Internal State Department Emails Reveal Cozy Relationship with TransCanada and Provide Evidence of Bias in Keystone XL Pipeline Review
Public interest groups call on Obama to heed credible independent experts’ analyses and reject dangerous tar sands oil pipelineWASHINGTON - September 22 - Email correspondence between State Department employees and a TransCanada pipeline lobbyist who served as a top aide on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign provides evidence of bias in the review of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline.
The emails, released by Friends of the Earth after they were obtained via the federal Freedom of Information Act, are between the Office of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Paul Elliott, the TransCanada lobbyist. They indicate that officials at the State Department provided information about the agency’s internal thinking and coached TransCanada on what to say during the legally mandated environmental review process.
“Nearly one year ago, Secretary Clinton said she was ‘inclined’ to approve this dangerous pipeline. Now we have evidence that her employees sought to help TransCanada get a rubber stamp,” said Damon Moglen, climate and energy director at Friends of the Earth. “The pro-industry bias exhibited in these emails and elsewhere show the State Department has failed to live up to President Obama’s pledge to ensure that lobbyists’ ‘days of setting the agenda are over.’”
On top of showing the existence of a cozy relationship between Elliott and State Department employees, the emails raise serious questions about an oily State Department revolving door. A key State official who, according to the emails, coached TransCanada on what to say during the environmental review process subsequently left the department, joined a firm that represents oil interests and testified before Congress in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline. The same official, David Goldwyn, was described in a WikiLeak from 2009 as having “alleviated” Canadian officials’ concerns about pipeline approval and providing them with public relations advice, as reported by the Los Angeles Times in July. ...........(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2011/09/22-1
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
