Groups Slam Federal Regulators over Flawed Environmental Review of Cove Point LNG Export Facility

NEWS RELEASE: May 15, 2014
Contact:
Kelly Trout, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 240.396.2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Kathleen Sutcliffe, Earthjustice, 212.845.7380, ksutcliffe@earthjustice.org

Groups Slam Federal Regulators over Flawed Environmental Review of Cove Point LNG Export Facility

Controversial project would hike energy costs, threaten public safety, speed fracking and climate change, harm Chesapeake Bay

WASHINGTON, DC – Environmental, public interest, and community groups are calling on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to go back to the drawing board today following the release of the agency’s Environmental Assessment (EA) of a controversial proposal to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Cove Point, Maryland, just 50 miles from the White House.
The $3.8 billion project, proposed by Dominion Resources, would pipe fracked gas from the Marcellus shale to the Cove Point facility in Calvert County, liquefy it, and export it to be burned in Japan and India.
Legal, environmental and safety experts are still reviewing the nearly 230-page document but noted that the analysis omitted or failed to sufficiently address key concerns. For instance:

  • The EA fails to analyze cumulative greenhouse gas emission impacts that the project would trigger from the process of fracking, piping, processing, shipping and eventually burning the liquefied natural gas.
  • The EA fails to include or require a thorough, quantitative assessment of the safety and explosion risks to nearby communities from the additional hazardous processes and chemicals that would be sited at the facility, which is located in the middle of a residential area.
  • The EA fails to analyze impacts of natural gas development undertaken in response to the project, despite information about where Dominion’s customers will source the gas, and news of new pipelines designed to shuttle gas to Cove Point.
  • FERC also dismisses expert concerns about the likely impacts of ballast water discharges, finding that while the potential exists for invasive species to be introduced into the Bay, there will not be any long term impact.

According to advocates, FERC’s failure to fully analyze the many and potentially widespread impacts of the project only underlines the need for, at minimum, a thorough federal Environmental Impact Statement, which requires a higher standard of scrutiny and public participation. Yet, in the EA released today, FERC concluded that it need not prepare the more robust Environmental Impact Statement. Environmental groups have intervened in the FERC proceeding, positioning themselves to sue the agency on the insufficient environmental review.
The following are statements from groups that have aligned in opposition to this project:
“President Obama has told us many times that failure to address the climate crisis amounts to the betrayal of our children and future generations, so it would be inexcusable for FERC to allow the LNG export facility at Cove Point to start operating without a full environmental review,” said Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune. “We can’t cut climate pollution and simultaneously expand the use of dirty fossil fuels, so we must fully understand the consequences of liquefying fracked natural gas for export before we license new export facilities. Building new fossil fuel infrastructure keeps America tied to the past. We should be exporting clean energy innovation, not the dirty fuels of the 19th century.”
“Today’s Environmental Assessment by FERC has failed to address the significant impacts of this LNG export facility — including the global warming pollution this project will cause, the potentially catastrophic threat to hundreds of nearby residents, the pollution of the Chesapeake Bay and risk to the critically endangered right whale, along with all the pollution associated with upstream fracking and fracked gas infrastructure. The agency needs to prepare a full Environmental Impact Statement — nothing less will suffice,” said Earthjustice Associate Attorney Jocelyn D’Ambrosio.
“One of many glaring holes in FERC’s draft review is the lack of anything close to a full analysis of the planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions that would be triggered, from the fracking wells all the way to the final smoke stacks,” said Mike Tidwell, director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “If President Obama is serious about responding to the threat of climate change, which his own scientists show is already flooding Chesapeake Bay coastlines near Cove Point, he must hold FERC accountable. The Obama administration is inviting not only a grassroots uproar, but significant legal challenges until and unless it commits to conducting a full Environmental Impact Statement, including a rigorous review of the climate impacts triggered by Cove Point.”
“FERC has failed the public once again with the release of this flimsy and deeply flawed environmental review,” said Jorge Aguilar, the southern region director for Food & Water Watch. “The lack of a comprehensive environmental impact statement shows that FERC is fast tracking this natural gas export permit to the potential detriment of the safety and economic well being of Marylanders.”
Sue and Dale Allison, founding members of Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community and parents raising two daughters about 2,200 feet away from the newest LNG storage tanks at Dominion’s Cove Point facility, said: “Residents living closest to Dominion’s Cove Point facility have repeatedly called upon FERC to assess the worst-case scenarios for our families, given the catastrophic events at a Skikda, Algeria plant in 2004 and recent explosions and evacuations at LNG terminals in Plymouth, Washington on March 31, and in Opal, Wyoming on April 23. In its Environmental Assessment, FERC has failed to conduct or commit to the minimum standard — a transparent, quantitative risk assessment that considers the very real threat of explosions compromising our safety in our own homes due to Dominion’s proposed addition of extremely hazardous liquefaction equipment at Cove Point. We cannot accept anything short of a quantitative risk assessment as a legitimate safety study.”
“FERC has put blinders on in failing to look at the true impacts of this project,” said Betsy Nicholas, executive director of Waterkeepers Chesapeake. “Chesapeake communities depend on the Bay and local rivers for food, livelihoods and a way of life. It’s unconscionable that FERC would consider rubber-stamping this export project without a careful look at how our streams, communities and the Bay will be impacted by increased fracking for natural gas.”
“FERC’s decision that this project does not merit a more comprehensive review is ludicrous,” said Sarah Rispin, General Counsel of Potomac Riverkeeper. “We are tremendously worried about the impact on the Potomac watershed of moving huge amounts of LNG by pipeline, truck and rail from fracking sites southeast across the fragile rivers and ecosystems of our region.”
“LNG facilities like the one proposed for Cove Point are intended to ship America’s natural gas off to foreign lands,” said Michael Helfrich, Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper. “Gas drillers can ship American gas overseas in order to make more money, increase the price of natural gas for us, and our communities and environment get ravaged by the shale gas ‘gold rush,’ including thousands of miles of new pipelines through the upstream watersheds like the Susquehanna Watershed. FERC’s failure to recognize and address the nexus between upstream impacts and downstream LNG export in its environmental review of the Cove Point export proposal not only threatens community and environmental health, it also throws the idea of American energy independence out the window.”
“Dominion Resources has spent years training elected officials and the public in Calvert County to give them whatever they want and now they want plenty—including a leap of faith that this massive industrial project to export LNG has only negligible impacts when compared to their much smaller and ailing present day import operation,” said Fred Tutman, CEO, Patuxent Riverkeeper. “We citizens and our elected officials need to hold this special interest’s feet to the fire NOW, and get them to come clean about the full package of likely problems, hazards and liabilities.”
ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION:
Over the past year, the Cove Point project has attracted steady challenges on multiple fronts, ballooning into a regional controversy. In February, more than 700 people rallied outside the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) headquarters in Baltimore, urging the agency to reject controversial air and water pollution permits for the Cove Point project. In March, 16 national environmental groups penned a letter to President Obama demanding that he hold FERC accountable to conducting an EIS for Cove Point as a first step in reversing course on his administration’s fast-tracking of LNG exports. In April, a coalition of national, regional and community-based groups opposed to the project delivered over 40,000 public comments to the PSC. In May, advocates and a Dominion shareholder filed an official complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission over transparency concerns related to the project.

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Climate Insider: Climate Report, Dominion, Derailed Coal and Oil Trains

The White House released its 2014 National Climate Assessment yesterday, and the diagnosis is serious. It points out that many Americans are already feeling the impacts of climate change, and asserts that those impacts will only worsen if we continue on our current path. The report is over 800 pages long and, according to its authors, is the most comprehensive assessment of climate change impacts in the US to date. According to the Huffington Post, “average U.S. temperatures have increased 1.3 degrees to 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit (depending on the part of the country) since people began keeping records in 1895, and much of that warming has come in recent decades.”
Learn about the Climate Assessment in the White House’s own words here.
A national coalition of environmental and health groups as well as shareholders in Dominion filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission earlier this week asserting that the company behind the proposed fracked gas export facility at Cove Point had “potentially omitted or inadequately disclosed significant risks to potential investors as it seeks permission to raise project funds through a sale of stock.” Platts reports that “Dominion on March 31 filed a Form S-1 with the SEC regarding its proposed initial public offering of common units representing limited partner interests.” According to the BayNet, “Dominion spokesman Karl R. Neddenien said the SEC’s rules prohibit the company from making comments about the “master limited partnership” established in March.“
Four months after coal-processing chemicals spilled into the Elk River in West Virginia, Think Progress reports that “the Environmental Protection Agency will test the chemical in air and set a corresponding safety limit for breathing the fumes.” The decision is too little, too late for residents who, regardless of what the EPA finds, have been breathing this air for the past four months. Alarmingly, “while approximately 10,000 gallons of the chemical mixture are estimated to have spilled into the Elk River, just upstream from a major water intake facility, residents reportedly began smelling the licorice-like odor characteristic of crude MCHM several weeks before the spill was reported.”
On a conference call drawing people from across the Mid-Atlantic region last week, climate and anti-fracking leaders rallied activists behind the next big steps in the fight to stop Dominion’s proposed fracked gas export facility at Cove Point. Most immediately, on May 15th, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is expected to release its “Environmental Assessment,” a cursory environmental evaluation that, according to the Environmental Protection Agency, “should not contain long descriptions or detailed data which the agency may have gathered.” After the release, there will be a 30-day public comment period, during which time FERC has agreed to hold one public meeting. That meeting will likely be on May 31st in Lusby, Maryland; sign up here to receive updates.
Maryland:
During Earth Week, The Nation covered the Cove Point fight as a major battle to protect the climate. They close with a call to action, saying “In the struggle to mitigate the effects of climate change, Cove Point would take us backwards. We need to move forward.”

Image courtesy of the Bowie Volunteer Fire Department
Image courtesy of the Bowie Volunteer Fire Department

Last week, a train carrying 8,000 tons of coal derailed in Bowie, Maryland, spilling at least one car’s-worth of coal, according to the Bowie Volunteer Fire Department. There were no immediate public health or safety concerns as a result of the spill, but the spotlight is on CSX, the railroad involved in this and two other incidents in the past week. The Baltimore Sun reports that,“Three CSX employees who were aboard the train at the time were accounted for and uninjured.”
Last Wednesday, the American Lung Association released its 15th annual State of the Air report which revealed that “ozone, or smog, continues to be a major air pollution problem in many parts of Maryland.” Poor air quality isn’t unique to Maryland: “half of the country lives in counties where ozone and particulates make air unhealthy to breathe.” While smog levels remain high, the Capital Gazette reports, “there has been progress in reducing particulate pollution nationwide because of cleanup of coal-fired plants and reformulating diesel fuels.” The Baltimore Sun had a slightly more positive take on the state’s air pollution status quo, saying, “Air quality has improved a lot in Maryland and nationwide over the past 15 years, according to a new report.” But the story acknowledged that there is still a problem: “the state got failing marks for the number of days when people outdoors were forced to breathe levels of ozone pollution, also known as smog, that could trigger asthma attacks or heart attacks.”
The Washington Post reports on HB 1168, the bill that threatens to stall land-based wind power development in Maryland. Most immediately, the bill would effectively kill a state-of-the-art wind farm project ready to begin construction on the lower Eastern Shore. The nearby Patuxent River Naval Air Station and the wind farm developers had developed an agreement to turn the turbines off when the the Naval Air Station performed test flights. However, according to the Washington Post, they didn’t expect that  “U.S. House Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer (D-Md.) and a coalition of Southern Maryland lawmakers would circumvent the process.” Now, Governor O’Malley has a decision to make: will he veto the bill or sign it into law? Signing the bill would signal that Maryland doesn’t want the jobs and investment that come with wind power development, while a veto would protect Maryland’s growing clean energy economy. You can call on Governor O’Malley to veto HB 1168 here.
Virginia:
Lynchburg, Virginia, made international headlines last week when a train carrying crude oil derailed and exploded, spilling crude into the nearby James River. Thankfully, there were no injuries reported, but the fire sent black plumes of smoke several stories high into the air and caused the evacuation of about 300 people. Several sources initially reported that the train cars involved in the incident were a type of car banned in Canada for involvement in similar incidents. However, it now appears that these cars were a newer model, deemed safer by the oil industry. According to DeSmog Blog, “a whole new Pandora’s Box of problems just opened up for the oil industry and the rail industry if the ‘safer’ ones also exploded.” Click here for more on the explosion.
Dominion-risky-business-ClevelandWVTF Public Radio reported last week on Dominion’s reluctance to invest in renewable energy in Virginia and the backlash they’re seeing from Virginians concerned about the company’s role in fueling climate disruption. The company announced last month “that it had bought six solar development projects in California,” yet the company still generates no utility-scale solar power in the commonwealth and is instead choosing to invest heavily in more fossil fuels. The report says that “shareholders have been introducing resolutions at annual meetings, asking Dominion to report on the financial risks of climate change, the use of biomass and the release of methane.”
This year, we’re seeing big changes as the demands for Dominion to be accountable are growing louder and stronger. “As [Dominion CEO Tom] Farrell and his board meet today in Cleveland, people are taking action to say enough is enough. Ohio anti-fracking activists are protesting outside todenounce Dominion’s Cove Point gas export plan. Meanwhile, inside the meeting, Virginia shareholders are presenting four resolutions that call on the company to address its contribution to climate change.” Those four resolutions were met with unprecedented support from over 20% of the voting shareholders.
Air pollution is making headlines in Virginia, too, as the Supreme Court ruled the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) can regulate air pollution that drifts across state borders. The Daily Press reports on the decision and quotes the Sierra Club’s Glen Besa who says, “the ruling is good news for urban regions coping with air pollution issues, including Hampton Roads. Overall, he said the ruling is good for the state.”

Dominion CEO Greeted by Protests over Controversial Fracked Gas Export Plan at Annual Shareholder Meeting in Cleveland

Four shareholder resolutions challenging Dominion over inaction on climate change risks also garner unprecedented levels of support

CLEVELAND—Dominion Resources’ controversial proposal to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at Cove Point in southern Maryland drew protest from anti-fracking activists in Ohio today, as the company’s CEO, board and shareholders convened for their annual meeting in Cleveland. The demonstration outside the meeting, organized by the Ohio Sierra Club, Ohio Student Environmental Coalition, and the Energy Action Coalition, is the latest example of the growing, regional opposition to Dominion’s $3.8 billion Cove Point plan, which advocates warn would incentivize a wave of new fracking and worsen the climate crisis.
“It is clear that Dominion’s agenda to export natural gas puts Ohioans at risk to more fracking, higher energy costs and more extreme weather,” said Brian Kunkemoeller, conservation manager at the Ohio Sierra Club. “Energy independence and curbing climate change starts and ends with clean energy sources like wind, solar, and geothermal — and that’s what we’re calling for today.”
On the eve of the meeting, a Dominion shareholder joined the Chesapeake Climate Action Network in filing an official complaint with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over Dominion’s failure to adequately disclose significant financial and environmental risks associated with the LNG export project. Dominion is seeking SEC approval to raise project funds through an initial offering of public stock.
Meanwhile, inside Wednesday’s meeting, Dominion faced unprecedented levels of shareholder concern over the financial and environmental risks of its expanding dirty energy portfolio. Of six shareholder resolutions presented, four were brought by Virginians concerned about the company’s failure to address and act upon the risks of climate change. Each of these four resolutions garnered more than 20 percent of the shareholder vote, compared to previous years in which only one sustainability resolution, focused on the financial risks of climate change, had garnered more than 10 percent of votes in support. (In 2013, that resolution received a then-unprecedented 22.6 percent of shareholder votes.)
“I have been involved in shareholder advocacy with Dominion since 2008, and I am saddened and frightened by their continued negligence on climate change,” said Ruth McElroy Amundsen, a shareholder from Norfolk, Virginia. “Dominion is the largest carbon emitter in a state where coastal cities like mine already see regular and costly flooding due to sea level rise. The resolution I presented this year asks Dominion to set a clear goal for reducing its greenhouse gas pollution, as opposed to the nearly 60 percent increase they are projecting over the next two decades.”
Specifically, the resolutions presented by Virginia shareholders call on Farrell and Dominion’s board to:

  1. Report on the financial risks posed to Dominion by climate change (24% of shareholders voting yes, representing $7.68 billion in shares);
  2. Report on how Dominion is measuring and reducing methane emissions, a powerful cause of global warming (21% voting yes);
  3. Report on the climate change impacts of the company’s reliance on biomass, or wood-burning, for energy (21% voting yes); and
  4. Adopt quantitative goals for reducing Dominion’s overall emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases (20% voting yes).

“Dominion plans for huge increases in its natural gas transmission capacity, including exports overseas via Cove Point that will promote increased fracking in eastern states,” said Seth Heald, a Dominion shareholder from Rixeyville, Virginia. “Methane leaks from fracking and natural gas transmission are a grave climate threat, because methane is a greenhouse gas that is far more potent than carbon dioxide. We’re calling on Dominion to take this threat seriously by providing full disclosure of methane emissions and setting concrete, aggressive goals for reducing them.”
As shareholders pointed out, even as Dominion plans to build the massive Cove Point gas export facility in Maryland, the company currently generates no utility-scale wind or solar power in Virginia. Instead of developing these renewable resources, Dominion is proposing to build seven new centralized, polluting power plants in the state over the next 15 years.

“Climate change is already impacting Dominion’s bottom line. In fact, the company recently moved to raise electric rates for Virginia customers by over 4 percent due to rising gas prices linked to this winter’s extreme weather,” said Emily Heffling, Virginia Field Organizer at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, who presented the financial risk resolution. “If Dominion refuses to be part of the solution, the least the company should do is come clean on the costs to shareholders. Many other large U.S. companies are conducting assessments of business risks posed by climate change, and our resolution simply asks Dominion to provide the same transparency.”

Resources for journalists:

Contact:
Kelly Trout, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org
Brian Kunkemoeller, Ohio Sierra Club, 513-213-5165, brian.kunkemoeller@sierraclub.org

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Dominion Challenged over Fossil Fuel Plans at Annual Shareholder Meeting in Cleveland

Update, 1:30pm: Click here for a round up of the results of the shareholder meeting, including record-high levels of support among shareholders for climate-focused resolutions.
Today, Dominion Resources’ CEO, Thomas Farrell, board of directors and shareholders are meeting in Cleveland, Ohio for the company’s annual meeting. The meeting comes one day after the release of the most comprehensive assessment yet of the grave impacts that climate change is already having on communities across the U.S., from rising sea levels causing flooding along the East Coast, to more extreme precipitation damaging infrastructure everywhere, to severe droughts impacting food production in the West.
Unfortunately, as the impacts of climate change cost us more and more, Tom Farrell’s company is ignoring the problem, and making it worse. As Virginia’s biggest energy utility, Dominion is has built ZERO utility-scale wind or solar power projects in the commonwealth and is the state’s #1 climate polluter. Over the next fifteen years, instead of developing Virginia’s vast solar power and offshore wind potential, Dominion is proposing to build three new gas-fired power plants and to increase the company’s carbon emissions by 37 percent. On top of it all, Dominion now it wants to build a massive fracked gas export facility on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. This Cove Point project would become the state’s single biggest trigger of climate pollution and increase dangerous fracking throughout the region.
As Farrell and his board meet today in Cleveland, people are taking action to say enough is enough. Ohio anti-fracking activists are protesting outside to denounce Dominion’s Cove Point gas export plan. Meanwhile, inside the meeting, Virginia shareholders are presenting four resolutions that call on the company to address its contribution to climate change.

Here’s how you can join them in taking action:

1. Share and join the “Dear Dominion” photo petition: Tell Tom Farrell why we deserve MORE than fossil fuels. We’re delivering your photos today as Tom Farrell and his board arrive in Cleveland. But it’s not too late to upload your own photo and share it on social media. You can Tweet @DomNews (Dominion Resources), @DomVAPower (Dominion Virginia Power) or @Dom_CovePoint (Dominion Cove Point). Or, on Facebook tag “Dominion Virginia Power” or “Dominion Cove Point.”
Dominion-risky-business-Cleveland2. Get involved to stop fracked gas exports at Cove Point. Dominion’s Cove Point facility would take gas piped from fracking wells across Appalachia, liquefy it to 260 degrees F below zero at a polluting facility on the Chesapeake Bay, and ship it to Asia on massive tankers. This plan would put our communities in the way of an expanding web of dangerous new fossil fuel infrastructure, while polluting the climate as much — if not more — than coal. Key federal and state decision deadlines are nearing, so this is a critical time to get involved in stopping it. Click here to learn how you can take action, including joining us in Washington, DC on July 13th for a major rally to say “no” to fracked gas exports at Cove Point and nationwide!
3. Learn more. For more resources on Dominion’s dirty and dangerous energy plans, and how people are standing up to them, check out these links:

Dominion Confronted With SEC Complaint over Investor Risks in Cove Point LNG Export Plan

Shareholder and advocates file SEC complaint outlining inadequate disclosure of financial and environmental risks on the eve of Dominion’s annual shareholder meeting
Washington – In an effort to shed light on possible investment risks associated with a proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal on the Chesapeake Bay, a shareholder and environmental advocates submitted an official complaint to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) this morning. The filing details how Dominion Midstream, a new gas export subsidiary of the larger Dominion Resources, has potentially omitted or inadequately disclosed significant financial and environmental risks of its proposed liquefied natural gas export terminal. These advocates argue that potential investors and the greater public have a right to know about any risks as the company seeks permission to raise project funds through stock sales.
“As the proposed Cove Point liquefied natural gas export terminal on the Chesapeake Bay continues to face intensifying community backlash and regulatory delays, Dominion is failing to disclose the full risks to potential investors,” said Diana Dascalu-Joffe, Senior General Counsel at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), who filed the complaint on behalf of the organization and an existing shareholder of Dominion. “To sound the alarm, a current Dominion shareholder and advocacy groups are alerting SEC officials with this complaint.”
In late March, Dominion filed an application with the SEC to raise approximately $400 million for the export facility through an initial offering of public stock. The complaint accuses Dominion Midstream of failing to disclose various risks within its application.
These include: 1) The potential for project delays due to additional permitting hurdles or litigation (especially given Dominion omitted mention of a six month delay already triggered); 2) risks to the facility’s physical structure and operation due to environmental and climate change impacts, including sea level rise, land subsidence and severe weather; and 3) financial risks due to potential cost overruns and construction delays related to the project’s unique and significant safety and environmental hazards. The complaint notes that delays and cost overruns could impact Dominion’s end-user contracts with Japan and India for the exported gas.
According to the complaint, Dominion Midstream’s financial statements, including all registration statements, should include “a discussion of the most significant factors that make the offering speculative or risky” and “how the risk affects the issuer or the securities being offered.”
“The fact is, Dominion still has significant regulatory hurdles it needs to clear before it can even start construction,” said Deborah Goldberg, Managing Attorney at the environmental law firm Earthjustice. “Dominion may hope it can rush the regulatory process. But rushing the process and overlooking important unanswered environmental and safety questions could create significant risk for the nearby community – and even for investors. An incomplete review of impacts could also invite successful legal challenges – challenges that Earthjustice is fully prepared to bring.”
Over the past year, Dominion’s $3.8 billion plan to pipe fracked gas from the Marcellus shale to the Cove Point facility, liquefy it, and export it to be burned in Japan and India has ballooned into a regional controversy. On February 20, more than 700 people joined a rally outside the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) headquarters in Baltimore, urging the agency to reject controversial air and water pollution permits for the Cove Point project. In April, a coalition of national, regional and community-based groups opposed to the project delivered over 40,000 public comments to the PSC. As the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission prepares to weigh in this summer, anti-fracking and climate activists are planning to rally by the thousands outside the agency’s headquarters in Washington, DC on July 13.
“As the impacts of climate change accelerate, CEO Tom Farrell is exposing Dominion to significant long-term risks by investing in massive new fossil fuel projects instead of the clean energy technologies that will drive a stable economy well into the future,” said Matt Patsky, CEO and Managing Partner at Trillium Asset Management. “If the Cove Point export terminal goes forward, investors will be latching themselves to a socially and morally controversial project, with the fallout potentially tarnishing their own reputation.”
The SEC complaint comes just one day before Dominion’s executives, board and CEO Thomas Farrell convene in Cleveland for the company’s annual shareholder meeting. In Cleveland, Dominion will consider four shareholder resolutions challenging the company to address its vulnerability and contribution to climate change. Cleveland-area activists plan to protest outside, highlighting further concerns about the role Cove Point’s development would play in incentivizing expanded fracking for gas across the region.
The complaint filed with the SEC today is available at: http://chesapeakeclimate.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Dominion-Midstream-SEC-Registration-Statement-Complaint.pdf
CONTACT:
Kate Ray, Rabinowitz Communications, 202-265-3000, kate@rabinowitz.com
Kelly Trout, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, 240-396-2022, kelly@chesapeakeclimate.org

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Train carrying crude oil derails, explodes in Lynchburg

A dozen or more cars of a CSX Corp train carrying crude oil through central Virginia derailed in Lynchburg earlier this afternoon, causing a large explosion and fire. So far, no injuries have been reported, but hundreds of citizens have been evacuated from their homes. According to Reuters, several of the cars spilled their contents into the James River. The Huffington Post reports, “Its tankers may be a class of rail cars deemed an ‘unacceptable public risk’ by a member of the National Transportation Safety Board in February. These black, pill-shaped cars, known as DOT-111s, have been involved in recent notable oil train derailments in North Dakota and Quebec.” The decision to phase out these cars came after a DOT-111 caused the Quebec crash last July that killed 47 people.
You can follow DeSmog Blog’s updates as the story unfolds.
Earlier this month, concerns were raised about the possibility of just such an accident. Crude shipments via Lynchburg, Richmond and other heavily populated areas of Virginia began in December 2013, causing concern for environmental and public safety advocates. In early April, the Daily Press reported that “Virginia environmentalists and activists are worried that an uptick in tanker trains carrying petroleum crude oil to a new storage and shipping hub in Yorktown is a recipe for disaster.” Sierra Club’s Glen Besa told reporters he was “concerned that a train derailment could result in an explosion and the loss of life, or an oil spill that could jeopardize our drinking water supplies and the environment” Luckily, no fatalities were reported in the accident, but the city has switched to an alternate water supply in case of contamination.
According to the Wall Street Journal, “The crash is the latest in a string of fiery accidents caused by crude-by-rail transport, including one in Quebec last summer that killed 47 people and incinerated part of the town.”
The Associated Press reports that National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman said, “We are very clear that this issue needs to be acted on very quickly…There is a very high risk here that hasn’t been addressed.”
The Richmond Times Dispatch posted a chilling video of smoke and flames in the incident.
Follow the links below for more coverage:
Politico: Oil train derails, burns in Lynchburg
New York Daily News: Major fire, explosion after train carrying crude oil derails in Lynchburg, Virginia
WDBJ 7: Train carrying crude oil derails in Lynchburg
Financial Post: CSX Corp train hauling crude oil derails in Lynchburg, Virginia, bursts into flames
Washington Post: Train derails in downtown Lynchburg, shutting down streets, bridges
Climate Progress: Crude Oil Train Derails, Catches Fire, Spills Into Virginia’s James River
BBC: Derailed US train in bursts into flames in Lynchburg
ABC 13: BREAKING NEWS: Train Has Derailed in Lynchburg

Is a 37.5% Increase in Carbon Emissions in Virginia's Public Interest?

What will Virginia’s renewable energy landscape look like by 2030? Not much different than in 2014 if you ask Dominion Virginia Power, the state’s largest electric utility. The State Corporation Commission kicked off proceedings this week to determine whether or not Dominion’s proposed energy plans for the next 15 years are “reasonable and within the public’s interest.” Dominion, Virginia’s largest climate polluter by far, is proposing to increase its renewable energy portfolio by less than 1 percent compared to the utility’s current generation mix. That’s right: LESS THAN ONE PERCENT!
It goes without saying that Dominion’s Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) sends the commonwealth down the wrong path. If adopted, Dominion’s IRP would increase carbon emissions by 37.5 percent of the utility’s current output over the next 15 years. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released a report a few weeks ago warning of the dire consequences associated with climate change inaction. Yet, rather than being responsible by bringing more carbon-free technologies like wind and solar online, Dominion proposes to actually INCREASE its carbon footprint. In the face of climate impacts occurring with greater intensity and frequency, increasing carbon pollution is far from “reasonable” and is certainly not in “the public’s interest.”
One of the many benefits of clean energy sources like wind and solar is that the fuel is free. These free fuel sources mitigate the impact to consumers that is caused by rising or at times volatile fuel prices like those that occur in the natural gas industry. Of course, the cheapest source of energy is energy we don’t have to use. Thus, Dominion should significantly increase its energy efficiency measures as a supplement to investing in more renewable energy resources. Six years ago, Virginia’s General Assembly passed a state-wide goal of increasing energy efficiency by 10 percent by 2022. To date, Dominion has reduced energy consumption by less than 1 percent. These are reasonable options that benefit Dominion’s ratepayers and the public at-large.
Clean energy reduces emissions that damage our citizens’ health, is the proper medicine for reducing climate change disruption, and strengthens our economy by adding the jobs of the future that our commonwealth needs and deserves. Dominion’s proposed energy plan is far too risky and costly. Dominion can and should present a more diverse, cleaner plan to meet Virginia’s future energy needs. Of course, the final decision lies at the feet of Virginia’s three commissioners, who will decide the reasonableness of Dominion’s dirty energy plans.

Climate Insider: KXL Delay, Fracking Transparency, Dear Dominion…

President Obama announced on Friday that he plans to delay his final decision on the Keystone XL pipeline until after the Nebraska state Supreme Court decides on a case that will impact the route of the pipeline. This delay could last a year or more, well past this November’s midterm elections. The President’s announcement was met with frustration from both sides, but many project opponents see the delay as a victory. Jamie Henn, a spokesman for 350.org said “It’s disappointing President Obama doesn’t have the courage to reject Keystone XL right now, but this is clearly another win for pipeline opponents.” After all, delaying the project means more tar sands are staying in the ground. Transcanada, the company proposing the pipeline, called the delay “inexplicable.”
Sheild the People 6 Matt Sloan for Bold NebraskaThe Cowboy Indian Alliance rode into DC yesterday to set up a week-long encampment on the National Mall urging President Obama to reject Keystone XL. The convergence, called Reject and Protect, will provide a packed schedule of events this week and will bring thousands to DC on Saturday for a massive tipi ceremony and march. The event brings together “tribal communities with ranchers and farmers living along the Keystone XL pipeline proposed route. Farmers and ranchers know the risk first-hand. They work the land every day. Tribes know the risk first-hand. They protect the sacred water, and defend sacred sites of their ancestors every day. They have united out of love and respect for the land and water on which we all depend.” According to Politico, “They’re estimating that as many as 5,000 activists will take part in a march past the Capitol on Saturday.
Sign up here to be a part of this historic action.
What happens when you have “almost no environmental regulation?” You end up with a situation similar to the one in China where ⅕ of agricultural land is contaminated. According to the Chinese government, “16.1 percent of the country’s soil in general and 19.4 percent of its farmland is polluted with toxic heavy metals such as cadmium, nickel and arsenic.” This is already impacting local communities; “health advocates have identified several ‘cancer villages’ in China near factories suspected of polluting the environment.”
In modern American political dialogue, polarization is the norm; Evangelical Christians and environmentalists are two groups that pundits assume will never agree. But here’s a take on climate change from David Jenkins, president of Conservatives for Responsible Stewardship and a lifelong evangelical Christian. He points out that God created the carbon cycle to keep the world’s carbon in balance and asks, “does it not then stand to reason that God, after designing the Earth’s processes to sequester excess carbon and keep our atmosphere’s chemistry in balance, would prefer that we respect His creation and find better ways to heat our homes and power our cars than using huge amounts of oil and coal?” Many religious organizations share Mr. Jenkins’ view; churches from Missouri to Minnesota have installed solar panels on their roofs and are living up to their goals of being good stewards of the earth.
The Chesapeake Bay, once an icon of biodiversity and delicious seafood, has been marred by pollution in recent years. “Thanks to an Environmental Protection Agency-led plan that puts limits on the amount of agricultural nutrients entering the bay,” efforts to clean up the bay have been strengthening, but Attorneys-General from states across the country have called the plan “EPA overreach,” saying the EPA doesn’t have a right to restrict the pollutants they put into the bay or to tell states how they can use their land. According to Chesapeake Bay Foundation director William Baker, “it’s hardly a mandate being imposed on high down to the states.” So while faraway states are concerned that protecting the Chesapeake Bay might somehow hinder their own economic and social development (an idea that Judge Sylvia Rambo found to be flawed), they fail to consider that polluting the bay hurts Bay-adjacent states. Baker says, “each bay state, including Virginia, voluntarily entered into the current restoration plan because of the economic, recreational, environmental and intrinsic value of a healthy Chesapeake Bay.”
Zooming in on Maryland:
Last week in Lusby, more than 50 people gathered at a community meeting to discuss the potential safety risks surrounding Dominion Resources’ proposed Cove Point facility. Local residents are especially concerned after the recent explosion at a gas plant in Washington. Many residents’ concerns stem from the fact that “other plants do not exist in populated areas. [Local resident, Dale] Allison said he estimates there are more than 300 homes within a 4,500-foot radius of the plant.” Mr. Allison worries that his family, friends and neighbors “will be an experiment.”
But the conversion of the Cove Point facility to a fracked gas export facility is far from a done deal. Sign up here to receive updates about the Cove Point fight and about an upcoming public meeting with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as they decide whether to approve Dominion’s plan.covepointrally
This week, we bring you some common sense from the Frederick News-Post editorial board: Fracking chemicals should be disclosed. After a recent Mother Jones article outlining the health risks posed by fracking, the public is paying attention to the risky practice. Physicians for Social Responsibility “helped draft and promote legislation that, if passed, would allow Maryland health professionals to access information on the specific chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing”  Maryland’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Committee is taking up the question of who should have access to information about what’s in chemicals used in fracking. No decision has yet been made, but “that decision cannot be too long in coming at this point. If it decides to permit it, the state has an obligation — and the public has a right — to be fully informed about any and all processes and substances used in this controversial drilling method.”
The Maryland General Assembly passed a bill this session to create a council charged with minimizing the impact of sea level rise on new state buildings. The council will be comprised of “Secretaries of natural resources, business and management, the environment, general services, planning, transportation, and business and economic development; the chair of DNR’s Critical Area Commission for the Chesapeake and Atlantic Coastal Bays; the director of the Maryland Emergency Management Agency; the chancellor of the University System of Maryland; and five others appointed by the governor to represent local government, business and environmental interests.” The council is being formed as a result of Governor O’Malley’s 2012 executive order that sea level rise be considered in future state construction. The bill passed unanimously in the senate and 95-40 in the House of Delegates, opposed by a handful of Delegates who are “skeptical about the role climate change plays in sea level rise.” The Governor will likely sign the bill which has the support of the Maryland Department of the Environment.
Also in Maryland legislative news, the Governor will soon decide whether or not to sign a bill that would kill a major offshore wind project in Maryland. HB 1168, a bill that would put a 15-month moratorium on Maryland’s offshore wind power development, passed both houses of the Maryland legislature. Bill proponents claimed the wind turbines would interfere with “the unique radar and testing mission at the Patuxent River base.” According to the Navy itself, this bill is patently unnecessary. According to David Belote, a former Air Force fighter pilot, commander of Nellis Air Force Base, and director of the Department of Defense Siting Clearinghouse, “if the turbines aren’t spinning, there’s no interference…There’s no need for additional studies to determine that stationary turbines cannot affect radar systems.” Click here to join Marylanders in urging Governor O’Malley to veto HB 1168.
Zooming in on Virginia:
leslie-morrisonLast week, a coalition of environmental groups held a forum on the impacts of coal dust in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. CCAN’s own Leslie Morrison spoke to an audience of around 90 people about the health impacts of coal dust, a fine, powdered form of coal released from any facilities that mine, process, or transport coal. The Lamberts Point Coal Terminal in Norfolk, Virginia, already ships 28 million tons of coal every year—and is legally allowed to release up to 50 tons of coal dust into the air each year. Coal is found in soil samples as far as 7.5 miles away and causes respiratory problems in nearby residents. It contains arsenic, mercury and other particulate matter and is extremely harmful if inhaled. Residents have also been suffering its effects in Curtis Bay, a Baltimore community with some of the worst air quality in the state. Morrison said, “it has been so inspiring to see communities around these facilities taking a stand to protect their air quality and their health.”
Major climate news came from Virginia last week when the state Supreme Court “ruled that the emails of a former University of Virginia climate scientist are exempt from disclosure under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act.” The case began in 2011 when Michael Mann, a professor at the University of Virginia, came under fire by climate denying Attorney General, Ken Cuccinelli who attempted to prove that Mann was misusing public funds. The Virginia Supreme court found that Cuccinelli had overstepped his bounds. By deciding that Mann’s emails were exempt from disclosure, the justices opted not to “put the state’s public universities at a disadvantage to private institutions.” According to Michael Halpern, program manager with the Center for Science and Democracy with the Union of Concerned Scientists, the state Supreme Court “was right to protect scientists’ ability to pursue tough research questions free from threats or intimidation. Freedom of information laws are meant to keep government accountable, not to enable the harassment of scientists.”
Citizens from across the mid-Atlantic are submitting photo petitions to Dominion CEO Tom Farrell demanding that the company clean up its act. Not only does Dominion Virginia Power’s 15-year energy plan include no new clean energy and an increase in carbon pollution for the commonwealth, but in Southern Maryland, Dominion Resources is trying to build a massively polluting fracked gas export facility at Cove Point. See the faces of people who demand better from Dominion and add your picture to the petition here. 

Reject and Protect: Tell President Obama to Reject Keystone XL

Tomorrow, the Cowboy Indian Alliance rides into Washington, DC. This powerful coalition of farmers, ranchers, and tribal communities on the frontlines of the Keystone XL fight is coming to President Obama’s doorstep and setting up camp from April 22-27th. The creative line up of Reject and Protect actions will show the president the real stakes of approving Keystone XL — and the people he’ll have to answer to if he chooses to approve this disastrous tar sands oil project.
All pipeline fighters are invited to join the events, and you won’t want to miss the final tipi ceremony and march on Saturday, April 26th. Sign up here to join the mass Saturday action. Want to be a part of the movement but can’t make in into DC? You can watch the opening ceremonies and events throughout the week via live-stream here.Gary Dorr Reject & Protect Meme
Last week, President Obama announced he won’t decide on the pipeline until after a Nebraska Supreme Court Case about the pipeline’s route is decided. While the delay is a victory for pipeline opponents — every day that more tar sands oil stays in the ground is a victory — it’s also a sign that the president isn’t ready yet to outright reject the pipeline, as the evidence shows he must. Rejecting Keystone XL would keep 1,000,000,000 barrels of tar sands oil in the ground and have the equivalent climate impact of closing 51 coal plants. It’s estimated that Keystone XL could leak 91 times over its lifetime into some of the most sensitive water tables in North America, posing a direct threat to the farmers, ranchers and tribes who rely on clean water for their livelihoods.
Ben Gotschall. Photo by Alex Matzke - Bold Nebraska.That’s why these brave Keystone XL fighters are coming to DC, and that’s why we’re joining them in their call for president Obama to reject the pipeline and protect our land, water and climate.
As the week wraps up on Saturday, thousands of people opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline will converge on the National Mall for a tipi ceremony and march, in which we’ll deliver a hand-painted Tipi in President Obama’s name to the Museum of the American Indian. The tipi will represent our hope that he will reject the pipeline, and our promise that we will protect our land and water if he chooses to let the pipeline move forward.
You’ll have a chance to leave your own fingerprint on the hand-painted tipi, and literally be part of the historical record. Will you be a part of this historic Reject and Protect action with us? Sign up here.
 
 

Here’s a look at some of the inspiring events throughout the week. You can see a full schedule of events here.


Reject and Protect Schedule
 
 

O'Malley's Fracking Commission Timeline Extended

For three years, we’ve kept the gas industry at bay in Maryland thanks to supporters like you, and our grassroots pressure continues to pay off. At the April meeting of the governor’s fracking advisory commission on Monday, state agencies presented an updated timeline for their risk studies, which includes a 3-month extension of their original August 1st deadline.
While this delay isn’t the 18-month pause we’ve been advocating for, it’s a step in the right direction and a clear sign that our ever growing movement is having an impact.  The extra three months gives the risk study teams more time to get all the facts on the table and ensures public involvement in the process.
Here’s the new timeline:

  • April 14th: April Meeting
  • Early May: Final draft of the economic risks study released before the May 15th commission meeting. RESI, the study team, will come to the May meeting to present and answer questions.
  • May 15th: Commission meeting (To include: presentation by the Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI) at Towson University on the final economic report; presentation on air pollution; update on risk assessment study)
  • End of May/Early June: Final Best Management Practices (BMPs) report released
  • June 13: Commission meeting (To include discussions on emergency preparedness; risk assessment; local land use)
  • Saturday, June 28th: Public meeting in Garrett or Allegany county. Health study will be presented, then a one month comment period.
  • July 11: July Commission meeting (To include: update on health study, risk assessment, and an outline for draft final report)
  • July 28th: Health Study Public Comment period closes
  • August 18th: Commission meeting (To include: discussion of public health study, content of final draft report)
  • Mid/Late August: Draft of final report released by MDE/DNR (One-month comment period on the final report.)
  • September 15th: Commission meeting (Content of commission;’ Appendix to final report—Consultation with commission.)
  • Mid/Late September: Final Report Public Comment period ends
  • Mid October: Final draft of third and final report with response to comments

The commission meeting also included an in depth overview of progress to date from the UMD team completing the health study. You can follow their work here.
And, Dr. Anver Vengosh of Duke University walked the commissioners through his recent findings on underground methane migration from fracked wells to drinking water sources. His study shows that water wells within 1 kilometer (3,280 ft) of a fracked well have significantly higher levels of methane than wells beyond that boundary. Currently, the max proposed setback of fracking wells from drinking wells is only 2,000 ft. Clearly, not enough.
We’ll continue to watchdog the process and call for the strongest possible protections against fracking. Stay tuned for ways you can voice your opinions on this crucial issue for our climate, water, and communities.