Senators Raise ‘Serious Concerns’ About State Department Study on Tar Sands Oil Pipeline | Tar Sands Action

Three key senators today questioned the U.S. State Department about its dealings with a Canadian company seeking U.S. approval to build a crude oil pipeline from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

The State Department is responsible for deciding whether to approve the billion-dollar Keystone XL pipeline project. TransCanada, the company trying to build the pipeline, reportedly was permitted to screen private firms bidding to perform an environmental impact study.

“We find it inappropriate that a contractor with financial ties to TransCanada, which publicly promotes itself by identifying TransCanada as a ‘major client’, was selected to conduct what is intended to be an objective government review,” the senators said.

 

Anyone still think that this process is any less destructive to our environment than oil rigs that spill into our oceans or fracking that destroys the water table? These companies and our supporting government are just bowing to the almighty dollar, discarding environmental concerns.

Senators Raise ‘Serious Concerns’ About State Department Study on Tar Sands Oil Pipeline | Tar Sands Action

Environmental groups have raised new concerns about the close ties between Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and lobbyists for the controversial Keystone XL project to carry crude from the tar sands of Alberta to the refineries of Texas.

Friends of the Earth said on Thursday they were expanding their freedom of information request for emails between State Department officials and the pipeline company after learning of seven more pipeline lobbyists who had worked on Obama and Clinton's presidential campaigns, or had ties to Bill Clinton.

How long until we are literally mining in our own backyards for even more limited natural resources?

Environmental groups trying to block the pipeline had initially focused on the role of Paul Elliott. Elliott, the main lobbyist in Washington for TransCanada pipeline company, had been a senior official on Clinton's campaign in 2008."The presence of so many former Clinton associates on the lobbying roster for polluter clients on a high-profile controversy suggests a clash with the repeated campaign pledges of greater transparency and tougher dealings with lobbyists by Secretary Clinton's boss, President Obama," the blog said.

Concern over close ties between Obama, Clinton and tar sands