From Day 1, the State Department’s review of the Keystone XL pipeline has been polluted by conflicts of interest, insider lobbying and the heavy hand of Big Oil.
(Cross-posted from Friends of the Earth, authored by Ross Hammond)
A new infographic just released by Friends of the Earth and 350.org gives the details: To conduct the crucial evaluation of the pipeline’s environmental impacts, the State Department has repeatedly turned to contractors hand-picked by pipeline builder TransCanada. So it’s no wonder that the Canadian government, TransCanada, Congressional Republicans and the oil industry have all along all lavished praise on the State Department’s reviews of Keystone XL.
Follow the trail of the tainted process, and it’s clear that the pipeline’s review has been severely compromised at every turn. The fact is that President Obama already has enough information to reject the pipeline. It will increase global warming, pose a risk to clean water and farmland along its 1,700 mile route from Alberta to the Gulf Coast, provide fewer than three dozen permanent jobs, and most of its oil will not end up in Americans’ gas tanks but will be exported overseas. The bottom line: it’s not in the national interest, and President Obama should reject it.