A national conservation group last week filed suit against the U.S. State Department to uncover details about what they say is a plan to bring Canadian tar sands oil across the Northeast to Portland, Maine.
The National Wildlife Federation said the Portland Pipe Line Corp., which operates the Portland-Montreal pipeline to carry crude oil from Maine to Montreal, plans to reverse the flow of its pipeline to bring heavy Canadian crude south.
NWF said the State Department failed to comply with its Freedom of Information Act Request seeking documents related to the unofficial proposal.
“State Department has had two years to follow the law and help ensure the public is educated about the oil industry’s plans to run risky, climate-disrupting tar sands through New England,” Jim Murphy, senior counsel of the National Wildlife Federation, said in a statement. “Our patience is exhausted. This information is critical and it must be provided.”
The company said Monday it does not plan to reverse the flow of this pipeline.
“There is no project – proposed, pending or imminent – to reverse the flow of the pipeline,” Jim Merrill, a spokesman for the company, told VTDigger.
Environmental groups oppose using tar sands oil because of the energy intensive extraction process; fuel derived from tar sands generates 17 percent more greenhouse gas emissions than conventional fuel throughout its life cycle. The heavy crude is also difficult to clean up when it spills, they say.
More than 40 towns across New England oppose reversing the flow of the pipeline.
The post National Wildlife Federation sues State Dept. over Portland-Montreal pipeline concerns appeared first on VTDigger.
