THE PROJECT
In Charles County, just a breath outside Prince George’s, on the left where Marshall Hall Rd. turns into Berry Hill Rd., Dominion wants a new buildout on its existing property. They’re calling it “Charles Station”. Click here for a map. This would be part of what Dominion is calling its “Eastern Market Access Project”.
Dominion is framing it as being beneficial to DC and Southern Maryland residents, but much of the gas would be going to its fracked gas export terminal under embattled construction in Cove Point. Some would go to the also embattled and still unpermitted Mattawoman Energy plant in Brandywine (more information here), and some to Washington Gas and Light. This would not bring gas to Accokeek except in the sense that it would pass through a noisy compressor station, through pipelines in residential areas and the Piscataway and Mattawoman Creeks and Zekiah Swamp, leave a lot of pollution and risk behind, and head mostly overseas.
WHAT COULD GO WRONG?
Here are some examples of fires and explosions at fracked gas compressor stations:
- “Escaping gas ignited, leaving a crater approximately 30 feet in diameter and burning approximately two acres of an agricultural area.” https://primis.phmsa.dot.gov/comm/reports/enforce/documents/420121011H/420121011H_Corrective%20Action%20Order_06122012.pdf
- 13 people injured in an explosion. https://protectingourwaters.wordpress.com/2013/06/01/thirteen-injured-in-williams-compressor-station-explosion-in-new-jersey/
- An explosion caused 1 injury, 2 damaged homes, charred trees, and a melted road in Pennsylvania. http://www.post-gazette.com/local/westmoreland/2016/04/29/Emergency-crews-respond-to-gas-well-explosion-in-Westmoreland-County-pennsylvania/stories/201604290161
- An explosion in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. http://www.naturalgaswatch.org/?p=3530
- Fireball injured workers. http://wvrecord.com/stories/510590899-fireball-injured-workers-suit-says
- An explosion in West Virginia. http://phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/DownloadableFiles/Pipeline/Columbia_GasTrans_GT_WV_2009-11-14.pdf
- Two people injured in an explosion. http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/two-injured-in-fire-explosions-at-wyoming-natural-gas-site/article_1e7e73ac-e3a0-563a-bff1-0b6a716457da.html
- An account of an unplanned blowdown in West Virginia. http://www.hurherald.com/obits.php?id=33933
- Video capturing the noise of an unexpected blowdown. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJXj9Y-XinQ
- Venting/Blowdown reveals lack of a system to alert public, just like would happen here. There is no system planned to alert us in the case of an emergency or blowdown. http://southeastenergynews.com/2016/10/13/gas-pipeline-venting-mishap-reveals-lack-of-guidelines-for-alerting-public/
WHAT YOU CAN DO
Help stop this compressor station from being built! Click here to find out how.