John Balentine’s June 26 editorial “Thinking Globally” brought up important questions about tar sands and the global energy market. Unfortunately, it missed the ball on the relationship between the two.
Tar sands is a type of crude oil. Crude oil is a “raw” petroleum product that has to be refined before it is sold to consumers. Crude oil is not used by anyone in Maine – not in any home, heater, boat, or motor – anywhere.
There are no refineries to process crude oil in Maine, or anywhere in New England for that matter. That means that if crude oil came through the Portland-Montreal Pipe Line from Canada, it would get shipped elsewhere to be refined.
Tar sands is traded on the world market. South Portland is a through-way for tar sands. The minute tar sands would hit the waters of Casco Bay on a tanker ship, it would be destined for the global energy market.
Tar sands from Canada, sent through South Portland on its way to the world market, will not impact our national energy picture as Balentine suggests. It’s simply not the case that the majority of our oil is held “hostage” by “Islamist” countries.
In fact, the United States is quickly becoming one of the world’s largest oil producers, poised to produce more in coming years than we can possibly use ourselves. According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. was able to source 84 percent of its energy demand domestically in 2013.
Of course, there are enormously important reasons for us to decrease our dependence on any kind of oil, including the ever-growing threat of global warming – but to suggest that Iraq’s instability threatens American’s oil market is an egregious distortion.
Tar sands threatens us locally so that the oil industry can access global markets, with no energy impact on the state of Maine whatsoever. Smokestacks at Bug Light so that tar sands can get shipped out to the highest bidder. That’s the real relationship.
Taryn Hallweaver,
Campaigns director,
Environment Maine
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