Opponents of a plan to build a multi-billion dollar natural gas liquefying and export facility in Calvert County are planning to protest the project Tuesday morning, Sept. 17 in Baltimore.

According to a news advisory from a group called the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), a rally will be held at 11 a.m. outside the headquarters of the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC).

The scheduled speakers include Patuxent Riverkeeper CEO Fred Tutman, Calvert County waterman Pete Ide, Calvert County resident Jean Marie Neal and the Sierra Club Maryland Chapter’s Director Josh Tulkin. The plant expansion projects opponents will announce the formation of what the CCAN advisory describes as a “broad-based coalition uniting to stop the proposed Cove Point export project.”

Last week Dominion, the owners and operators of the Cove Point Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) facility in Lusby, received conditional approval from the U.S. Department of Energy for natural gas exports to non-Free Trade Agreement countries from the facility on the Chesapeake Bay.

The additional facilities at the plant are expected to cost between $3.4 billion and $3.8 billion.

According to the CCAN advisory, Dominion “still has significant hurdles to clear at federal, state and local levels, and coalition members are calling on Maryland leaders to weigh in at these critical junctures.” The advisory stated the proposed project would “trigger a domino effect of pollution impacts across Maryland and the region. It would fuel demand for a new wave of fracking, require an expanding wave of pipelines and gas processing plants, and draw a surge of tanker traffic into the Chesapeake Bay.”

In a statement issued last week, DOE officials stated the department “conducted an extensive, careful review of the application to export LNG from the Dominion Cove Point LNG terminal. Among other factors, the department considered the economic, energy security and environmental impacts, as well as public comments for and against the application and nearly 200,000 public comments related to the associated analysis of the cumulative impacts of increased LNG exports, and determined that exports from the terminal at a rate of up to 0.77 Bcf/d [billion cubic feet per day] for a period of 20 years was not inconsistent with the public interest.”

Dominion Chairman and CEO Thomas F. Farrell II called the Lusby facility “an ideal location for a cost-effective and environmentally compatible export facility.”

Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com