New Hampshire U.S. Representative Carol Shea-Porter has introduced an amendment that would protect pipeline activity between Portland, Maine and Montreal, Canada.
The amendment introduced Tuesday protects environmental interests from being affected by pending legislation to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry 800,000 barrels of oil a day from Alberta across six U.S. states to the Texas Gulf Coast. The Obama administration is considering whether to approve the pipeline.
Shea-Porter says her measure clarifies that the expedited process made available for Keystone would not be used to short-circuit any environmental review for possible changes to the Portland-to-Montreal pipeline. There has been concern that the oil-carrying pipeline could have its flow reversed and carry Canadian tar sands oil through Vermont, New Hampshire and western Maine.
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