Bill Cooper, president of the Center for Liquefied Natural Gas, a Washington-based trade association, said he believes yesterday's ruling sends a message to government entities that they cannot change the rules after a project has started to affect the outcome.
"The overriding effect is that rule of law will take precedence over emotional fear-mongering. These type of projects will stand or fail on their own merits," Cooper said.
Community leaders opposed to the LNG project held a rally over the weekend to generate support at federal regulatory hearings next month and to honor the work of Sharon Beazley, a vocal LNG opponent who died last week.
"We'll continue fighting on," said Carolyn Jones, president of the Greater Dundalk Alliance, which Beazley co-founded.
Beazley was among the Dundalk residents who traveled to Richmond to hear lawyers present their cases to the federal judges in January. Russell Donnelly, who worked with Beazley on the LNG opposition team, also made the trip.
"By their ruling, these judges are saying the natural resources of our environment are second to the wishes of a private energy company," Donnelly said.
The LNG project continues to have support from some labor groups. Rod Easter, president of the Baltimore Building and Construction Trades Council, said in a statement, "Today's ruling - along with the recent preliminary approval of the project by FERC -- makes it apparent that the Sparrows Point LNG terminal is very likely to be built, creating hundreds of new jobs. As we move toward construction, there is an opportunity for all of us - even those with differing views on this project - to come together to ensure that it benefits our community."
Under the company plan, large tankers carrying imported, super-chilled liquefied natural gas would unload at the Sparrows Point facility, where the LNG would be returned to its gaseous state and pumped through an 88-mile pipeline to be built to southern Pennsylvania for distribution.
In April, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission concluded that the AES project could be "environmentally acceptable" with additional work.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is reviewing the company's request to dredge the Patapsco River for theoverseas LNG tankers.
Public hearings before officials from the Army corps and from FERC are scheduled June 9 in Dundalk, June 11 in Downingtown, Pa., and June 12 in Edgewood.
Chief Judge Karen J. Williams, Judge Dennis W. Shedd and Liam O'Grady, a federal district judge from eastern Virginia sitting on the 4th Circuit, agreed to reverse the decision of the federal district judge in Baltimore. But they did not agree about some legal points, including whether the county LNG ban should have been reviewed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The county can request all the judges on the 4th Circuit to review the opinion or file an appeal with the Supreme Court, said Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, "but that's always a long shot."
laura.barnhardt@baltsun.com
Sun reporter Brent Jones contributed to this article.
