I consider myself an environmentally sensitive person.

I was the president of the Maine Chapter of The Nature Conservancy in the late 1970s and placed a conservation easement on our family property in Penobscot Bay to preserve a wilderness area and restrict future development.

I believe that it is critically important to protect the beauty and the environment of Maine for our health and to support our state’s largest industry, tourism.

Even from this vantage point, I believe that the South Portland Waterfront Protection Ordinance is much too broad and should be voted down by citizens of South Portland in November.

It is not “targeted” to deal with the alleged problem (tar sands oil importation), and is very likely to have serious long-term consequences on the development and use of the working waterfront of our city.

South Portland and Maine as a whole need good-paying, high-quality jobs.

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Section 4 of the ordinance will make it very difficult for jobs to be created along the South Portland waterfront.

This provision is overkill, in my judgment, and not necessary to deal with the problem at hand.

I plan to vote “no” on the ordinance, and I encourage my fellow citizens to vote “no” as well.

David Wakelin

South Portland

I am a lifelong resident of South Portland and grew up in Ferry Village, near the oil tanks.

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My children grew up in Pleasantdale, with three oil companies around us, with no ill effects.

I was in the South Portland Fire Department for 40 years, 20 of those as fire chief. I had my differences with the oil companies over the years, but they were always willing to listen.

When we saw a problem, we enacted ordinances that cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars. They didn’t like it, but they understood our safety issues and complied.

Whenever they wanted to change their way of doing business, they always met with us, we discussed it and came to some sort of agreement.

As far as safety goes, they were one of the best corporate taxpayers we dealt with.

They purchased for the Fire Department a lot of equipment used for fighting oil fires. They certainly didn’t have to, as they pay a hefty tax that could have been used for that purpose.

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I know that Portland Pipe Line flies over their pipeline to Montreal and sends a camera through their pipeline regularly.

I can tell you that, as past fire chief in South Portland, we have a lot of bigger hazards than the oil companies. If you don’t believe me, ask your present fire chief.

The oil companies and their supporting business are very essential to our tax base and the economy.

For those reasons, I ask you to vote against the Waterfront Protection Ordinance.

Philip McGouldrick

retired fire chief

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South Portland

The South Portland City Council’s public display of affection for tar sands oil and Portland Pipe Line Corp., part owned by ExxonMobil, is the reason concerned citizens put the issue directly in front of voters (“Five on S. Portland council reject oil initiative,” Oct. 15).

After all, these citizens have a lot to be concerned about when one considers ExxonMobil’s shoddy record for cleanup of spills, starting with the Exxon Valdez and continuing with the Kalamazoo and Mayflower spills, none of which are cleaned up.

If the pipeline is reversed to transport tar sands, the citizens of South Portland, Portland, Cape Elizabeth and more will be at least giving up the very air they breathe, as shipping the diluted bitumen requires flaring off the cancer-causing chemicals added to make it flow. They also risk the drinking water for 15 percent of the state of Maine when there is a spill.

Rex Tillerson, CEO of ExxonMobil, makes $40 million a year. Do you think he cares anything about the welfare of the citizens of Maine?

Judith Hopkins

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Pownal

We in South Portland are figuring out who to believe and how to vote on the Waterfront Protection Ordinance on Nov. 5.

On one side you have the richest, most powerful industry in the world.

Portland Pipe Line has a relatively small local presence: 35 employees. Nine out of 10 of its board of directors live outside the United States and only one lives in Maine.

The part-owner of Portland Pipe Line, ExxonMobil, has a terrible environmental track record. That is why the local company has not wanted us to know that it is part-owned by ExxonMobil.

The American Petroleum Institute in Washington, D.C., has contributed more than $138,000 to the opposition in their effort to defeat the less financed, but continually growing group of local resident volunteers who have had the nerve to stand up to them.

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This is a David and Goliath campaign.

We need to stop them from turning South Portland, our home, into the tar sands oil export capital of North America for their profit at our expense.

We want to protect our health, air, water, tourism and marine industries – the pristine environment and scenic beauty that bring people from all over to vacation.

We want the South Portland we know and love to be here, in all its splendor, for our children and grandchildren.

I think often of the ancient wisdom: “Look at my works. See how beautiful they are, how excellent. For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world, for if you do, there will be no one after you to repair it.” (Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 1 on Ecclesiastes 7:13)

This is why I will vote for the Waterfront Protection Ordinance on Nov. 5.

Roberta Zuckerman

South Portland


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