Jim Smith Is A Dog With A Bone

Baltimore County Grupenfuhrer Executive Jim Smith is a dog with a bone.  He has decided that he wants to take the case of the LNG terminal at the old Beth Steel shipyard to the US Supreme Court.  According to his lapdogs at the Calvert Street Communist Party Newsletter, Smith claims that "It's for the country and the sake of the county that we'll be pursuing this."

Uh, no.  It's what is best for his political ambitions.

Baltimore County Government has been like monkeys frakking a football on this issue.  They tried to stop it by pushing through an amendment to the Coastal Zone Management plan, claiming that facilities like LNG terminals were environmentally dangerous.  I am left scratching my head and wondering "Are these ass clowns serious?"  Have any of them ever been to the Beth Steel shipyard?  Any environmental devastation that could have been done has been done, long ago, by Bethlehem Steel operations. 

Any work to build an LNG terminal would have to begin reversing this damage, cleaning up any polluted soil, junk, trash, and so forth.  The very first step in construction would have to be a brownfields cleanup.

The Council -- and citizens in Turners Station -- claim its also a safety issue.  Safety because Liquified Natural Gas is flammable (duh) and terrorists.  But if you are concerned about safety, you should look into the work done at Edgewood Arsenal with substances like cholinesterase. 

And if you are worried about terrorists, let me tell you, there are 100 easier targets to hit in the "greater" Baltimore than an LNG terminal.  It would take nothing more than a truck, 55 gallons of diesel, and 100 pounds of Ammonium Nitrate to:

1) Stop all freight traffic by rail between the Northeast and Southeast by taking out the Howard Street Tunnel at Mount Royal Station.

2) Bringing down the Harbor Tunnel, Fort McHenry Tunnel, or the Francis Scott Key Bridge.

3) Taking out the railroad bridges over either the Gunpowder or Susquehanna.

Need I go on?

And of course, there is the most asinine objection raised that one could possibly raise:

"I'm disappointed that our federal energy policy is to be reliant on foreign sources of fuel," Smith said. "That's what this LNG project would do."

Way to rip an issue from the headlines and misapply it.  This would actually reduce our dependence on other types of foreign fuel.  And, we also generate natural gas here in the US, Mr. County Executive.

This little adventure will cost the county lots of money with little to show for it.  Instead of welcoming a company that will do some substantial environmental cleanup, and is not looking for a handout from county government, and will increase the taxable value of the land, and -- most importantly -- will create high paying jobs, County Executive Jim Smith wants to frak the pooch.

Great move.  Let's remember this in 2010 when the little county grupenfuhrer wants to run for Comptroller and try to cover O'Guvnah's flank.