Protesters included Cove Point residents Rhiannon and Gemma Tamburri
Protesters descended on Solomons on Election Day to voice their concerns over Dominion’s Cove Point liquefaction project. About 2 dozen protesters arrived by bus to march in front of construction equipment and occupy the sidewalk in front of Calvert Marine Museum for a few hours.
Dominion is constructing a temporary pier for offloading large equipment destined for the liquefaction plant a few miles up the road in Cove Point. The protest centered at the entrance of the site, where a backhoe was busy burying cable lines and dump trucks steadily moved in and out of the property.
Overall it was a very civil disturbance, highlighted by the arrest of several protesters who scaled the large mound of dirt that is being piled up on the site. As they crested the hill, the demonstrators cheered and yelled slogans. The protesters on the hill displayed a banner protesting the construction of the site.
Calvert sheriff’s deputies quickly moved up the hill and arrested the group for trespassing. From my vantage point a long ways off it appeared to be routine, with the protesters assuming passive positions so the police had to physically carry them down the hill.
After that the protesters marched across the street and challenged the police, who had told them to remain on the side of the street away from the workers, and off of private property. As the demonstrators peacefully filed across the street they marched alongside the site for about 50 yards and then crossed back to the sidewalk. After two laps around they remained on the sidewalk and chanted slogans and sung a few songs of protest, including “This Land is Your Land”.
The deputies remained calm and allowed the protesters to march around a few times, and the only time I ever saw them make any moves toward any of the protesters was to ask one young man to not climb the trees, and to remind a couple folks to not jaywalk and to use crosswalks.
The demonstrators were very cordial, did not threaten or hinder anyone other than to slow traffic once in a while for a minute. They made their point, and after a couple of hours went on their way.
Among the protesters was 7th grader Rhiannon Tamburri, a student from nearby Our Lady Star of the Sea. Rhiannon lives in Cove Point and is very passionate about protesting her unwelcome new neighbor. Alongside her sister Gemma, a 4th grader at Our Lady, she held signs high and joined in the chants and let her voice be heard. When I jokingly asked if she was ready to go across the street and get arrested, she calmly replied “If that’s what it takes!”
I spoke with their mother, Amber Tamburri for a few minutes. Amber is very upset, and understandably so. She and her husband bought their home in Calvert County in 2006 because they loved the area and thought it would be the perfect place to raise their family. Now she feels angry and frustrated at having been “sold out” as this project has taken shape. The impact on her family’s quality of life has her very concerned, and she told me she was at the protest to try and get it stopped.
Most of the demonstrators were not local residents, but had joined in as part of their general overall concern for the environmental causes. In the video below one of the group’s leaders stopped by to talk, and if you’re interested in learning more, the website he refers to is
https://sites.google.com/site/beyondextremeenergy/
