Barbara Mikulski: “I want to bring the full attention of the Senate to a national security issue about which I am deeply alarmed. Plans are…”

“I want to bring the full attention of the Senate to a national security issue about which I am deeply alarmed. Plans are well underway to reactivate and expand a liquefied natural gas, LNG, terminal at Cove Point in Maryland. What would this mean? It would mean that foreign ships, transporting flammable liquid natural gas, would come up the Chesapeake Bay and dock 3 miles down from the nuclear powerplant at Calvert Cliffs. Can you believe that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has given preliminary approval to reopen the Cove Point LNG facility and will let this type of tanker steam up the bay and park next to a nuclear powerplant? And guess when they did it? They did it on October 11, the 1-month anniversary of the terrorist attack on America. The President of the United States was warning us against more attacks. The Attorney General had us on high alert. And FERC is signing little pieces of paper saying 'you all come from Algeria.' I cannot believe it. Calvert Cliffs, 3 miles away, needs to be protected. The International Atomic Energy Agency and U.S. officials have warned that nuclear powerplants are at risk. The Homeland Security Director, Tom Ridge, has called for increased security at nuclear powerplants. We cannot fly over nuclear powerplants. Why should we be able to dock next to them with an LNG tanker? From where do these LNG tankers come? One of the main sources is Algeria. Algeria is on every terrorist watch list.”