Monday, February 23, 2009

Maryland, Baltimore County appeal FERC decision on LNG plant

BALTIMORE, Md. - Maryland and Baltimore County officials have asked federal energy regulators to rescind approval of a proposed liquefied natural gas terminal at Sparrows Point in eastern Baltimore County and an 88-mile pipeline to Pennsylvania.
Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler called the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission decision "hasty" and criticized the commission for issuing its approval order before the completion of critical environmental reviews.
"By all appearances, the order was issued as quickly as possible after the issuance of the final environmental impact statement in an effort to approve the project before the change in presidential administrations," Gansler wrote to the FERC yesterday.
The state also contends that the commission used outdated information about the project's benefits.
"We are saying that the decision was based on incomplete data, where there was the promise of full and accurate data," Austin Schlick, chief of litigation for the attorney general's office, said yesterday. "The commission also misapplied data and misread and understated environmental impacts of this project."

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