Maine town wants to block export of tar-sands oil via reversal of pipeline now sending crude to Canada

The city council in South Portland, Maine, "gave final approval Monday night to controversial zoning changes that are expected to block the potential export of Canadian tar sands oil from the city’s waterfront," Kelley Bouchard reports for the Portland Press Herald. The zoning proposal prevents the bulk loading of crude oil, including tar sands, onto marine tank vessels and blocks construction or expansion of terminals and other facilities for that purpose, Bouchard writes. Opponents have 20 days to collect the necessary 950 signatures from registered voters to attempt to overturn the ban. There is no active proposal to export tar-sands oil through Maine, but the Portland Montreal Pipeline Corp. has "expressed interest" in reversing the flow of an oil pipeline between the two cities "to carry Canadian crude, including tar-sands oil, in the opposite direction — from Montreal to Maine — for delivery to the world market," Susan Sharon reports for NPR. (Boston Globe map)

Concern has grown in many rural areas about the transportation of crude oil by railway. A year ago, 47 died from a derailment in Quebec of a train running from North Dakota to Maine. In the U.S. in 2013 more oil was spilled than in the previous 37 years combined. The surge in accidents has led to new safety rules in Canada and a demand for new rules and upgrades in the U.S. as well as more readily available information on what trains are hauling.

Shipping tar-sands oil by rail is twice as expensive as using a pipeline, and there is particular concern about the pipeline in Maine, David Abel reports for The Boston Globe. "The pipeline runs through the Sebago Lake watershed, which provides about a quarter of the state’s population with drinking water." Abel notes, "By itself, removing the Portland pipeline from the equation will not make that much of a difference, oil analysts said. Oil would only flow through Maine if it exceeded the capacity of refineries in Montreal and Quebec city, which use roughly about 400,000 barrels a day."