Despite the hard work of activists and citizens concerned about protecting Maine’s waterfront, voters In South Portland narrowly defeated a ballot measure Tuesday that would have halted a tar sands pipeline from entering Sebago Lake. Community leaders collected nearly 4,000 signatures to qualify the initiative for the ballot in only 11 days this summer.
The margin of defeat came down to only 200 votes?the city clerk’s office reported 4,453 votes against the ballot measure versus 4,261 yes votes. The ballot measure centered around blocking a reversal of a pipe line that could transport tar sands from Canada to South Portland, affecting Cisco Bay and the Sebago Lake watershed. It would have also banned new construction of systems and units for transporting and handling petroleum around the waterfront.
Opposition to the ballot measure included groups like Citgo, Irving, and the American Petroleum Institute.? These groups were able to raise nearly 14 times the funding of Protect South Portland from big oil backers– $600,000 in comparison to Protect South Portland’s $42,000. Unfortunately, when people power is at its strongest, lobbies that are richer in dollars than in hearts and minds are left with lies as their only ammunition to attract voters.
In nearly every article covering the issue, Portland Pipeline Corp’s CEO portrayed the measure as a sudden and comprehensive crackdown on current petroleum activities instead of debating the tar sands pipeline reversal issue. This is a faulty premise to begin with, as the authors of the ballot initiative have explained through extensive findings that such an interpretation was never their intent. However, this premise led to an economic impact study that reported a loss of 5,600 jobs and $252 million in earnings if petroleum industries experienced a total shutdown; a result that is both improbable and fails to account for any boost in renewable energy or other industries that could fill the void.
Still, Protect South Portland’s people power should not be underestimated?The Natural Resources Council of Maine is looking into a recount, and many community members express a firm commitment to continuing the fight. ?According to Environment Maine Fellow Amanda Becker, who collected signatures for the ballot measure as part of Environment Maine’s summer canvass:
This isn’t the end of the community group that was built around this issue. The city is still attempting to take action to keep tar sands out of Maine and it’s a bigger issue in the state so in a lot of ways we won.
Edited by SS
