A meeting requested by U.S. House of Representatives Minority Whip Steny Hoyer [D-MD District 5] regarding the proposed expansion of the Dominion Cove Point Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Plant in Lusby is scheduled to take place Saturday afternoon, May 31.

The session at Patuxent High School (PHS) will be presided over by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), one of two government agencies that will decide the project’s fate.

Perhaps still smarting from FERC’s favorable environmental assessment of the billion dollar project, officials from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) are lamenting that the session at PHS is the only planned federal hearing on the issue.

Last week CCAN and another environmental group, Earthjustice, filed a request with FERC to extend the public comment period on the LNG project an additional 60 days.

 

Dominion then asked FERC to reject the request.

 

In a document filed with FERC May 23, Dominion officials contended that ample opportunity to comment on the project has already been provided, the environmental assessment does not raise “any new material issues that require an extension” and any further delay in the approval process “will harm Dominion Cove Point, its export customer and the public interest supporting the development of this project.”

 

The document, which is signed by J. Patrick Nevins and Janna R. Chesno, counsel for Dominion Cove Point, explained that the project has been discussed extensively since 2012 and notice was issued last October that a 30-day public comment period would follow the release of the environmental assessment.

 

Nevins and Chesno also contended that FERC has an obligation to act on Dominion’s application in a timely manner.

 

“The Cove Point Liquefaction Project is a major, important project for the nation that is ready to move forward and it will be one of the very first U.S. LNG export projects to go into operation,” the Dominion document stated. “The export capacity is fully subscribed by major energy companies based in Japan and India; the Department of Energy has issued its approval for the LNG exports; and Dominion Cove Point is ready to proceed with