Sparrows Point residents will have a better opportunity to watch a court battle between Baltimore County lawmakers and a company trying to construct a liquified natural gas terminal in their neighborhood, a judge ruled Monday.
Anne Arundel Circuit Judge Paul Harris on Monday granted Baltimore County?s request to transfer a lawsuit aimed at blocking the plant from his courtroom to Baltimore County. Lawyers for AES Corp. a Virginia-based power company, vied to keep the proceedings in Annapolis.
“There?s probably going to be a courtroom full of people who want to know what?s going on,” Harris said. “It?s really unfair to make them come all the way down here.”
AES has sued Baltimore County and the state?s Critical Area Commission for allegedly interfering with the federal LNG approval process. The County Council in February adopted a law adding LNG terminals to a list of banned facilities in sensitive Chesapeake Bay corridors, including the Sparrows Point peninsula.
The state commission in June approved the change. County officials worry the dredging required to accommodate the tankers could disturb toxic sediment in the Baltimore Harbor and say the plant is an attractive target for terrorism.
The case “test the limits of the separation of power” between federal and local governments, County Attorney Jeffrey Cook said.
“The plaintiffs are suggesting that Baltimore County citizens don?t really know what?s good for them,” Cook said.
AES is proposing a $400 million facility near the Key Bridge, where LNG will arrive on tankers, be revaporized and sent via an 87-mile pipeline potentially through Harford County into southern Pennsylvania. Company officials say their efforts will improve water quality and could lower
utility rates.
The complaint targets David Carroll, the county?s director of environmental protection and resource management, who has publicly voiced opposition to the project and represents the county on the commission.
On Monday, project manager Kent Morton said the location where the case is heard “doesn?t really matter.”
“We look forward to continuing with this procedure in Baltimore County,” Morton said.
