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July 11, 2013

DEP to probe Pan-Am for delayed oil transport reports

State officials have launched an investigation to find out why Pan-Am Railways missed two deadlines for reporting how much crude oil it shipped through Maine during April and May.

The Portland Phoenix reported the required monthly reports determine fees rail operators are required to pay into a state fund for oil spill cleanup activities. Those fees are due with the reports.

The reporting delay comes as oil imports have surged in the first three months of the year for Pan-Am and, more recently, as investigators probe the July 6 crash of a 72-car oil train on the separate Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway line through Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, that has left around 60 presumed dead.

The Associated Press reported that the DEP grants some leeway on reporting deadlines to account for vacations and illnesses but noted that the April report is nearly a month overdue.

The Phoenix reported Pan-Am has shipped 1.1 million barrels of crude oil through Maine in the first three months of the year, nearly half of the 2.3 million shipped during 2012.

Pan-Am and MM&A are the only two rail lines shipping crude oil through the state.

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