I joined CCAN’s staff three weeks ago today and since day one I’ve been inspired by the “it ain’t over ‘til it’s over” spirit the community members we have the honor of working with bring to their work. That spirit is nowhere more visible to me than in the work of the Calvert Citizens for a Healthy Community, the citizen group that formed in opposition to Dominion Virginia Resources proposed liquefied natural gas export facility at Cove Point.
CCAN’s Southern Maryland Organizer, Jon Kenney, and I spent Monday in Calvert County, meeting with some of the leaders of CCHC. Inspired by last Sunday’s rally and undeterred by the construction work that has already started on Cove Point Road, CCHC’s leaders are ramping up their call on Governor O’Malley to step in where federal regulators have failed to and order a Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA). A QRA is a basic and customary type of safety assessment that would determine the extent to which an accidental explosion or other catastrophe at the plant could put CCHC’s members and their neighbors in danger.
The reality of what’s at stake if the Governor ignores the citizens of Calvert County really hit home for me Monday. Jon and I went for a drive through Cove Point Park – a beautiful park that shares a fence with Dominion’s plant. Jon told me that this park – with its two playgrounds, baseball diamonds and crowded water park – is the place where kids in Calvert County go to play. And it shares a fence with the plant. Imagine the horrific scene if there were an explosion like the one that occurred at an LNG facility this spring in Plymouth, Washington.
And I met Leslie Garcia, one of the creative minds behind CCHC. With her husband, Leslie has been putting blood, sweat and tears into renovating their home – a home I had a hard time leaving after an hour, let alone 20 years. They feel like they’ll have no choice but to leave if Dominion wins. They’re in Dominion’s backyard: their home is less than a 5 minute walk from the overlook facing Dominion’s current import platform and a short drive from the plant. Imagine locking the door and walking away from the home you’d hoped to live the rest of your life in because you know that staying is too dangerous.
Before leaving, we walked along the pier at Solomon’s Island, looking out over the scenic Patuxent River towards the Thomas Johnson Bridge – Dominion plans to build a temporary pier next to the bridge for the loading and unloading of construction materials. And right next to it, one of the largest, most productive, and most beautiful farms in Calvert County – Dominion plans to use the field abutting this farm for the loading and unloading of construction materials coming off of the pier. Imagine the scene.
As we drove through neighborhoods on our way home, we noticed that a bunch of the old Cove Point lawn signs (“Cove Point: We need answers!”) had started to disappear. The construction work on Cove Point Road has gotten some folks started thinking this fight is over; Dominion has already won.
But the members of CCHC will tell you that it isn’t, that too much is at stake to stop fighting now. Just a few days after our visit, CCHC members traveled to Annapolis to join 52 organizations and residents for a press conference urging the Governor to protect the safety of Calvert County residents and order a QRA. As the fight against Cove Point continues, CCAN will be supporting CCHC at every step – whether that’s on the streets, in the media or in the courts – and what an honor it is for us to do so.
