Maine groups react in strong opposition News Release Portland/Augusta Maine – Today international energy giant TransCanada applied for permits to build its Energy East pipeline to carry tar sands oil from Alberta to Quebec and New Brunswick. Leading conservation groups in Maine denounced the plan. If approved, the pipeline would be the largest in North Read More
Tar Sands Oil
Tar sands oil is the dirtiest and most climate-destructive form of oil in the world. When it spills, it is almost impossible to clean up. There was a proposal to bring tar sands oil through an existing nearly 70-year-old pipeline in Maine. It crosses some of Maine’s most pristine watersheds and ends at Casco Bay. This plan would have put our lakes, rivers, and coastal waters at risk, and threatened communities and drinking water from Sebago Lake along its path. NRCM was the first organization to bring the threat of tar sands to the public’s attention in Maine in 2009, and was a leader on this issue statewide.
Tar sands oil is one of the dirtiest forms of energy on the planet and is a growing threat in Maine and the Northeast. Extracted from huge open-pit mines in Alberta, Canada, tar sands oil is 20% more carbon intensive than conventional crude oil.
Sending tar sands crude oil to Maine would have required reversing an existing pipeline owned by Portland Montreal Pipe Line, a pipeline that passes next to Sebago Lake, the drinking water supply for more than 15% of Maine people. It would have endangered Casco Bay and our fishing and lobster industries. Many Maine cities and towns passed resolutions in opposition to transporting tar sands oil through their communities, and South Portland passed the Clear Skies Ordinance to protect their community.
The Big Picture: Leading Action on Climate Change
More and more people are coming together to work on climate change. It’s no wonder. We can plainly see changes in our lakes, forests, and backyard gardens. The number of cases of Lyme disease is exploding and many of us have had to take antibiotics because of deer tick bites. We hear on the national Read More
South Portland Blocks ‘Tar Sands’ Exports
by David Carkhuff Portland Daily Sun news story The South Portland City Council on Monday night voted 6-1 to pass a “Clear Skies Ordinance,” which supporters say will protect the city from a “tar sands” crude oil terminal but that opponents described as a futile gesture based on unflagging oil demand. “We strongly support this Read More
Maine’s Tar Sands Oil Ban a Win for Activists
Portland vote lifts hopes of environmentals wary of pipeline By David Abel, Globe staff Boston Globe news story SOUTH PORTLAND — Since World War II, fleets of oil tankers from around the world have sailed up to the long jetty in this placid harbor and unloaded their crude into a 236-mile pipeline that pumped it to Read More
South Portland Girds for Legal Battle, Praised for Precedent on Its Tar Sands Ban
Conservation groups and other areas celebrate the city’s stand against the heavy crude, as opponents map out strategies for overturning the new regulation. By Leslie Bridgers, Staff Writer Portland Press Herald news story South Portland officials are preparing for a legal battle with members of the oil industry over a City Council vote Monday to Read More
How a Town in Maine is Blocking an Exxon Tar-sands Pipeline
By Roger Drouin Grist news story Citizens trying to stop the piping of tar-sands oil through their community wore blue “Clear Skies” shirts at a city council meeting in South Portland, Maine, this week. But they might as well have been wearing boxing gloves. The small city struck a mighty blow against Canadian tar-sands extraction. Read More
Maine City Council Votes To Keep Tar Sands Out Of Its Port
by Susan Sharon NPR news story South Portland, Maine, is known as the place where Liberty ships were built by tens of thousands of workers during World War II. Now, the city’s waterfront is home to an oil terminal and the beginning of a 236-mile-long pipeline. For more than 70 years, the Portland Montreal Pipeline Read More
Maine Conservation Groups Gather with South Portland Residents to Celebrate and React to Tar Sands Vote
Read more about tar sands in South Portland See photos from the final South Portland City Council vote on July 21st Read public comments by NRCM’s Lisa Pohlmann at final South Portland City Council vote News Release Portland—In a historic vote, the South Portland City Council last night voted 6-1 to pass the Clear Skies Read More
South Portland Passes Ordinance to Block Tar Sands
by Danielle Waugh WCSH-6 news story SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (NEWS CENTER) — With a 6-1 vote, South Portland City Councilors have made history by passing an ordinance to block the loading of crude oil, including tar sands oil. According to the Natural Resources Council of Maine, South Portland is the first community to pass such Read More
