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The Climate Litigation Database

Portland Pipe Line Corp. v. City of South Portland

Geography
Year
2015
Document Type
Litigation
Part of

About this case

Filing year
2015
Status
Certified questions answered.
Geography
Docket number
Fed-20-40
Court/admin entity
United States → Maine Supreme Judicial Court (Me.)United States → State Courts
Case category
Constitutional Claims (US) → Commerce Clause (US)Constitutional Claims (US) → Other Constitutional Claims (US)
Principal law
United States → Article III, Section 2 of U.S. ConstitutionUnited States → Commerce ClauseUnited States → Fourteenth Amendment—Due ProcessUnited States → Fourteenth Amendment—Equal ProtectionUnited States → Maine Oil Discharge Prevention LawUnited States → Pipeline Safety ActUnited States → Ports and Waterways Safety ActUnited States → State Law—Miscellaneous StatutesUnited States → Supremacy Clause
At issue
Document with title of Portland Pipe Line Corp. v. City of South Portland
Topics
, ,  

Documents

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Filing Date
Document
Type
Topics
Search results
10/29/2020
Certified questions answered.
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court answered certified questions from the First Circuit concerning state law preemption of a City of South Portland ordinance that prohibited bulk loading of crude oil onto vessels in the City’s harbor. A federal district court rejected a challenge to the ordinance in 2018. The Maine high court said a license issued by the Maine Department of Environmental Protection for a marine oil terminal facility was not an “order” within the meaning of the Maine Coastal Conveyance Act that could have preemptive effect and, moreover, that the license was not in conflict with the ordinance, even if it could be considered an order. The court also concluded that the Coastal Conveyance Act as a whole did not preempt the City’s ordinance by implication.
Decision
–

Summary

Pipeline operator's challenge to coastal city's local law prohibiting the loading of oil on tankers.

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Group
Topics
Policy instrument
Risk
Fossil fuel
Economic sector
Finance