new england on 'high alert' after canadian pipeline reversal approved

[xchrom]

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2014/03/07-4



The tar sands oil industry scored a regulatory victory on Thursday when the Canadian National Energy Board approved a plan by energy giant Enbridge to reverse the flow of Canada's 'Line 9' oil pipeline eastward from Ontario to Montreal.

The decision has regional environmental groups raising the alarms, warning the industry is now one step closer to being able to transport tar sands and other corrosive crude oil from the west, through Ontario and Quebec, over the border into Vermont, and then to Maine coast for export.

The ruling, which comes four months after the government held public hearings on the proposal, will bring oil from western regions of Canada and the U.S., including tar sands from Alberta and heavy Bakken crude from North Dakota.

Groups such as The Natural Resources Council of Maine, Sierra Club, 350 Maine, 350 Vermont and Environment Maine say the reversal of Line 9 is "the final link" before the Maine-based Portland Pipe Line Corp. reverses its own pipeline that runs through New England, completing "energy giant Enbridge’s path from the oil sands of Alberta to tankers in the Atlantic port of South Portland," the Bangor Daily News reports.

[pscot]

1. The public be damned