State Refuses To Do Safety Study For Gas Plant

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State Refuses To Do Safety Study For Gas Plant

June 19th, 2016

Awake Goy

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Here are 2,381 reasons why Governor Hogan must order a safety study for Dominion’s dangerous facility in Cove Point.

Lusby, Maryland – Dominion is building a gas refinery and export terminal in a densely-populated neighborhood in Southern Maryland without analyzing the risks to people in the community. Families are worried and want to know how likely it is that a chemical spill or explosion will happen and what damage it will do. That sounds reasonable doesn’t it? Wouldn’t you want to know if this was being built across the street from your house?

Families are already leaving the community out of fear, and it’s causing a lot of heartache as they say goodbye to this beautiful waterfront and the friends they’ve made. Some families are staying because they can’t stomach selling their house and putting others in harm’s way or because their property values have dropped and they can’t afford to sell. This isn’t right. They deserve answers.

Dominion keeps telling us that its facility is safe, but it hasn’t done the study to prove that.
So, how does the company know?

Gas refineries spill chemicals – The Dominion plant would house large tanks containing chemicals used in the liquefaction of the gas, chemicals that are by-products of the process and tanks that hold liquefied gas. Chemical spills can occur during transport of the chemicals to the plant, during transfer into the tanks and through operation of the facility. Human error and equipment failures occur. In early 2015, Dominion was cited and fined for not reporting ammonia leaks. In October, there was a spill of 5,000 gallons of anti-freeze at the site. When accidents happen, how will the neighborhood be protected?

Gas refineries blow up – Explosions have occurred at gas plants in the US and around the world. In April 2014, there was an explosion at a plant in Washington State that required a two-mile evacuation zone. Officials feared a second blast from leaking gas that would have leveled the area within three-quarters of a mile around the plant. The Dominion facility in Cove Point is the first one in the world to be placed so close to a neighborhood. While most plants require a buffer zone, there is no buffer zone to protect residents in Cove Point. There have been fatal explosions at other Dominion facilities, other facilities in Southern Maryland and at this exact site! Concerns about a catastrophic explosion should not be brushed over.

There is one way that we can find out how dangerous Dominion’s facility is.

That is if Governor Hogan orders a Quantitative Risk Analysis (QRA). At this stage in the process, he is the only one who can order it. We’ve reached out to state agencies, federal agencies and elected officials at all levels, but none of them are willing to take responsibility for the health and safety of the people living in and around Cove Point.

Governor Hogan must care about the people in Cove Point. He’s the governor of Maryland, afterall.

Please join us in asking Governor Hogan
to order the QRA!

And tell him that it must be done by independent experts, not corrupt gas industry analysts.

Share this petition by copying and pasting this text into an email message to your friends and family. Anyone can sign, not just Maryland residents, because this facility affects all of us!

Please join me in signing this petition calling for a safety study to be performed to discover the risks that Dominion’s gas refinery and export terminal would inflict on those living around it. These families have a right to know what hazards they face from the facility. Their health and safety should be more important than Dominion’s profits! CLICK HERE to sign the petition. Thank you.