Oil allies outspend opponents in S. Portland campaign
Oil companies and industry supporters have amassed nearly 10 times the amount raised by supporters of a referendum that would restrict development along a portion of South Portland’s waterfront. Referendum supporters say the new zoning ordinance would prevent building the infrastructure required to transport tar sands from Canada to a South Portland terminal for exportation.
The Portland Press Herald reported the Working Waterfront Coalition, which represents the Maine Energy Marketers Association in the campaign, raised nearly $70,000 from four corporate donors to oppose the referendum. Three organizations fighting to pass the referendum raised around $7,300 in cash.
For in-kind campaign donations, corporate opponents of the referendum outpaced supporters by an even greater margin. The Working Waterfront Coalition received around $205,000 in in-kind help compared with around $26,800 of in-kind contributions to the groups supporting the new development restrictions.
The ordinance is targeted largely at the Portland Pipe Line Corp., which operates a pipeline that transports oil from South Portland to Montreal, but opponents of the referendum say development restrictions would be more far-reaching. The leader of Portland Pipe Line says the company has no definite plans to reverse the flow of that pipeline to transport tar sands oil from Alberta, but it is open to all possibilities for the pipeline.
Supporters of the referendum say transporting tar sands through the state would raise the risk of an oil spill to communities near the pipeline and to freshwater sources in the Sebago Lake region. Late last month, regulators in Vermont declared authority over any plan to reverse the pipeline’s flow, saying that reversal would be a significant change to the existing use of the pipeline and would require a new land-use permit.
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