Maryland and local officials are expected to testify against a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal in eastern Baltimore County and pipeline through Harford in hearings this week crucial to its approval.
Federal regulators are holding hearings to solicit comments on a proposed $400 million LNG facility near the Key Bridge at Sparrows Point.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff members earlier this year recommended conditional approval for the project despite opposition from residents and elected officials at virtually every level who cite security and environmental concerns.
“This is our chance to stand up against their blueprint for disaster,” said Russell Donnelly, environmental coordinator for a Dundalk-based group opposing the plan.
“This will set the mark for the final stage of the approval process.”
Tankers will import LNG to the terminal at the former Bethlehem Steel shipyard, where it will be re-vaporized and pumped via an 88-mile pipeline through Harford and into southern Pennsylvania, according to plans from Virginia-based energy company AES Corp.
With appropriate mitigating measures, the project will have limited environmental and security impacts, according to the federal commission?s report, called a draft environmental impact statement.
AES officials declined comment other than to say they would attend the hearings in a “listening capacity.”
Federal appellate judges last month overturned a Baltimore County law that would have banned LNG plants in sensitive coastal areas, the second failed legislative challenge to the Sparrows Point project.
A final report is expected to be completed by mid-August, and the commission could issue a final decision by the end of November.
