A federal judge Wednesday indicated he will likely overturn Baltimore County?s second law aiming to derail a proposed liquefied natural gas plant at the Sparrows Point peninsula.
Judge Richard Bennett imposed a 10-day halt on a law adopted by the County Council Monday night that added LNG terminals to a list of banned facilities in the county?s Chesapeake Bay Critical Area. The ruling was the second recent victory for Virgina-based AES Corp. in Bennett?s courtroom after the judge overturned a county zoning law restricting LNG terminals to at least five miles from homes last month.
Bennett chastised the county for passing the law without seeking required approval from the state?s Critical Areas Commission and without the usual 45-day waiting period before laws take effect.
He encouraged officials to “slow up their wheels.”
“Baltimore County is in such a huge rush,” Bennett said. “The law does not allow local, immediate veto power. There?s a process that has to be undertaken.”
In both cases, attorneys for AES, which is proposing the $400 million facility near the Key Bridge, argued the Natural Gas Act pre-empts local laws, giving the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission the sole authority to determine LNG siting.
County attorneys Wednesday argued states defer to local land-use laws during the permit process, according to a federally approved state statute in the Coastal Zone Management Act.
Bennett will likely schedule a hearing on the permanent status of the law next week. The county is appealing Bennett?s ruling on the zoning law.
