By Carol McCracken  (Post # 1,481)

You are invited to attend an anti-tar sands rally tomorrow, Thursday, July 25th from 6 – 7:30 pm outside the Portland Water District offices at the corner of Douglass Circle and St. James Street, Portland.

July 25th marks the third anniversary of the 2010 pipeline spill of more than one million gallons of tar sands oil into the Kalamazoo River in MIchigan. The thick, toxic mess killed wildlife, closed businesses, ruined home values, made people sick and contaminated 40 miles of the river  It is the costliest inland oil spill in US history and is still being cleaned up by the EPA according to a press release issued by the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

Here in Maine, the pipeline passes by Sebago Lake, the drinking water supply for 200,000 people – 1 in7 Mainers.  It also crosses the Crooked River six times.  If a tar sands oil spill occurred in the Sebago Lake Watershed, it could wipe out this critical drinking water supply and crush our local tourism and outdoor recreation economies the press release said.

Last July 25th, hundreds of Maine people gathered across the state to say no to tar sands oil that would put their homes and livelihoods at risk.  This year, we will rally outside the Portland Water District, the company in charge of protecting our drinking water supply and the health of Sebago Lake.