In Maine, where a local zoning ordinance designed to prevent the possible construction of a tar sands pipeline terminal on the waterfront of South Portland, another grassroots campaign, represented by a citizens group called Protect South Portland, was overwhelmed by record funding supplied by some of the worlds largest fossil fuel companies. As in Washington, the money came in strong and heavy in the final, but crucial, weeks of the campaign. As the local Portland Press Herald reports, the Waterfront Protection Ordinance (or WPO) was defeated by only a slim margin in which 51 percent voted against, while 49 percent came out in favor. That difference was less than 200 votes in total, however, in a local ballot fight that saw the oil industry pour over hundreds of thousands of dollars into the coffers of those trying to defeat the effort. The oil industry was represented locally by the Save Our Working Waterfront campaign which drew most of its backing from the Maine Energy Marketers Association (or MEMA) and oil giants Citgo, Irving, and the American Petroleum Institute. The campaign received large amounts of media exposure, as it pitted a citizens group against a campaign funded primarily by petroleum industry groups. == Bangor Daily News reports:
Posted on: Sun, 10 Nov 2013 20:23:54 +0000
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