South Portland, Maine Residents vs Exxon Mobil
In 2014, the residents of the small city of South Portland, Maine, won an incredible victory: They defeated Exxon Mobil.
South Portland’s grassroots campaigners showed a true victory for people over profit.
Now Big Oil is suing the city — and their strategy is to spend this small town into submission by running up massive legal bills.
South Portland can win the lawsuit, but they need help paying the bills to keep up the battle. Will you chip in $17 to SumOfUs and the South Portland Clear Skies Defense Fund?
If you’ve saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:
A subsidiary of Exxon had attempted to build a tar sands export terminal — the last step in a pipeline to transport tar sands oil from Alberta to the shores of the world famous Casco Bay.
But South Portland fought back, launching a grassroots campaign that resulted in the passage of the Clear Skies Ordinance, effectively stopping Exxon in its tracks.
Passing the Clear Skies Ordinance, which prohibits the loading of crude oil in the South Portland harbor, was no small feat. In standing up to Exxon, the people of South Portland went up against Big Oil’s unlimited funds and power.
The residents of South Portland didn’t want an aging pipeline running through the drinking water of 20% of Maine’s population, and they didn’t want toxic fumes from the terminal’s smokestacks to pollute their air. Hundreds of hours of town hall meetings and campaigning by grassroots activists convinced the city council to pass the Clear Skies Ordinance, 6-1.
But now the town is being sued for interfering in oil industry business — and the lawsuit is not only funded by Exxon Mobil, but is also joined by huge corporate lobby groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute.
South Portland, a small city of just 25,000 residents, has already spent $1 million on fighting the suit. The Clear Skies Defense Fund has raised an additional $135,000, but they are going to need much more to see the case through and to defend South Portland’s right to keep oil off its shores.
This is a classic example of how big corporations bully local communities and overturn the will of the people. We can’t allow the ordinance to be overturned and hand a victory to Exxon Mobil.
Will you chip in $17 today? Your donation will be split between the Clear Skies Defense Fund and SumOfUs to continue the fight against tar sands oil pipelines.
If you’ve saved your payment information with SumOfUs, your donation will go through immediately:
Thanks for all that you do,
Kat and the team at SumOfUs
My Comment: Thank you to SumOfUs for this information. You can search for the Clear Skies Defense Fund to contribute directly or call the small town to find where to donate directly so they receive ALL the MONEY!
