EXCLUSIVE: State Dept. Hid Contractor's Ties to Keystone XL Pipeline Company

EXCLUSIVE: State Dept. Hid Contractor's Ties to Keystone XL Pipeline Company
A top expert who helped write the government's latest Keystone report previously consulted on three different TransCanada projects—a fact the State Department tried to hide.

So who hid ERM's connections to TransCanada?

The State Department appears to be responsible for the attempt to mask the ERM-TransCanada connection. When State first posted the redacted ERM filing, it was possible to digitally remove the redaction and read the ERM bios. But some days later, a new version of the filing was posted online in which the ERM bios had been scrubbed from beneath the redactions.

The State Department has faced heaps of criticism for potential conflicts of interests involving TransCanada and Keystone XL. In October 2011, Obama's reelection campaign hired Broderick Johnson, who had previously lobbied in favor of Keystone, as a senior adviser. Emails obtained by Friends of the Earth, an environmental group that opposes the Keystone pipeline, revealed a cozy relationship between TransCanada lobbyist Paul Elliott and Marja Verloop, an official at the US Embassy in Canada whose portfolio covers the Keystone project. Before he lobbied for TransCanada, Elliott worked as deputy campaign manager on Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid. Clinton served as secretary of state until recently.

The State Department's inspector general disagreed with critics who cried foul over these apparent conflicts of interest. In February 2012, the IG found no evidence of bias in State's handling of the application to build the pipeline.

President Obama has the final say the fate of the Keystone XL. The president, who says he supports an "all of the above" energy policy, delayed a decision on the pipeline in November 2011 until after the 2012 elections, and has remained coy ever since. He has downplayed the idea that building the Keystone will create jobs, but has not ruled out building it.

More at:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/keystone-xl-contractor-ties-transcanada-state-department