Dominion said it's confident that its existing agreement with the Sierra Club and the Maryland Conservation Council permits the company to build a natural gas liquefaction plant proposed for its Cove Point facility in Lusby, Md. The full 4.5-5 million metric tons per year output is fully subscribed in deals Dominion signed with Japanese shipper Sumitomo Corp. and another company, it said. Dominion Chairman Thomas Farrell said some opposition is to be expected, in a statement, especially since the Sierra Club "has previously expressed its opposition to all LNG export facilities." But he said he's confident "we can locate, construct and operate a liquefaction plant at Cove Point ... without amending the agreement involving the Sierra Club and the Maryland Conservation Council." Construction is expected to begin in 2014, with an in-service date in 2017.

The Environmental Impact Statement about proposals to export coal from up to six sites in Oregon and Washington did not evaluate the effects of coal exports to Asia, only the environmental effects of transporting and using the coal in the Midwest and eastern U.S., said Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber (D) in a letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and officials at the Bureau of Land Management and Army Corps of Engineers.