Roundup of Keystone XL pipeline coverage

October 5, 2011

Since there’s been so much news related to the Keystone XL pipeline controversy subsequent to our release of the second round of State Department documents, we put together the following news roundup.

Breaking this a.m.: State Department sued to force halt to ongoing illegal pipeline construction

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/usa-keystone-suit-idUSN1E7940FS20111005

WASHINGTON Oct 5 (Reuters) – Environmental groups sued the U.S. government on Wednesday to stop the clearing of grasslands, the moving of threatened species and other work going on ahead of U.S. approval of $7 billion Canada to Texas planned oil pipeline.

A news release with a link to the complaint can be found here: https://foe.org/lawsuit-challenges-state-dept-allowing-construction-begin-keystone-xl-pipeline

Also breaking this a.m.: InsideClimate catches Koch industries telling different KXL stories to different regulators

http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20111004/koch-brothers-koch-industries-flint-hills-financial-interest-canada-energy-board-keystone-xl-pipeline

Koch Industries Inc. … has repeatedly told a U.S. Congressional committee and the news media that the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline has “nothing to do with any of our businesses.”

But the company has told Canadian energy regulators a different story.

Pipeline hecklers at Obama fundraiser last night

www.therepublic.com/view/story/OBAMA_6224629/OBAMA_6224629/

About five minutes into [Obama’s] speech, a member of the crowd interrupted to ask the president if he would “stop the pipeline.”

State Department preparing PR defense (nevermind that the number of meetings held is far less important than what was actually said in them)

http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/677-e2-wire/185481-overnight-energy

The State Department plans to release information about the scope of its meetings with a range of parties on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline.

Tar sands likely to be banned by EU

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/oct/04/oil-sands-imports-eu-ban?newsfeed=true

Oil from controversial and environmentally destructive tar sands is likely to be all but banned from Europe after a decision on Tuesday. The move also casts doubt on the future of other controversial energy sources such as shale gas.

NRDC warns White House that pipeline scandal could become ‘badge of corruption’

http://switchboard.nrdc.org/blogs/aswift/released_emails_reveal_gentlem.html

NRDC’s Anthony Swift and Susan Casey-Lefkowitz wrote in a blog post: “It is time for the President to intervene in this process before it becomes a badge of corruption for his Administration.”

Sierra Club charges ‘crony capitalism’

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/04/keystone-pipeline-critics_n_994177.html

Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, said it was the Obama administration that has proved disappointing. Brune called the State Department’s permitting process thus far a form of “crony capitalism” more closely associated with the previous administration of George W. Bush.

“We had hoped for something different from President Obama and Secretary Clinton,” Brune said, “and we still do.”

Environmental groups urge Obama to revoke biased State Department’s permitting authority

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_OIL_PIPELINE

Environmental groups on Tuesday asked President Barack Obama to intervene on a Canadian company’s plan to pipe oil from tar sands in western Canada to the Texas Gulf Coast.

…

“Mr. President, the State Department has erred, but there is still time for you to do the right thing,” the groups said in a letter to Obama. “Tell the lobbyists in Washington that their days of setting the agenda are over. Reject this dirty tar sands oil pipeline.”

TransCanada threatens to sue Nebraska

http://www.omaha.com/article/20111005/NEWS01/710059849 

TransCanada … is fighting back with the help of local lobbyists. [Its] analysis identified four major legal problems with state laws regulating pipeline routes — problems that Kohout said could make Nebraska the target of a lawsuit.

Paul Elliott upset after Politico’s Smith questions his influence 

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1011/Paul_Elliot_puppetmaster.html?showall 

Lobbyist Paul Elliott took umbrage when Politico’s Ben Smith questioned whether he played a substantial role on the Hillary Clinton presidential campaign:

Elliott wrote to Politico: “I was responsible for getting the candidate’s name on the ballot in countless states and hand picking nearly two thousand pledge delegates committed to former Senator Clinton. I know what my title was on the campaign but I could care less now. What matters to me is that no one has the right to diminish the sacrifice I made for a cause I believed in….  You and I didn’t talk because it wasn’t my job to spend my days chatting care free. I had a responsibility to ensure the nomination viability of one of the most serious contenders for the office of the U.S. Presidency.”

Pipeline opposition on the op-ed pages of the New York Times and Los Angeles Times

Pipeline cronyism exposed: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/opinion/the-cronyism-behind-a-pipeline-for-crude.html

Bogus job creation claims: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-mckibben-tarsands-pipeline-20111005,0,3724184.story