SOUTH PORTLAND — City councilors said they were in favor of recommendations from the South Portland Clean Air Advisory Committee regarding tank emissions monitoring and regulation during a March 2 meeting.

Formed in December 2019 amid several council workshops about air quality, the Clean Air Advisory Committee, a team of five members, has recommended that the city continue monitoring tank farm emissions through several different methods, said City Manager Scott Morelli.

The monitoring recommendations include the city moving four of the six air quality monitoring stations currently in place, something which the council has already approved; adding additional fence line monitoring; monitoring particulate matter from diesel engines; conducting human exposure modeling; preparing now for future actions to capture tank farm emissions; encouraging cumulative regulatory approaches that focus on human health effects; and measuring actual emissions as opposed to estimations, said David Plumb, the committee’s facilitator.

According to the EPA, fence line monitoring is defined as tubes that monitor low pollutant concentrations in the ambient air. Tubes are placed around the property of an installation boundary such as a tank.

One Climate Future, an action plan initiative involving South Portland and Portland, reported that commercial and residential buildings emit 42 percent of the city’s greenhouse gas emissions, 24 percent of which comes from the industrial sector, and transportation within South Portland accounts for 32 percent of emissions.

The Clean Air Advisory Committee also believes that the city can help reduce transportation emissions by adopting recommendations from the Maine Climate Council and One Climate Future plan, he said.

Because the committee was set to dissolve after presenting the council with recommendations, members recommended that the committee continue its work or be revamped, Plumb said. Four of the five members have expressed interest in continuing.

The committee also recommended that the council authorize Morelli to consult with and engage a variety of experts, residents, and/or paid consultants with technical issues that are outside of staff’s expertise, he said.

Thomas Mikulka, committee member, said that although the council is in favor of moving the tank emissions monitoring stations, at a current stakeholders meeting, there was some hesitancy.

In order to collect better data, the monitoring sites need to be moved, he said. Currently, the site at Bug Light is the only station that gives an accurate understanding of emissions.

Continued monitoring in areas of the city where tank emissions are affecting the most is necessary, said committee member Brie Hicknell.

“We really do have incomplete data at the moment and it’s hard to recommend a solution to a problem we don’t fully understand,” she said.

“The committee felt the number of facilities in South Portland, their proximity to residents, and the potential risk to human health warranted South Portland to step out in front,” Hicknell said. “The committee is very eager to see the additional data that would come from moving some of these monitoring stations in closer to the most potentially affected neighborhoods and doing additional monitoring along the fence line of key facilities because that will be the data that gives you a stronger footing to push aggressively for the types of things that are in this report.”

Both councilors and residents present at the meeting said they were in favor of the committee’s continuation. Councilors were also in favor of the committee’s recommendations.

Sen. Anne Carney and Rep. Rebecca Millett, as well as a group of legislators, are working on legislation and are collecting feedback from South Portland.

“We don’t have anything to report right now,” Carney said. “We’re just kind of in the process of gathering all of the information that you provided and the feedback we’ve received from you. We are working on it. As soon as we have something to share, she or I or both of us will report back to all of you who have done such excellent work on this.”

Resident Roberta Zuckerman said she is in favor of the recommendations from the Clean Air Advisory Committee.

“I’m hoping that these recommendations, along with many others that have been submitted to the Environment and Natural Resources Committee, will go into a strong bill or resolve from the legislature so that the state will be really stepping into protect people,” Zuckerman said. “There are multiple tank farms. Ours is the largest, but there are tank farms in at least three other towns.”

Public commenter Bob Klotz said although he is respectful of the committee’s work, he is frustrated with the lack of action and continued need for monitoring.

“I get the politics of it, but it doesn’t take much of a Google search to realize how much of a neurotoxin and a carcinogen petrochemicals are,” Klotz said. “And every day that goes by with that not being controlled is another — more than just an asthma attack, and those are bad enough. The air quality as we know is very poor in our area. I certainly would support a continued committee effort to continue to move this forward. It’s absurd to me that we don’t have monitors close to the tanks and fence line monitoring.”

Councilors voted to include the acceptance and formation of a new committee in a future meeting agenda.

There is a possibility of taking action as well as continued monitoring, said Councilor Kate Lewis.

“I think we owe it to all of the residents in the city and the visitors in the city to get going on these,” she said. “I understand the frustration on continuing data gathering because it’s just like, can’t we take action already? And I think we can. I think we can do a dual approach where we continue to get as much good info as possible over as long of a time as possible.”

Councilor April Caricchio said more support is needed on a state level. The city does not have the resources to create its own type of department of environmental protection.

Mayor Misha Pride said he agrees with Caricchio and approves of the recommendations as well as a continuation of the Clean Air Advisory Committee.

Because this was a workshop, no formal action took place on implementation of recommendations.

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