost. @ActOutOnOccupy facebook.com/ActOutOnOccupy occupy.com/actout
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