Opponents of a plan to build a $3.8 billion liquefaction facility at a 40-year-old Lusby gas plant decided to take their case to the Calvert County Commissioners Tuesday, April 15. Additionally, one of the local residents opposed to Dominion’s plan to export natural gas to other countries via the Cove Point Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Plant rendered remarks during two public hearings on matters unrelated to the expansion plan.

Six residents spoke during the weekly meeting’s public comment segment.

Lusby resident Tammy Vitale opined that the Cove Point area was an inappropriate location for a gas plant due to the dangers of fires and explosions. She added that Dominion’s plan to draw waters from Chesapeake Bay aquifers will require residents to replace their wells. Noting that the natural gas was likely to be drawn through a hydraulic drilling process known as “fracking,” Vitale declared, “Fracked gas has a lot of radon in it. We haven’t even addressed it.” Vitale also stated “huge tankers” would be bringing industrial equipment via the waterways surrounding Solomons, thus destroying that town’s tourist trade. Vitale went well beyond her allotted time, a tactic she used to close her comments. “You have ignored us, so I should ignore you,” Vitale concluded.

Cove Lake resident Eileen Hadley told the commissioners that since they were planning to extend the Solomons sewerage system to the “laydown site” for Dominion’s planned construction work off Route 2/4 in Lusby, she wanted her subdivision and the surrounding neighborhoods serviced by public sewer, too. Hadley said she has lived in her current home for 25 years and recently had to have a new well drilled. She also pointed out that Cove Point Road has no shoulders or bike paths.

“That’s unsafe,” she declared. Of the expanded LNG plant, Hadley said, “I don’t believe it belongs in my backyard.”

Lusby resident Sue Allison, who stated she lives “2,200 feet from a LNG tank,” said no one from county government has responded to her request for a private meeting to discuss the project. Allison chided the commissioners for not informing the residents about a potential vapor cloud danger that was reported by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Noting there was an accident recently at a LNG plant in Washington State, Allison declared there appear to be no plans to handle a similar incident at Cove Point. She demanded a “quantitative risk assessment” be conducted before the project is allowed to move forward. Although officials from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) have stated the possible scenario of an explosion is being assessed, Allison stated “FERC’s analysis isn’t enough.”

Cove Point resident June Sevilla declared the area between the LNG facility and Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant to be unstable, with reports of a fault line and a sinkhole. “I think you need to look at it,” she said. “I think the water needs of Dominion are exc