MAINE PUBLIC • February 8, 2023
Environmental groups and some South Portland residents are urging state lawmakers to quickly pass new rules requiring more stringent monitoring of emissions from petroleum storage tanks. On Tuesday, the Legislature's environment and natural resources committee held a hearing on approving the new rules, which would require air monitoring and frequent analysis around many facilities. The regulations are the result of a bill passed two years ago, partly in response to concerns about the health effects of oil tank emissions in South Portland. A federal consent decree in 2019 revealed that an oil storage facility in South Portland had violated the Clean Air Act for more than a decade. The new rules would require many tanks to install a "fenceline" monitoring system, which would measure emissions around the facility, collecting and analyzing data every two weeks.