SOUTH PORTLAND – In establishing a special legal fund Monday, the South Portland City Council said it has taken a proactive step toward defending its new ordinance banning the import and export of tar-sands oil.
Although no lawsuit has been filed yet, Mayor Gerard Jalbert said this week that the threat is looming, and he wants to ensure the city is prepared to take on what could be a protracted and expensive legal battle.
The ban on tar sands, officially known as the Clear Sky Ordinance, went into effect on Aug. 11, 20 days after its final approval by the City Council. City Clerk Susan Mooney said with the ban now local law, opponents have missed their window to repeal the ordinance through a referendum.
“The ordinance went into effect 20 days after the council approved (it on) second reading. Someone would have had to file within those 20 days to repeal the ordinance and that did not happen,” Mooney said this week.
So, the only recourse now open for opponents is through the courts.
The goal of the new “Reserve Account for the Collection of Legal Support for the Clear Sky Ordinance,” which the City Council approved in a unanimous vote, is to allow individuals and groups to make donations to South Portland to help it defend its new tar-sands ban.
Jalbert also said the creation of the legal defense fund would help the city minimize the use of tax dollars to fight any lawsuit that might be filed.
He said the city has already received offers of donations to help defend the tar-sands ban, and with the creation of the new fund it would be possible for South Portland to set aside money specifically to cover any costs that could be incurred in a lawsuit.
In a workshop last week, Jalbert said he brought the idea of creating a legal defense fund forward because he wants to ensure long-term community support for the tar-sands ban, which could be eroded if tax dollars are used to defend it in court.
While Councilor Michael Pock was the only one to vote against the ban, this week he fully supported the creation of the legal defense fund, arguing, “We have to be ahead of the game.”
Councilor Tom Blake also supported the legal fund, but he encouraged the city to reach out to the local oil companies to assure them South Portland still considers them to be valuable corporate citizens.
During the Aug. 11 workshop, Blake said, “I’m not convinced we will be sued. We haven’t done anything wrong and from the get-go we did everything right. We had a legal right to do what we did. Let’s reach out (to the oil industry) and say, ‘What can we do to resolve our differences?’ ”
Both councilors Linda Cohen and Patti Smith agreed.
Smith said, “Plan A should be, ‘Let’s get together and get this resolved.’ Plan B should be the legal fund.” This week, she called the fund “being proactive and being as prepared as we can be.”
Cohen said she thought it would be wise to reach out to the local oil companies and say, “I know you’re not happy, but we want to move forward together.”
While opponents of the tar-sands ban have not yet taken legal action to overturn the new ordinance, this week both the Portland Pipe Line Corp. and the South Portland Working Waterfront Coalition said they are still evaluating all their options.
Meanwhile, Jalbert said, the city is receiving nearly daily Freedom of Information requests from opponents of the ban, which is already costing the city in terms of staff time and time spent by City Attorney Sally Daggett in responding to the requests.
Jamie Py, president of the Maine Energy Marketers Association, who spoke on behalf of the waterfront coalition, told the Current, “It’s little surprise that Mayor Jalbert and city councilors are attempting to solicit legal defense funds from out-of-state environmental activists.”
He added, “After all, these groups largely wrote the language of the (tar sands) ordinance and then worked hand-in-glove with the City Council to pass it. This is proof positive that the City Council is no longer listening to local residents. Instead, (it’s) putting South Portland in bed with the far-left political agenda and big money of national environmental activists.”
And Jim Merrill, spokesman for Portland Pipe Line Corp., said the company is “continuing to evaluate several options concerning the so-called Clear Skies Ordinance, the result of a biased process, slanted against the company and the entire working waterfront.”
Merrill said the council’s July 21 vote “to pass this job-killing (tar sands) ordinance reflected a rush to judgment led by city councilors and staff over the past several months that has ignored plain science in favor of fear, promoted by a vocal group of off-oil extremists.
“It comes as no surprise that the city, which oversaw this flawed process, is now creating a legal fund to defend this indefensible ordinance, taking large sums of money from the same anti-business activists it has favored from the start,” he said.
But last week Councilor Maxine Beecher said she was in support of creating the legal fund because “we’re hearing the oil industry is gearing up, and we know there will be some type of lawsuit. This legal fund is very, very important. We don’t want to end up in the soup.”
Prior to Monday’s vote on the creation of the legal defense fund, Jalbert said, “I believe donations will come in and be very effective.”
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