Opponents of LNG export at Cove Point protest at Calvert County Courthouse, tour affected sites
On the 6th of June, opponents of the proposed conversion of the old Cove Point LNG import facility to fracked gas export staged a rally in Prince Frederick, MD supporting a lawsuit against the Board of Commissioners over zoning regulations that are being ignored. Afterwards Cove Point residents led a tour of sites that would be harmed by the proposal.
Video-Calvert County residents explain Cove Point LNG export dangers
The motorcade parked and everyone got out in two places. The first was in Solomons, where a narrow bridge in iffy condition links Calvert County with St Mary's County. Immediately south of this bridge Dominion wants to build a pier for moving "megaloads" from barges onto trucks for shipment to the gas terminal. A barge accident could damage the bridge or even drop in in the Patuxent River outright. In addition, the current beach, boat ramp, and fishing area would be replaced with a secured and polluted indistrial zone even if everything went as intended by Dominion.
The motorcade also went to Cove Point itself-not the old gas facility, but the town itself and the beach by Cove Point lighthouse. Here a town resident warned of just how bad things could get if the LNG plant blew, including possible transmission of damaging shock waves to nearby Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant. There have been a lot of LNG accidents lately, but no other LNG facility has ever been built in a place as densely populated as Cove Point and nearby Lusby, MD.
On top of all else, the Cove Point LNG export proposal is the keystone of plans to massively increase fracking in places like nearby Pennsylvania and bring fracking to MD. Stopping the conversion of the old LNG plant to export is the keystone of keeping fracking out of MD. Stopping them all is the keystone of preventing a nationwide explosion of new fracking wells.
The scene outside the Calvert County Courthouse in Prince Frederick, MD
Representatives of Chesapeake Earth First! and Savage Mountain Earth First! showed up
This bridge is the only way out of Calvert County from south of where Rt 4 passes the LNG plant
The beach by Cove Point lighthouse. In the background is the old offshore LNG unloading pier proposed for conversion to LNG export
