Charles County residents may have DEFEATED proposed Dominion compressor station

Residents of both Accokeek, MD and Cove Point, MD may have just won a major victory. In the face of unrelenting, "not one step back" community opposition, Dominion Energy is claiming to have thrown in the towel on building a crucial fracked gas compressor station in Charles County, MD near Accokeek. While this has yet to be entered into the court docket of a related lawsuit, it would be foolish for Dominion to publicly state they have cancelled the compressor station if they still intend to build in Charles County.

On the morning of Oct 15, Dominion energy sent out this press release:

"Dominion Energy will not construct a natural gas transmission compressor station at its Charles County Marshall Hall site. We will continue our existing operations at that site, which consist of a field office, a warehouse, and pipeline inspection and safety-related equipment.

We are actively evaluating alternatives for this component of our Eastern Market Access project. This requires the engagement of multiple stakeholders, as successful solutions must meet the needs of the project’s customers. Discussions with customers are ongoing."

Reading between the lines, we can see that Dominion may well intend to assault another community to build a relocated compressor station, but maybe not as well, if they think they will just get a repeat of the furious opposition mounted by Charles County residents. Without the compressor station, it will be more difficult to get fracked gas to Cove Point for export, no matter where Dominion planned to send gas from this particular station. If the Atlantic Coast pipeline is blocked next, Dominion's gas export station at Cove Point, MD will be starved for exportable gas and will probably operate at a reduced capacity.

In the aftermath of the UN's climate change report giving maybe 12 years to avert catastrophic, Katrina-level climate change, now is not the time to invest in fracked gas or any other fossil fuel infrastructure. Nationally, these export facilities are being blocked in community after community, notably the defeat of a new coal export terminal in Baltimore, MD. In desperation, the Trump regime is now proposing to use military bases for fossil fuel export. This allows totally ignoring all community input, and potentially uses the US military itself to defend the facilities from civil disobedience and militant direct action.