On 3/26/18, a coalition of 50 organizations and businesses sent a letter to the House Rules & Executive Nominations Committee urging the committee to favorably move HB 1826 out of Committee to receive a public hearing.
The letter follows recent decision of the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) announced on March 16th it awarded the Nontidal Wetlands and Waterways permit to the Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project otherwise known as the Potomac Pipeline. This was despite the numerous requests from Sierra Club, the No Potomac Pipeline Coalition, and the public, to conduct a full 401 water quality review.
The full letter and signatures are below for reference.
Rules and Executive Nominations Committee Room 150
House Office Building
Annapolis, MD 21401
RE: HB 1826 - Request to move bill out of Rules and Executive Nominations Committee Dear Chairwoman Healey and members of the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee,
We, the undersigned organizations, respectfully request that the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee favorably move HB 1826 out of Committee to be heard by the appropriate sitting Committee in the House of Delegates.
This bill, sponsored by Delegate Shane Robinson, seeks to amend the state’s review process for proposed gas pipelines that would drill through or construct on sensitive geology. Specifically, the bill requires the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) to conduct a full, independent water quality certification review of proposed pipelines -- an authority granted to the state under the federal Clean Water Act. The state would no longer be able to voluntarily waive its right to conduct such a review. Further, the bill requires MDE to correct its decision announced last week to not conduct a full, independent review under section 401 of the Clean Water Act for the Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project, commonly known as the “Potomac Pipeline.” Under this bill, MDE would need to follow through on the requests from numerous residents and environmental organizations, and conduct the full 401 certification review of the Potomac Pipeline.
The Potomac Pipeline would carry fracked gas across the Potomac River, which serves as a clean and stable source of drinking water for Maryland and Washington, D.C. The method of construction proposed to cross rivers and waterways is called Horizontal Directional Drilling, and poses risks of “blowouts” due to the sensitive limestone geology along the pipeline right-of-way called karst. Karst allows pollution to quickly flow through the ground and into aquifers, so a blowout could threaten public and private drinking water systems. The 401 water quality certification process is meant to ensure that the proposed pipeline will not threaten or degrade Maryland’s water quality.
With the decision from MDE to forgo a full, independent 401 certification review of the Potomac Pipeline, it is critical that this issue be brought before the General Assembly. Please favorably move HB 1826 out of the Rules and Executive Nominations Committee and allow for a public hearing on the bill.
Sincerely,
Sierra Club Maryland Chapter
Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Anacostia Watershed Society
Food & Water Watch
350 DC
Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper Association
Potomac Riverkeeper Network
Rachel Carson Council
Waterkeepers Chesapeake
1000 Friends of Maryland
Clean Water Action
Montgomery Countryside Alliance
Howard County MD Climate Action
Eastern Panhandle Protectors
ShoreRivers
Gunpowder RIVERKEEPER
MOCO Chapter of The Climate Mobilization
Interfaith Power & Light (DC.MD.NoVA)
Greenbelt Climate Action Network
350 Montgomery County
Don’t Frack Calvert
Takoma Park Mobilization Environmental Committee (TPMEC)
Opequon Creek Project Team
IndivisibleHoCo
Bethel House, Inc.
Climate Stewards of Greater Annapolis
Don't Frack Western Maryland
Envision Frederick County
Frack-Free Frostburg
Maryland Environmental Health Network
MD Community of Communities
Harford County Climate Action
Savage River Watershed Association
Little Falls Watershed Alliance
Audubon Naturalist Society
Baltimore 350
Nature Abounds
Annapolis Green
Neighbors of the Northwest Branch, Anacostia River
AMP Creeks Council
We Are Cove Point
Maryland State Conference of the NAACP
United Democrats of Washington County
Democratic Women of Washington County
St. Mary's River Watershed Association
Maryland Conservation Council
Glen Echo Heights Mobilization
Catholic Community of St. Anthony of Padua, St. Dominic and Most Precious Blood, Baltimore
Episcopal Diocese of Maryland
Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry
League of Women Voters of Maryland
National Parks Conservation Association
Allegany County Women’s Action Coalition