XPost: can.politics, bc.politics, ont.politics   
   XPost: bc.politics   
   From: "@nyet.ca   
      
   CBC News - Posted:Jul 22, 2014   
      
      
   South Portland, Maine, votes against crude oil export   
   City council opposes exporting Alberta oil from its shipyard   
      
      
   The city of South Portland, Maine, has voted to block oil companies from   
   using the city’s port to export crude bitumen from Alberta.   
      
   After a long debate on Monday evening, South Portland councillors voted   
   to amend a zoning bylaw to prohibit the bulk loading of crude oil onto   
   marine tank vessels within the city and its port.   
   South portland port   
      
   Enbridge's Line 9 reversal project, which would send Alberta crude   
   eastward to be refined at the Suncor refinery in Montreal, does not   
   officially include plans for the South Portland region.   
      
   But some members of the South Portland administration are concerned that   
   Alberta crude could eventually make its way south, to be loaded onto   
   tankers and exported from the city's port.   
      
   Enbridge's manager of business communications, Graham White, said there   
   are no plans for the South Portland region.   
      
   "We have no association with this pipeline or company and no plans,   
   proposals or projects in the region. There is absolutely no effect   
   whatsoever on Line 9," he stated in an email.   
   Concerns about drinking water, air pollution   
      
   Councillors in the city of South Portland aren't taking chances.   
      
   They say they're concerned there could be a push to reverse the flow of   
   the Portland-Montreal Pipe Line, a subsidiary of the Canadian parent   
   company that is owned by three companies involved in the Alberta   
   oilsands: Shell, Suncor and Imperial Oil.   
      
   Elected officials say they are concerned about the environment —   
   especially air pollution and the impact a spill would have on the city's   
   drinking water.   
      
   "This pipeline does pass through the major watershed of the principal   
   drinking water source of southern Maine," said South Portland Mayor   
   Gerard Jalbert.   
      
   Equiterre's Steven Guilbeault is applauding the decision.   
      
   "I think it's a good news for Montreal. I think it means that there are   
   less chances we will be receiving tar sands here."   
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   Now that councillors have made their decision, the city's administration   
   is preparing for what it expects will be a long battle in the courts   
   with oil companies.   
      
   Representatives from the Portland-Montreal Pipe Line declined requests   
   for an interview.   
      
   			 South Portland moves to block Alberta bitumen from reaching its port   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)