Welcome to the Beyond Dominion Sentinel This newsletter to come out monthlywill summarize the struggles of communities fighting Dominion Resourcesrsquo fracked gas
projects ndash whether pipelines compressor stations liquid natural gas (LNG)export terminals or any other dirty energy projects of this $50 billion behemoth that isrunning roughshod over all of us in one way or another The Sentinelrsquos goal is to sharethe reality of what wersquore up against share information that other groups may find
THE SENTINEL is a project of BeyondExtreme Energy a group that cametogether in 2014 and carried out aweek of direct action at FERC theFederal Energy Regulatory Commis-sion in Washington DC to high-light that agencyrsquos rubber-stampingof just about every fracked gas pro-posal that comes before it Wersquorecurrently organizing for a much big-ger action for May 21-29 in order toforce FERC to take community con-cerns as seriously as it takes corpo-rate conniving We hope many ofyou will join us at the FERCus Formore information including ourproposals for reforming FERC visitus at beyondextremeenergyorgThis first issue will highlight five
of the groups working to protecttheir communities from DominionThere are many more and we planto include them in future news-letters Get in touch with us atinfobeyondextremeenergyorg
MyersvilleCitizens for a RuralCommunityInterview with Ann NauVice PresidentWE ARE a grassroots community or-ganization in a little town of 1600people in Frederick County Mary-
land We formed in response to aplan to build and operate a 16000hp compressor station within thetown limits one mile from our onlyelementary school The PL1pipeline going through town is awholly owned subsidiary of Domin-ion Resources called DominionTransmission Inc or DTI It comesdown from ldquoFracklandrdquo Pennsylva-nia and connects to the Cove Pointpipeline Dominionrsquos major pipe-line When FERC examines pro-jects it only considers the area ahalf-mile from the site which iscompletely arbitrary so it didnrsquotcount the school Dominion neededa zoning varianceWhen our town council unani-
mously denied a zoning variancefor the project DTI sued the townand FERC used the power of fed-
the town to pass some safety regu-lations The town was sued by Do-minion early on so we feel townofficials are perhaps a little hesitantto do much more because of thatWe know that nitrogen oxides
cause respiratory problems heartconditions and lung damageVolatile organic compounds are car-cinogenic and toxic and can damagethe liver kidney and central nervoussystem and can combine with nitro-gen oxides to form ground-levelozone which can cause asthma anddecrease lung function Sulfur diox-ide is a principal contributor to acidrain and reacts with other chemicalsto form particulate pollutionwhich can damage lungs and cause
TOPLEFTPHOTOCOURTESYANNNAUMIDDLECOURTESYDCMEDIA
GROUPRIGHTBYPHIL
CUNNINGHAMBOTTOMPHOTOBYKATHYVERSLUYS
MAPCOURTESYDOMINIONRESOURCES
respiratory illness heart conditionsand premature deathThe compressor station has al-
ready exceeded its permitted noiselevel and the company has a year tofix that Two weeks after the stationwas put in service DTI announcedthat it plans to increase compres-sion by 15900 hp DTI claims that itwill keep emissions levels at its cur-rently permitted amounts by in-stalling special emission controlsThey knew the way to get it throughFERC was to segment the projectand make it look smallerThe citizens of Myersville believe
that the FERC process is a failedprocess that does not serve the pub-lic interest but the interest of theindustry The FERC process arosefrom the energy crisis of the 1970sand is an outdated ineffective andmeaningless exercise that fails toadequately examine projects
Friends of NelsonInterviewwith Ernie Reed Vice Presi-dent of Friends of Nelson County andPresident of Wild VirginiaDOMINIONrsquoS Atlantic Coast Pipeline(ACP) is currently routed throughfour counties in western Virginiamdash
Highland Augusta Nelson andBuckinghammdashup to the West Vir-ginia lineOur entire county is based on
tourism and recreation Dominionwants to slice this thing across theAppalachian Trail across the BlueRidge Parkway and through 30miles of national forest Our Boardof Supervisors voted to oppose thepipeline Wild Virginia filed a peti-tion for rehearing of the FERC de-cision at Cove Point based on thefact that the cumulative effects ofthe ACP the Mountain Valleypipeline and the Marcellus pipelinewerenrsquot considered in the environ-mental assessment for Cove PointWe created Friends of Nelson in
June 2014 so we couldfile a lawsuit Wewanted to be sure wehad standing that indi-viduals might not haveAn amendment to theVirginia constitution in2005 gave gas compa-nies the right to surveyownersrsquo property evenif they deny accessThree lawsuits are pending againstthat Almost 80 percent of home-owners along the original route inNelson County denied access Do-minion is currently working onthose who gave permission or whomthey havenrsquot reached yetRecently Dominion released a
second possible route for the ACPthrough Nelson County withouttaking the first proposed route offthe table which doubled the num-ber of potentially affected property
owners We strongly encourageeveryone to deny permission to sur-vey through certified return-receipt letters We believe this isthe most effective immediate ac-tion you can take right now to pro-tect your property Please donrsquothesitate to contact us if you haveany questions about refusing per-mission to survey by emailingfriendsofnelsongmailcomWe have a paid membership of
800 and we have 1400 people inour database Our steering commit-tee meets at least every other weekwe hold public meetings every twoto three weeksBesides education outreach and
networking we started a legal fundto help property own-ers defend their rightsWersquove retained an at-torney and also raisedmoney to do a study ofthe impacts to busi-ness and propertyowners in Nelson andAugusta countiesAddendum from
Joanna Salidis Presi-dent of Friends of NelsonAt FERCrsquos March 18 scoping
meeting in Nelson County 203 peo-ple signed up to speak but FERCheard only the first 78 due to timeconstraints All but three out of thefirst 20 speakers were pro-pipelineas this ratio does not reflect thesentiment in our county and as nota single speaker following the first20 was pro-pipeline we can safelyconclude that the speaker sign-ups were orchestrated to stack the
beginning of the meeting with pro-pipeline speakers in order to distortthe mediarsquos reporting and limitspeakers opposedto the pipelineFERCrsquos officer ofexternal affairs toldme sign-ups tospeak would startshortly before 7pm However theyactually startedaround 4 pm andthose who showedup as late as 7 pmwhen the meetingstarted were toofar down in the listto speakSpeakers gave
impassioned and informed com-ments regarding the scope for theenvironmental impact statementadvocating to include an investiga-tion into Dominionrsquos ethics andbusiness practices the health ef-fects of compressor stations quan-titative analyses on life-cycle green-house gas emissions from theextraction transmission and burn-ing of natural gas environmentaleffects of fracking and a clear enu-meration and analysis of purportedpublic ldquoneedrdquo and benefitMany landowners on the route ex-
pressed grave concerns regardingsafety disturbance of drinking watersources pollution from sedimentand erosion loss of scenery loss ofproperty values and loss of economicopportunity Only one landownerwho spoke (the first speaker of theevening) was pro-pipeline Many of
the others voiced strongly that theirproperty was priceless to them andthey would never negotiate with Do-
minion
We AreCove PointInterviewwithSteve NorrisAFTER BEYOND Ex-treme Energy car-
ried out our week of action at FERCin early November many of ushelped establish We Are CovePoint a group made up of peopleopposed to Dominionrsquos Cove PointLNG export terminal and gas refin-ery in Lusby Maryland on theshores of the Chesapeake Bay Weare allied with the local residentsfighting the project through CalvertCitizens for a Healthy CommunityWe have raised money to hire a localorganizer and helped canvass thecommunity to raise awareness andlet people know that the project isnot a done deal as manyhave assumed Twenty of uswere arrested in Novemberand December in nonviolentactions in Lusby at locationskey to Dominion carryingout its plans At our trialsbefore two different judges
in February we tried but were de-nied the use of a necessitydefensemdashthat we acted to prevent agreater harmmdashand were sentencedto three yearsrsquo probation and stifffines both of which are muchharsher than the usual penalties forsuch actions We know that if Do-minion succeeds fracking will in-crease dramatically throughout theMarcellus shale many communitieswill continue to suffer and morewill be added to the list
Calvert Citizens for aHealthy CommunityInterviewwith Tracey Enospokesperson for CCHCIN OCTOBER 2013 Chesapeake Cli-mate Action Network hosted a townhall meeting in Lusby that reallywoke some of us in the communityup to what Dominion was planningin terms of refining gas and export-ing it It profoundly affects every-thing our families our health ourhome values our neighborhoodand our community Irsquom a business
owner it also affects mybusiness and my liveli-hoodCCHC began in Janu-
ary 2014 The groupstarted with concernedcitizens who had attendedthe town halls and two
Left to rightMyersville de-fenders CovePoint defend-ers Nov 10Suspendedwith bannerPhil Cunning-ham of Rich-mond Resis-tance Feb 23
CONTACT INFO
mcrcmdorgor on Facebook atMyersville CItizensfor a Rural CommunitygascompressornewsgmailcomPO Box 158Myersville MD 21773
CONTACT INFO
wearecovepointorg or onFacebook at We Are Cove PointPO Box 101Lusby Md 20657
CONTACT INFO
friendsofnelsonorgor on Facebook atFriends of NelsonfriendsofnelsongmailcomPO Box 33Nellysford VA 22958
4
2
3
1
sham ldquopublic hearingsrdquo presentedby Calvert County governmentwhere the agenda was pre-set tohear public comments immediatelyclose the record and approve theproposals (without discussing com-ments) It was apparent that our lo-cal government was ldquoall inrdquo andsupported the Dominion project atevery turn The Board of CountyCommissioners (BoCC) signed anon-disclosure agreement 14months before we knew anythingabout the Dominion plan TheBoCC waived zoning laws (laterchallenged in court and ruled to beunconstitutional) The BoCC gaveDominion a 42 percent tax breakThey were convinced that the taxmoney would fix their budgetdeficit and the ldquolocal jobsrdquo wouldbe a boon to county residentsIn spite of CCHC members tes-
tifying 20 times at weekly publiccomment sessions there is still noupdated safety study The local au-thorities say that we should trustDominionrsquos self-reporting andFERCrsquos safety oversight but Do-minion was just fined $365000 bythe EPA for multiple releases ofammonia that went unreported fora long time How can we trustthemDominion wants us to think that
exporting is as simple as flipping aswitch to turn from import to ex-port But itrsquos a $38 billion invest-ment The company will build aliquefaction train and gas refinerywhich will create air pollution andcarry the risk of explo-sionsCCHC held weekly
meetings in 2014 to shareresearch and strategizeStarting in 2015 meetingsare held every two weeksand feature speakerswhich have included thecaptain of the CalvertCounty Sheriffrsquos SpecialOperations Team nation-ally renowned attorneys todiscuss nuisance lawsuitsand other experts Wehave written letters to theeditor spoken at everyhearing submitted writtentestimony attended rallies
canvassed neighborhoods heldpress conferences and looked forfissures in the planWe are awaiting FERCrsquos decision
on Earthjusticersquos request for a re-hearing submitted in October Un-til that ruling the legal process is ata standstill A request was made si-multaneously to stay constructionwhich has been ignoredWe continue to press for a safety
study air and water monitoring anew evacuation road and improvedtransparency of local government
RichmondResistanceFrom its press releaseON THE EARLY MORNING of February23 a group of more than 50 localand regional Virginia activists oper-ating as Richmond Resistance con-verged on Dominionrsquos tradingheadquarters to oppose the At-lantic Coast Pipeline and blockadethe selling of our future Activistsheld the space for more than threehours with banners flag wavingclimbers hanging from a bridgetheatrical puppets and street block-ades Ten people were arrestednine with traffic citations for block-ing the roadway and one for disor-derly conduct
At a time when the worldrsquos lead-ing scientists have insisted onphasing out fossil fuels within thenext 15 years in order to mitigaterising sea levels and other effectsof climate change Virginia is doingless than the bare minimum tomove toward a sustainable futureWith Dominionrsquos political influ-ence at an all-time high (see ourstory in this newsletter about theoutcome of this yearrsquos legislativesession) Virginia communitiesfrom the coasts to the mountainvalleys are taking the brunt of Do-minionrsquos greed and inaction TheACP will tear through generationsof family homes and history willincrease the likelihood of soil andwater contamination and gas ex-plosions and will accelerate ex-treme greenhouse gas emissionsLikewise coastal communities inNorfolk Virginia Beach and theEastern Shore are second only toLouisiana in vulnerability to sealevel rise and now may face the ad-ditional threat of offshore oil andgas drillingVirginia will play a critical role
in fighting climate disruption andbuilding strong sustainable com-munities for our futures For thatreason we are all climate protec-tors Richmond Resistance standsin solidarity with all those opposedto extreme energy infrastructureincluding the proposed ACP andthe Cove Point LNG export termi-nal Their intent is to exposeDominionrsquos corrupt influence on
Virginia energy policyprotect frontline com-munities from furtherdirty fossil fuel expan-sion and push forzero-emission renew-able energy in theCommonwealth of Vir-ginia
Herersquos a great localTV news story aboutthe action
NEWS BYTES
FERCUSFINDING AN ALLYIN THE AGNEWLY ELECTED Maryland AttorneyGeneral Brian Frosh entered thefight over hydraulic fracturing inMaryland on February 25 urgingstate lawmakers to pass a bill withliability standards so tough thatcritics and some supporters con-sider it a de facto fracking ban Themoratorium on fracking imposedby former Governor Martin OrsquoMal-ley ended before he left office inJanuary and the current governorLarry Hogan has not said whetherhe would go forward with the regu-lations as written But he has saidthat he believes fracking can bedone safely and would bring jobs toeconomically depressed WesternMaryland Most previous attemptsat a ban have been blocked in theSenatersquos Education Health andEnvironmental Affairs committeeby its chairwoman DemocraticSen Joan Carter Conway of Balti-more
REGULATORS CAN REVERSETHEMSELVESmdashTHIS IS WHAT WEWANT FOR COVE POINTCITING THE RISK of oil spills fires andexplosions a county examiner ruledon February 23 that Shellrsquos plan foran oil-train terminal at its Ana-cortes Washington refinery mustget a full environmental review Themove reflects growing concernsabout the safety of the long oil trains
that are carrying North Dakota oil torefineries on the US east and westcoasts The Skagit County examinernoted that similar already com-pleted projects were not subject tothe full environmental review butthat subsequent oil-train accidentsmake further risk analysis necessary
WHAT FERC THINKSOF COMMUNITIESFERC SENT the following announce-ment last fall to companies that arepursuing permits with the agencyldquoDo you have conflict in your
pipeline workmdashmaybe with a prop-erty owner Then this pre-seminartraining is for you Con-flict resolution special-ists from FERCrsquos Dis-pute Resolution Division(DRD) offer you an op-portunity to share con-flict experiences andchallenges from youreveryday work and learnabout skills to overcomeconflict This interactivetraining aims to
Explore andpractice strategies to address con-flict early on and reach agreementamicably
Strategize for dealingwith difficult behavior using yourexamples
Tell you more about theDRD and how we might help
Enhance your negotiationand communication skillsrdquo[Editorial comment] And itrsquos
free Itrsquos called Getting to Yes forthe corporations Getting to No forcommunities How about a seminarfor communities to help them re-sist greedy corporationsrsquo assaults
AMIDST SECRECY DOMINIONGETS ITS WAY IN VIRGINIArsquoS 2015LEGISLATIVE SESSIONDOMINION RESOURCES Inc ldquothestatersquos most politically influentialcompanyrdquo according to this newssource got just about everything itwanted from this yearrsquos legislativesessionThe centerpiece of Dominionrsquos
legislative package was a bill spon-sored by Virginia Beach Republi-can Sen Frank Wagner that lockscurrent base rates into place for atleast seven years by exempting thecompany from regular rate reviews
by the State Corpora-tion CommissionMost negotiations
on Wagnerrsquos bill wereconducted in privatemeetings with a selectgroup of stakeholdersmdashincluding a sit-downbetween Virginia Gov-ernor Terry McAuliffeand Dominion CEOThomas Farrell IIAlso legislation
aimed at limiting Do-minionrsquos ability to go on propertyownersrsquo land to survey for the pro-posed Atlantic Coast Pipelineacross the Blue Ridge Mountainsalso died a quick death It waschampioned by Friends of Nelsonand other groups opposed to theACP
A protester in Annapolis
Six Cove Point defenders scale a dirt hill at Dominions constructionsite and are arrested
CONTACT INFO
calvertcitizensorgor on Facebook at CalvertCitizens for a Healthy Communitycalvertchcgmailcom
httpwtvrcom20150223demonstrators-create-blockade-downtown-in-protest-of-atlantic-coast-pipeline
httpinsideclimatenewsorgnews270220152015-oil-industry-rough-start
httpwwwbaltimoresuncomfeaturesgreenblogbs-md-frosh-fracking-20150225-storyhtml
PHOTOSCOURTESYDCMEDIA
GROUP
httpbitly1CrF2jw
