FERC OKs Gas Dock Expansion for Export

Natural gas exports from Chesapeake Bay OK'd

Calvert Cliff, Gas Docks on far left

Dominion Energy received federal approval late Monday to export liquefied natural gas from its Cove Point terminal on the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

In its decision, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission concluded that the project, as approved with conditions, would minimize potential adverse impacts on landowners and the environment. FERC has approved three other LNG export projects, but this is the first one on the East Coast. The others are in the Gulf of Mexico.

"We are pleased to receive this final approval that allows us to start constructing this important project that offers significant economic, environmental and geopolitical benefits," said Diane Leopold, president of Richmond, Virginia-based Dominion Energy. She added that the company was committed to constructing a safe, secure, environmentally compatible and reliable export facility.

FERC's ruling adopted staff recommendations made in an environmental assessment, requiring Dominion to meet 79 conditions aimed at mitigating negative environmental impacts. That assessment, issued this spring, concluded the project would have "no significant impact" on the environment.

Interesting that although they could find no significant impact on the environment, they found 79 rules to impose as a result. When all you have is a hammer. . .

When I first arrived in the Bay region in 1985, the Gas Docks (and the shore facility) were relatively new, but unused, due to a glut of natural gas which made importing natural gas unnecessary and expensive.  It stayed that way for years, a collection of fishable pilings off of Cove Point.  After 9/11/2001 the facility was made off limits to boats, and then for a few years, it was actually used to import natural gas, with as many as 3 ships a week docking there to unload.

The shale gas boom killed its utility as an import facility, and now the US is in the position of being able to export natural gas, and this decision will provide jobs for hundreds of people (and more while the conversion of the facility is under way), and help restore the US balance of trade.