Cove Point: Public Interest or Radical Risk?

The Cove Point fracked-gas export terminal is a radical proposal that would put Maryland and the entire mid-Atlantic at risk.

The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) is currently reviewing whether Dominion Resource’s application to build a proposed $3.8 billion liquefied natural gas export facility at Cove Point in southern Maryland is in the “public interest”.  But, by every measure, Cove Point would harm Marylanders to boost the gas industry’s bottom line.

Before the April 2nd public comment deadline, we need to flood the PSC with comments urging them to deny Dominion’s permit.

Please send a comment calling on PSC to deny that Dominion Cove Point is in the public interest!

The Public Service Commission (PSC) is specifically charged with determining whether or not Dominion’s application to build a 130-megawatt gas-fired power plant on-site to run liquefaction operations is in the public interest of Maryland.

We know that Cove Point would threaten vital water resources like the Chesapeake Bay, significantly worsen climate change and smog pollution, risk the safety of nearby communities, degrade residents’ quality of life, and raise home-heating costs and electricity prices -- all for a gas plant that would provide zero power to state residents.

If permitted as Dominion requests, the facility ALONE would be the fourth largest greenhouse gas emitter in the state of Maryland, just behind three major coal-fired power plants. This proposal would seriously undermine the O’Malley administration’s and this Commission’s efforts to implement clean energy and energy efficiency laws and to reduce Maryland’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Furthermore, Dominion’s proposal could stress groundwater resources and threaten our treasured Chesapeake Bay. Dominion’s application requests a 500 percent increase in groundwater withdrawals for operation of the on-site power plant and liquefaction facility. These withdrawals will cause undue stress on the Lower Patapsco Aquifer and could lead to land subsidence impacts in southern Maryland. In addition, the water quality impacts to surface water and the Chesapeake Bay could be disastrous, particularly due to increased shipping activity at the facility.

Join us in breaking the record for most comments the PSC has ever received on a single issue!

Send the PSC a message to let them know the Cove Point fracked-gas export idea is radical and totally wrong for Maryland.