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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
05-Dec-2008
CONTACT: Press Office
202-228-1122
Senator Mikulski Responds to FERC's Final Environmental Impact Statement on Proposed LNG Facility at Sparrows Point

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senator Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) today issued the following statement after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) released its final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) on a proposed Liquefied Natural Gas facility at Sparrow's Point:

"I remain firmly opposed to a new LNG facility at Sparrow's Point. For over two years, I have repeatedly raised my safety, security and environmental concerns about this LNG facility and pipeline. I am deeply disappointed that FERC continues to rubber stamp a project that our state is adamantly opposed to."

FERC's final EIS, issued today, concluded that the Sparrows Point LNG and pipeline would have mostly limited adverse environmental impact– if 179 mitigation measures were met. FERC’s draft EIS, issued in April of this year, had concluded that 151 mitigation measures were needed. When the draft EIS was released, Senator Mikulski questioned how FERC was going to oversee proper implementation and management of all these measures to reduce the facility and pipeline's harm to surrounding communities and the fragile Chesapeake Bay watershed. For more information, go to: http://mikulski.senate.gov/Newsroom/PressReleases/record.cfm?id=298853.

FERC's final EIS statement also did not rule out the possibility that the proposed pipeline could result in adverse impact to residential communities and scenic areas. FERC will issue their final Record of Decision (ROD) on the project’s environmental impact in 30 days. The ROD will be based on FERC’s final EIS. After that, FERC’s members will vote on whether or not to issue the project’s permit.

If the Sparrows Point application is approved, LNG tankers would have to travel through the narrowest portions of the Chesapeake Bay, under the Bay Bridge, through heavily used commercial fishing and recreational boating areas, to the mouth of the Port of Baltimore. This is a densely populated area that is less than two miles away.

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