Impassioned Dundalk residents lashed out Monday night against a global energy company that wants to build a liquid natural gas plant in Sparrows Point, but were told their open hostility isn?t enough to kill the project.
Officials from the Virginia-based AES Corporation were grilled by residents during afederally required public meeting, eventually confirming they will use eminent domain to acquire private property along an 87-mile pipeline if the federal government approves the plant.
“We?re not going to just go away because the community wants us to go,” said Aaron Samson, AES? managing director of LNG projects. “Nobody likes infrastructure projects. Give us credit that we?re here and you didn?t hear about this after the fact.”
Under the company?s proposal, shipments of ultra-cold liquefied gas would arrive by ships ? requiring the dredging of Bear Creek and the Patapsco River ? and be transformed into natural gas. The gas will be sent through the pipeline extending from Sparrows Point through Harford County and into southern Pennsylvania.
But residents said they fear the environmental impacts of dredging, accidental explosions, terrorism and effects on property values. The closest home to the proposed plant is 1.3 miles away in Turner Station, just enough to avoid impacts from one worst-case scenario cited by the company.
“There are things you can?t plan, you can?t schedule and you can?t evaluate,” said Alice Mason, a Turner Station resident. “Anything that harms us ? who will foot the bill for that?”
Elected officials including Sen. Norman R. Stone Jr. and Baltimore County Council Chairman John Olszewski also have voiced their opposition. Members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission won?t determine the plant?s fate until at least 2007.
In their opening presentation, company officials cited increasing demand for natural gas and potential local tax revenue. They said the plant could create 500 construction jobs and 50 permanent jobs. The pipeline, they said, is planned along existing utility lines and infrastructure, including Interstate 695.
Residents snickered when AES project director Kent Morton said there are no residential neighborhoods along I-695 and booed when Samson asked if there were any “productive” questions.
“This outfit, in my opinion, is throwing people a lot of bull,” said Buddy Howard. “It?s going to cause a hell of a ruckus and I don?t see any gain.”
NEXT MEETINGS
» Bel Air: 6:30 to 10 p.m. May 3, Harford Community College, 401 Thomas Run Road.
» Pasadena: 7 to 10 p.m. May 4, Northeast High School, 1121 Duvall Highway.
