PSP Air Quality Campaign Committee Meeting
What: PSP Air Quality Campaign Committee Meeting
When: Sunday, 12/8 at 2:00 PM
Where: Sue Osborne's House
4 Gould Rd. South Portland (corner of Deake & Gould)
Hoping you'll be able to come! It will be an opportunity to strategize & bring more ‘hands-on-board” for the work advocating for strong action on a local & state level.
You see them every day, when you're driving across the bridge or running on the Greenbelt or walking your kids to school, and perhaps you smell them: the tanks. They are a prominent part of the city landscape, 120 massive tanks from Bug Light to Cash Corner. Last spring, the city learned that two petroleum tank farm operators, Global and Sprague, had been violating the Clean Air Act for years, in a big way. Annual emissions from four of Global's heated tanks totaled nearly twice what the company was licensed to emit from its entire 12-tank facility, the Press Herald reports.
The federal government recently entered into an agreement with Global that does little to improve local air quality in the short term and provides few assurances that the company will do what's required, over the long haul, to control the toxic compounds it emits.
This is a citywide public health issue and, because the emissions contribute to ground-level ozone, it's also a climate change issue. (Catch up here, with Sabrina Shankman's excellent reporting for InsideClimate News.) Based on what we know so far, the stuff coming out of these tanks is bad. And we don't really know how much of it there is.
We could use your help! Both the city and the state have leverage to require the companies to do more. Public support is essential.
If you are interested in helping in any way, or at least getting occasional updates on the issue, please fill out this form. In the meantime, here are some things you can do:
- Write a letter to the editor to be published in the Press Herald.
- Email the city councilors
- Share your concern on social media.
- Forward this email to friends and neighbors.
Thanks! Look forward to seeing you Sunday Dec. 8th!
~ meg and the Protect Soouth Portland team
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