“A previous legal settlement gives the Sierra Club the ability to reject any significant changes to the purpose or footprint of the existing natural gas terminal in Cove Point, Md.”
This is all about holding up the utility and its stockholders for ransom. It had to pay before to get the terminal built to get needed LNG gas in. Now it must pay to export surplus gas the fracking drilling has opened up. Sierra is a money grabber, not an environmentalist.
Like Jesse Jackson's Rainbow Coalition, this is like paying an extortionist. The money is used to extort money from others others and then come back and extort money from you again years later. Once you let the camel's nose under the tent, your troubles will never end.
Public companies only think about the next quarter's earnings, however, so they are the ultimate suckers, trading short term relief for long term pain. Consider the auto manufacturers and the UAW.