Business & Tech

Residents Say Sparrows Point May Be Saved From Liquefied Natural Gas Plant

A Virginia company filed a motion to vacate its FERC authorization for a controversial liquefied natural gas plant opposed by residents who want to see cleaner, safer uses of the land.

Dundalk-Edgemere environmentalists and other concerned residents aren't "jumping up and down yet," but they are said to be happy that AES, a Virginia-based energy company, appears to be abandoning its quest to build a liquefied natural gas plant at Sparrows Point.

AES Sparrows Point LNG LLC filed a motion Sept. 19 with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to vacate its authorization and certificate to build the plant on former steel plant property in Sparrows Point on the North Point peninsula, according to online FERC records.

"We're not jumping up and down quite yet but this is definitely good news,"  LNG opponent Russ Donnelly said Monday. "It's not a done deal until FERC signs off on the request—we'll celebrate then."

Dundalk-Edgemere residents and elected leaders from the local level to the U.S. Senate have been fighting the AES proposal for more than seven years, according to Donnelly.

"Sharon Beazley first took up the fight and I was her No. 2," Donnelly said. "Then I took over in 2008 when she died."

Beazley was a community activist who kept her eye on many projects, proposals and problems in Dundalk, organized residents to speak out and pressured officials to take action.

"The entire community was against that proposal and so were all of our elected leaders, and it's good to see that AES is giving up—they're rolling up their tent and leaving town," said Donnelly.

Donnelly said he doesn't expect the fight over the future of the land to be over. Many community organizations and residents are against a proposal from the Sparrows Point Partnership that calls for an expansion of the Dundalk Marine Terminal on the former Bethlehem Steel property, as well as the continuation of heavy industry there.

The partnership is a committee created by Baltimore County Executive Kevin Kamenetz to explore possible uses of the land after RG Steel was sold and the steel plant officially closed.

"We've come up with our own proposal for the land that would call for recreational use and green industry on the land," Donnelly said. "We don't want heavy industry on that land anymore."

AES representatives did not respond to several requests for comment regarding the company's filing with FERC.


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