Editorial: Give Md. the say on LNG

Posted: 6:31 pm Thu, March 11, 2010
By Daily Record Staff

Maryland senators, Benjamin L. Cardin and Barbara A. Mikulski, introduced legislation last week that would remove the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) authority to determine where liquefied natural gas terminals should be located.

The bill would repeal parts of the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which transferred that power from states to the federal government.

Mr. Cardin and Ms. Mikulski are co-sponsoring the legislation with senators from Washington state, Oregon and Connecticut, where FERC has approved proposals to build LNG terminals. One of those terminals would be in Long Island Sound, 11 miles from Connecticut and nine miles from Long Island, N.Y.

In Maryland, the issue is the proposal by AES Corp. to build a $400 million LNG terminal at Sparrows Point. State and local officials and agencies have opposed the plan at every turn, even passing legislation banning LNG facilities from certain waterways or near homes.

These attempts have proved futile so far because FERC is the only agency with authority to approve or deny sites for LNG terminals.

So far, the state has still managed to block the terminal by denying AES’s request for a water-quality permit. That move was upheld by the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in December. Last month, the same court denied an AES request for a rehearing. But if that effort to block the permit should fail for some reason, the terminal would be back on track with no obstacle in its path. Thus, the Cardin-Mikulski bill.

This is not a case of “not in my backyard.” Maryland already has one of the nation’s largest LNG import facilities — Dominion Cove Point in Calvert County — which opened in 2003 and was expanded by 80 percent in 2009, all with the support of state and local authorities.

But this facility does not present any of the issues that have led government officials to oppose a terminal at Sparrows Point, namely the proximity to an urban population center, dangers from toxic dredge spoil, impact on marine traffic, and security.

In the case of the proposed Sparrows Point terminal, state and local opposition seems to be entirely justified. But as federal law is now written, the state is virtually powerless.

Something seems out of balance here, and the Cardin-Mikulski bill would fix that. Let’s return the decision-making power for LNG terminals — as with other energy projects — to the states, where it belongs.