Members of a state-appointed task force studying liquid natural gas signed a final report Thursday that all but condemns an LNG terminal in Baltimore County?s Sparrows Point peninsula proposed by a Virginia-based energy corporation.
Meeting for the last time, the task force finalized a report days before Vienna-based AES Corp. expects to file its formal application with the federal energy commission that will ultimately approve or deny the $400 million project. The majority of task force members decided to also sign a separate statement deeming the project against the best interests of citizens.
State employees on the task force ? who may eventually have to approve or deny project-related permits ? were not asked to sign the resolution.
“This is a little bit stronger-worded than the report,” said Richard Eskin, representing the state?s Department of the Environment. “It?s not really conflicting with the report, but it goes a little beyond neutral.”
Under the proposal, ultra-cold liquid natural gas arriving on tankers would be offloaded into three shore-side storage tanks, re-gasified and transported through an 87-mile pipeline through Harford County into southern Pennsylvania. The project will generate 45 permanent jobs and $13 million in tax revenue each year, AES project manager Kent Morton said.
The report identifies several concerns, which include inadequate evacuation capabilities as well as dredging and disposing contaminated sediment in the harbor to accommodate the LNG tankers. The facility poses “a significant risk to the health, safety and quality of life” to the low-income communities near the peninsula, according to the report?s executive summary.
Without reading the report, Morton said he is confident the company has addressed most of the concerns it identifies, which include evacuation capabilities as well as dredging and disposing contaminated sediment in the harbor to accommodate the LNG tankers. Morton, who earlier said the task force?s discussions on the proposal violated the legislative intent of the group to study LNG in general terms, said the report was “better” than he expected.
“I think it makes the application going in that much better,” Morton said. “That?s why I?ve been coming to these meetings, in case something new comes up.”
The report calls for Baltimore County officials to draft a long-range master plan for the peninsula and Maryland lawmakers to develop a comprehensive energy policy that balances supply with demand. The task force also asks for a state ombudsman to communicate all Sparrows Point developments to the public.
The task force included seven members of the LNG Opposition Team, a Dundalk-based organization spearheading an effort to derail the Sparrows Point project. The report will be distributed to the governor and state lawmakers and will be posted on MDE?s Web site.
