State Department sued over Portland-Montreal pipeline (tar sands oil)
Documents relating to the possible flow of Canadian tar-sand oil from Montreal to Portland, Maine, are being illegally withheld from public view by the U.S. State Department, according to a recently filed lawsuit.
The Montpelier-based regional office of the National Wildlife Federation alleges that the federal agency failed to comply for a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request filed in June 2012 — for correspondence related to the pipeline, which crosses Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont.
The pipeline currently delivers crude oil from the Atlantic coast to Montreal.
Communications between the conduit’s Canadian owners and the State Department since 2008 would likely shed further light on plans that would reverse the flow of oil with more “dilbit,” or the dilute bitumen mined in Alberta, said James G. Murphy, senior counsel for the wildlife federation’s Montpelier office.
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http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/local/2014/05/06/state-department-sued-portland-montreal-pipeline/8763909/
