PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • July 2, 2021
The Biden administration has backed the city’s 6-year-old fight to preserve local authority over air quality in a federal court battle with the Portland Pipe Line Corp. Local officials and residents joined a national environmental group in praising a brief filed this week with the 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston, saying it signals that the city’s fight could be nearing an end and that other pipeline disputes could be handled in a similar fashion. The brief, filed by the U.S. Department of Justice, asserts that federal law doesn’t preempt the city’s Clear Skies Ordinance, which effectively prevents the pipeline from exporting crude oil from Canada and loading it into tankers docked on the city’s waterfront.