CASCO — The Loon Echo Land Trust, Western Foothills Land and the Natural Resources Council of Maine will host a tar sands forum from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 19, at Crooked River Adult Education Center, former Casco Elementary School, 1437 Poland Spring Road, Route 11.
Dylan Voorhees, Clean Energy director for the Natural Resources Council of Maine, will explain what tar sands is, the proposal being considered to pump tar sands through the Portland-Montreal Pipeline and the potential risks of a tar sands oil spill in the Sebago Lake watershed.
The event is free and open to the public but folks are asked to RSVP to Emmie Theberge at 430-0105 or emmie@nrcm.org.
Tar sands oil is one of the dirtiest energy sources on the planet. Mined from oil rich sands in the Boreal forest of Alberta, Canada, tar sands is a highly acidic and abrasive oil that erodes pipelines faster than conventional crude oil. Tar sands traveling through pipelines is like high-pressure liquid sandpaper that can grind and burn its way through the pipe, increasing the chance that weakened pipelines will rupture.
The Portland-Montreal pipeline is an existing, 62-year-old pipeline that currently transports conventional crude oil from tanker ships in South Portland harbor 236 miles to Montreal. Enbridge, the Canadian oil pipeline giant, may be considering to pump tar sands oil through the pipeline from Quebec to South Portland for export to global markets. An identical project, the Trailbreaker project, was abandoned in 2009 due to the economic downturn.
The Portland Montreal Pipeline runs along and traverses some of Maine’s most critical lake and river watersheds including Sebago Lake, the Crooked River and the Androscoggin River.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
