Tar sands bad for environment, committee says

OTISFIELD — Members of the Otisfield Conservation Committee are concerned about possible transportation of tar sands through an aging pipeline from Montreal to Portland. 

They reported their concerns to selectmen during their October 17 meeting.

Lee Dassler, coordinator of the Western Foothills Land Trust, said the 62-year-old pipeline currently transports conventional crude oil 236 miles from Portland to Montreal.

In 2008, there was a proposal from Exxon Mobil and Suncor Energy to reverse its flow from Alberta, Canada, eastward to Portland, said Dassler, where it can reach global oil markets. 

According to Dassler, the pipeline runs along some of Maine's critical rivers and watersheds, including the Crooked River, Androscoggin River and Sebago Lake. 

Jeff Stern, chair of the conservation committee who has worked for some 30 years in the field of environmental and health risk assessment, said "looking at what's being proposed could have huge environmental ramifications in an area that really values clean water. 

"It isn't just the Otisfield Conservation Committee that is worried about this proposal, there are people in other towns – South Portland, Raymond, Casco, Waterford and Bethel – that are concerned about this as well," Stern told selectmen. 

There is even a town in Canada that has passed an ordinance opposing the transportation of tar sands through the pipeline, said Stern. 

The concern, said Dassler, is that the pipeline runs along the Crooked River, which the WFLT has been working to protect for the past few years in order to maintain its Class AA water quality. 

"One of the reasons that we are involved and concerned about the Crooked River is not only because of its beauty ... its recreational benefits, and providing wonderful habitat for indigenous landlocked salmon and trout, but it also provides clean drinking water for one-sixth of Maine," Dassler explained. 

She said there are over 200,000 people in the Portland area whose drinking water comes from the Crooked River, the largest surface water tributary that flows into Sebago Lake. 

"Thirty nine percent of Sebago Lake surface water comes just from the Crooked [River]," Dassler said. 

According to Dassler, for the tar sands to flow, it must be diluted with toxic chemicals, including benzene and has to be pumped at a much higher pressure and heat than crude oil does. 

"It's bituminous, it's thick, it's corrosive," Dassler said. "Apparently it has to be really powered through these pipelines.

"If you have an accident, and there is a spill, you not only get tar sands, but also benzene – not something you want in the environment," she added.

Tar sands doesn't float on the surface of water like crude oil does, Dassler said. "It sinks," which makes it more difficult to clean up. "It's terrible for the rivers."

Conservation committee members are in the process of disseminating information about the potential environmental dangers of transporting and reversing the flow of tar sands oil through the Portland-Montreal pipeline. 

For more information call Lee Dassler at 207-739-2124 or email her at WFLT@megalink.net.