Approval for pipeline reversal by Canadian officials brings tar sands oil to Maine's backyard

Congresswoman Chellie Pingree said a decision today to allow a Canadian company to reverse the flow of a crude oil pipeline between the Great Lakes and Montreal shows the need for regulatory oversight of a pipeline that runs across Maine. The ruling by Canadian officials would allow the company Enbridge tobring tar sands oil from Alberta eastward to a point where it joins the Portland Montreal Pipeline. Pingree has urged the Obama Administration to require regulatory approval if the operators of the Maine portion of the pipeline want to reverse its flow and bring tarsands oil through the state to Portland Harbor—something the company that owns the pipeline says they don't need.

"This just shows why a new Presidential Permit should be required for reversing the flow of any pipeline that comes into the United States. If Maine people are to have a say in whether tar sands oil is pumped through our state, the Administration is going to have to require a new Presidential Permit and environmental review," Pingree said.

A Presidential Permit is required for any pipeline that crosses an international border with the United States. Although the Portland Montreal Pipeline has such a permit to pump oil from ships in Portland harbor westward to Montreal, Pingree and others have argued that reversing the flow and pumping tar sands oil through the pipeline is a substantial change in use and should require a new permit and environmental review. Pingree wrote to the Obama Administration last year making the case for such review.

The decision today, by the National Energy Board of Canada, allows Enbridge to reverse the flow of crude oil in its pipeline from Sarnia, Ontario to Montreal, Quebec. Tar sands oil could begin flowing as early as this year to Montreal, and the Portland Montreal Pipeline could then be used to transport the oil to the ship terminal in Portland Harbor.

"The decision by the Energy Board brings tar sands oil into our backyard and really raises the stakes for Maine," Pingree said. "Communities across the state have said they don't want tar sands crude flowing through environmentally sensitive areas like Sebago Lake. The decision today makes it even more likely that we could soon be facing that possibility."