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Cove Point is bad for the planet, and FERC is required to consider our appeal. But so far, they're not listening. And while they ignore people and the planet, construction has already begun. Sign here to tell FERC to unplug their ears and shut down fracked gas exports!
On September 29, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) made a huge mistake and permitted the construction of a massive fracked-gas export facility in Cove Point, Maryland.1
We told you then that the fight wasn't over, and we meant it. Within days, local allies had appealed FERC's decision in the courts and with federal regulators. But Dominion Resources, Inc., the company behind Cove Point and other local fracked gas projects, has started construction anyway.2
Our allies in Maryland are desperate to stop their homes, community and our collective environment from being destroyed by this project. They've done all the 'right' things: appealed to FERC's own rules, asked the courts to intercede, ANYTHING to get the project stopped or put on hold. FERC promised to listen, and is required to consider an appeal. But while they dither Dominion just keeps building and building. And every day brings our climate and the community of Cove Point closer to a disaster.
This Thursday, our friends from Cove Point are going back again to occupy the FERC Commissioners' meeting, demanding that they respond to the appeal and stop construction. Sign here to support them, and send FERC a message that it's time to un-plug their ears and respond to the public's concern about fracked gas exports.
Until FERC responds, Cove Point residents cannot go to court to challenge Dominion's climate killing project. Thousands of us have already told FERC what we think of fracked gas exports. But they're refusing to even acknowledge our concerns. And all the while Dominion just keeps building the fracked gas export infrastructure our climate cannot afford.
The activists I've heard from in Maryland are frustrated, but resolved to fight. They raised the appeal in a meeting with FERC Chairwoman LaFleur twice in the last six months, and nothing has changed. In response to FERC's turning a deaf ear on reasonable and legally binding concerns, some activists have even resorted to nonviolent direct action at the construction sites: literally putting their bodies in front of the fracked gas machinery to make it stop. Over two dozen activists were convicted for participating in these entirely peaceful, but thoroughly disruptive actions.3
FERC says they want to hear citizen concerns.4 And they've made a big show of asking Dominion for a lot of new information; why didn’t they ask for this before they granted Cove Point a permit in the first place? Who knows what the answer is, but their refusal to pull their fingers out of their ears won't prevent us from shutting down Cove Point, or any other fracked gas project.
Sign here to back up the local action, and Marylanders will deliver your signature to the FERC meeting this Thursday!
Thanks,
Drew and the Environmental Action team
1 - Drew Hudson, Beyond Extreme Energy, Environmental Action Blog, November 13, 2014
2 - We Are Cove Point, About us page
3 - Marty Madden, Plant protesters have day in court, The BayNet, February 25, 2015
4 - Ted Glick, It’s Time to Seize the Moment and Ratchet Up the Pressure, EcoWatch, March 5, 2015 |
