Legislation proposed by Maryland?s two senators that would give states the power to veto liquid natural gas proposals ? part of an ongoing political effort to block a project planned at the Sparrows Point peninsula ? failed in a vote Tuesday.
The amendment to the Clean Energy Act would require the Army Corps of Engineers to get approval from the affected state before issuing permits for the construction or expansion of an LNG facility. The measure, lost in a 37 to 58 vote, was the second for Democratic Sens. Ben Cardin and Barbara Mikulski targeting the $400 million facility planned by Virginia-based AES Corporation near the Key Bridge and Turners Station community.
“I?m asking my colleagues to respect that when we want to build LNG terminals, we want them to be located in the right place,” Cardin said before the vote.
The Sparrows Point project ? unpopular locally because of its proximity to homes ? is one of nine on-shore LNG terminals proposed nationally, not including five already operating.
AES officials opposed the amendment, which they said circumvented an already “arduous and detailed process set up by the federal government.”
The company recently defeated a Baltimore County law targeting the project, arguing the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has the exclusive authority to determine LNG plant siting.
“This undermines the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was carefully debated to balance the interests of greater access to energy supplies with states? rights to participate in the LNG siting decisions,” said Kent Morton, project director of the Sparrows Point plant.
Sen. Pete Domenici, R-New Mexico, said governors should not have veto power when alternative energy forms are needed to curb escalating prices.
LNG siting is an easy subject for political grandstanding, said Domenici, who voted against the amendment.
“People get disgruntled about a site and they go to the governor and immediately we have a political tussle,” Domenici said. “The governor finds himself in a meeting with 600 people and he has to say, ?I?m not going to let this happen.?”
