South Portland, Maine could be the first U.S. city to pass a law that would stop bitumen coming from Canada’s oilsands from getting to its port. The actions of this city of 25,000 people are being closely watched by other communities opposed to the shipping of oilsands crude through their ports.
Controversy has stalked Canada’s oilsands. Environmentalists call it the dirtiest crude because the processes to extract it emit high levels of greenhouse gases. There is opposition to a proposed pipeline that would ship the bitumen from western Canada through the United States, and through another, already-existing pipeline, which will soon be reversed to enable shipping through to Maine.
Moratorium could become permanent
South Portland city council has put a temporary moratorium on any new structures used by oil companies to load oil from a pipeline into oil tankers. Said former mayor Tom Blake, “We have no interest in having the world’s dirtiest oil come through our community.” Council could later make the ban permanent.
Oil industry fights back
The oil industry has responded by running a series of pro-oilsands advertisements in the local newpapers. The American Petroleum Institute, which represents more than 500 oil and gas companies, called the current moratorium “ill-advised, unnecessary and unsupported.”
In a letter to the city in December 2013, it warned “the proposed moratorium could cause harm to local, state and national interests.”
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