http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2011/10/03-5Published on Monday, October 3, 2011 by The Hill
Green Group says TransCanada, State Dept. Emails Show 'Pro-Pipeline Bias'
by Andrew Restuccia
Internal emails released Monday show a sometimes friendly relationship between a State Department official and a top lobbyist for TransCanada Corp., the company seeking federal approval to build a major Canada-U.S. oil pipeline.
The environmental group Friends of the Earth, which obtained the emails under a Freedom of Information Act request, said the documents are “deeply disturbing” and indicate “pro-pipeline bias and complicity at the State Department,” the federal agency that is heading up a review of TransCanada’s application to build the Keystone XL pipeline.
The 1,700-mile pipeline — which would carry Canadian oil sands from Alberta to refineries in Texas — has ignited a firestorm in Washington, pitting environmental and public lands groups against the oil industry.
The emails released Monday include exchanges between Paul Elliott, a top lobbyist at TransCanada and former aide to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, and Marja Verloop, a State Department official who works on energy and environmental issues at the U.S. embassy in Ottawa.
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