South Portland council backs tar sands ban

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SOUTH PORTLANDne (AP) — The South Portland City Council has approved a first reading proposal that would prohibit loading tar sands crude oil in bulk onto marine tank vessels in the city.About 500 people showed up for the meeting at the South Portland Community Center after the meeting was moved from Monday because too many people showed up at city hall.

The council passed the ordinance 6-1 on Wednesday night.

About 500 people showed up for the meeting at the South Portland Community Center after the meeting was moved from Monday because too many people showed up at city hall.

Environmentalists say tar sands — a mixture of sand, raw petroleum and water — are difficult to clean if spilled and dangerous to ship. Opponents of the proposed restrictions say environmental concerns are overblown and it would cost the city jobs.

The proposal now does to a planning board review on July 15 and final vote July 21.

http://www.sunjournal.com/news/maine/2014/07/10/south-portland-council-backs-tar-sands-ban/1559742

Nothing more at source. Will be interested to see if this holds up.

[enid602]

1. f**k Canada

Kick. The tar sands also require almost as much energy to produce as they offer in the form of oil. The excavation of tar sands involves huge trucks which literally pulverize all flora and fauna and mix it into the dirt, releasing toxic metals into the Athabasca River. It's leaving an ever increasing desert in the heart of Canada's boreal forest. Harper has spent most of his tenure trying to get the EU and US to reclassify Canadian Oil as environmentally friendly. The Canadian Government feels that 20% of Canada's GDP is dependent upon this industry, so stopping it would bring Canada to its knees. The famously 'progressive' Canadian public is mum on this subject, while continuing to decry our excesses.

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2. Our View: New South Portland tar sand rules honor voters’ intent

The deliberate work by the council produced a better ordinance than the rejected referendum.

BY THE EDITORIAL BOARD

Last year, South Portland residents faced a tough, up-or-down vote. The citizen initiated Waterfront Protection Ordinance would effectively ban the use of the local harbor to export oil derived from Canadian tar sands, but it also had the potential to ban much more.

It was a classic pitfall of direct democracy which demands a yes-or-no answer to a complex question, often written entirely by one side of the debate. As written, the ordinance could have been used to limit imports as well as exports, and would have affected all six oil ports even though five of them handled fuels like gasoline, heating oil and jet fuel, not crude oil, let alone tar sands.

Voters narrowly rejected the ordinance, even though many of the people who voted no did so reluctantly because the proposed ordinance was too broad. Fortunately, South Portland has a representative democracy, and city officials did the right thing.

They put a moratorium on the development of oil exporting in the harbor, and put together a task force that took citizen and expert input that created new proposed ordinance that was more narrowly targeted. On Wednesday, the City Council gave preliminary approval to a new ordinance.

http://www.pressherald.com/2014/07/11/our-view-new-sopo-tar-sand-rules-honor-voters-intent/

continues at source