Environmental Groups Sue To Block Cove Point Natural Gas Export Project

"Environmental groups filed suit Thursday in a bid to block development of the East Coast's first natural gas export facility - in the Chesapeake Bay off Calvert County.

The lawsuit, filed by Earthjustice on behalf of three Maryland groups, asks the federal appeals court for the District of Columbia to rescind federal approval for the $3.8 billion Cove Point project planned by Dominion, an energy company based in Richmond, Va.

The groups - Chesapeake Climate Action Network, the Patuxent Riverkeeper and the Maryland Sierra Club - contend that in approving the project last year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission violated federal law by failing to consider how construction of the facility would pollute the air and water and contribute to global climate change."

Timothy B. Wheeler reports for the Baltimore Sun May 7, 2015;