By Randy Billings
A federal court (click here) ruled Friday that a South Portland ordinance prohibiting bulk loading of crude oil onto tankers does not violate the U.S. Constitution.
The decision is a blow to Portland Pipe Line Corp., which challenged the city’s “Clear Skies” ordinance on grounds that it violated the Dormant Commerce and the Foreign Commerce clauses of the U.S. Constitution, which gives Congress sole power to regulate foreign and interstate trade.
The ordinance effectively blocked the company from reversing the flow of its 236-mile underground pipeline that has carried foreign crude from harbor terminals in South Portland to refineries in Montreal since World War II.
The South Portland City Council banned bulk loading of crude oil on the city’s waterfront in 2014, just as production of controversial tar sands oil was taking off in western Canada and demand for foreign crude began to dwindle.Mayor Linda Cohen praised the ruling in a written statement.
“Faced with the prospect of hundreds of thousands of barrels of crude oil being loaded onto marine tank vessels in the city and threatening the health of the residents and preventing redevelopment of the waterfront, the City Council prohibited this new activity,” Cohen said. “We are pleased that the court upheld the ordinance.”...
