BANGOR DAILY NEWS • Jun 1, 2021
Despite the claims of Irv Smith’s letter on May 23, LD 163and LD 1532 would not shut down the availability of asphalt or increase costs of other petroleum products in Maine. What these bills would do, is require transparency and accountability by requiring low-cost fenceline monitoring. This would provide information about how much of the almost 600 tons of volatile organic compounds and 104 tons of hazardous air pollutants permitted for emission by the 120 petroleum tanks in South Portland each year is going beyond the perimeter of the facilities into the extremely close and densely populated surrounding community of homes, schools and daycares. Without transparency and accountability, we are left with business as usual, which is unacceptable. ~ Roberta Zuckerman, South Portland