Pipeline CEO Fights Regs

February 19, 2013

Tar sands stripping in Alberta, Canada. Courtesy photo

NORTHEAST KINGDOM – Controversy is heating up over the possibility of tar sands oil running through Vermont, mirroring the debate over the Keystone Pipeline.
The Portland–Montreal Pipe Line runs through the Northeast Kingdom, from North Troy to Victory Bog, and debate grows over whether it is safe to reverse the flow and allow tar sands oil, also called heavy crude or bitumen, through the pipes.
Rep. David Deen of Westminster introduced a bill, H.27, that would require an Act 250 permit for a new oil pipeline or any changes to an existing oil pipeline other than a repair.
Frank Wilson, the CEO of the Portland Pipe Line Corp., testified in Montpelier last week opposing the bill and calling it discriminatory.

For more of this story, see page 5 of Wednesday's edition of the Newport Daily Express for Feb. 20, 2013.