TransCanada Pipeline Foes See U.S. Bias in E-Mails
E-mails released Monday in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the environmental group Friends of the Earth paint a picture of a sometimes warm and collaborative relationship between the lobbyist for the pipeline company, Trans-Canada, and officials in the State Department, the agency responsible for evaluating and approving the billion-dollar project.
Public disservice: Pipeline hearings run by Keystone XL contractor
In a stunning conflict of interest, public hearings on federal approval for a proposed tar-sands pipeline are being run by a contractor for the pipeline company itself. The U.S. Department of State's public hearings along the proposed route of the TransCanada Keystone XL tar-sands pipeline this week are under the purview of Cardno Entrix, a “professional environmental consulting company” that specializes in “permitting and compliance.”
Terry Stuart of Colorado Comments:
The article below describes how a Canadian oil company with our government¹s compliance is treating the USA like a third world country! Incredibly, the contractor hired by the oil company to guide their application through the US government approval process has also been hired by the State Department to assess the social, economic and environmental impacts of the project, gather public input, and negotiate plan modifications to minimize impacts. I thought this would be EPA¹s responsibility, but EPA has NO AUTHORITY OVER THE PERMITTING OR OPERATION OF THIS PROJECT! I¹m imagining a cartoon picturing a guy walking out of a hen house announcing: ³Well, we no longer have a shortage of chicken feed, I just released a fox in there.²
Given that this project got established under the last administration, I¹m assuming this is another Cheney caper like his maneuvering on natural gas ³Fracking² that blocks all EPA oversight of that rapidly expanding, highly
polluting, secretive drilling technology. I¹d like you to watch attached You Tube 1 to get a quick overview of the Tar Sands project and it¹s impacts, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Once the sham environmental review is complete the ONLY ACTION NEEDED FOR THIS PROJECT TO MOVE AHEAD IS OBAMA¹S SIGNITURE! I haven¹t been involved in a DC protest since Viet Nam, but, as some of you know, on 9/2/11 I was intentionally arrested in front of the White House protesting the Keystone XL (Tar Sands) Pipeline. It was a wonderful experience for me and emotionally liberating. See a short video clip of our action that day: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Please consider joining a second protest at the White House on Nov 6. You won¹t get arrested and you will be doing a great service to our earth, our country, and yourself in raising awareness of this @#*& projectŠsupply your own adjective. To join the action on the 6th, click here to sign up: http://www.tarsandsaction.org/
I welcome any other ideas for derailing this nightmareŠincluding your thoughts that this isn¹t a nightmare. Thanks
Most Sincerely, Terry
Phi Beta Iota: This is simple–the tar sands project uses water we do not have to flush tar we do not need. In North Dakota and in Alaska ample reserves are to be found, but the fact is that US demand for fuel is declining. This is a move to steal water, pollute the domestic US landscape, and export refined tars for private profit with all “cost” externalized to the public.
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