Opponents of a plan to construct a multi-billion dollar liquefaction facility at a Lusby gas plant, allowing the facility’s operators to export natural gas to Asia, are now taking their case to the White House.

According to a Tuesday, March 18 dispatch from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), it and several other environmental groups have sent a letter to President Barack Obama calling on him to “revisit proposals to radically expand U.S. exports of fracked and liquefied natural gas [LNG] and insure a comprehensive federal environmental impact review for the Cove Point expansion project,”

Last week the agency that will decide the project’s fate—the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)—announced it will release its environmental assessment of Dominion’s proposal May 15, with approval or rejection of the project expected by Aug. 13. At least one public hearing—to be held in Calvert County—is expected to take place prior to FERC announcing its decision. Opponents have apparently garnered support from both of Maryland’s U.S. senators for similar meetings in other affected communities.

In the letter to Obama, project foes stated “exporting LNG is simply a bad idea in almost every way.”

In a press release regarding the drafting of the letter to Obama, CCAN officials stated “Cove Point would be the first export facility to open fracking operations across the Marcellus Shale to Asian export markets. It would also be built in an area in Southern Maryland that is by far the most densely populated human community in the vicinity of any proposed gas export facility in the nation,”

In their letter, the environmentalists asked Obama to tell FERC “to drop its shameful and unacceptably weak permitting process for Cove Point.”

“Slowing or preventing natural gas exports from the U.S. is a step exactly in the wrong direction for those who are concerned about climate change,” stated Pamela F. Faggert, Dominion’s chief environmental officer and vice president of Corporate Compliance. “We as a nation should be doing everything possible to expedite the shipment to our allies of some of our abundant, clean-burning natural gas supplies for environmental, economic and geo-political reasons.”

In reaction to the Obama missive, Dominion officials cited an independent study done by ICF International, which it (Dominion) sponsored, showing that LNG exports from the U.S. could cut greenhouse emissions in half compared with using coal to generate electricity overseas.

In their letter to the president, the environmental groups chided Obama for his administration’s &ldqu