Bold Nebraska Executive Director Jane Kleeb has been in Washington, D.C. this week, at the same time that Alison Redford, the Premier of Canada’s Alberta province, was in town on another lobbying trip to push for approval of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline.
Canadian Official Tries to Bully Obama on Keystone Approval
Alberta Premier: Keystone Rejection “Would Hurt US-Canada Relations”
April 10, 2013 — The Associated Press reported today that “
Alberta premier says Keystone XL rejection would hurt Canada-US relations.”
Just as TransCanada has bullied landowners into forfeiting their land for the tar sands pipeline, Alberta Premier Alison Redford is now trying to bully President Obama and Secretary Kerry into approving the pipeline. During her fourth trip to the U.S. to lobby for the TransCanada pipeline, the AP reported the Premier said a rejection of the Keystone XL project by President Obama would be a “significant thorn in Canadian-U.S. relations.”
“It would become something that we would continue to talk about,” Redford said of a possible rejection during a telephone interview with The Associated Press. “It would be a continuing issue.”
“Premier Redford is showing her hand as just another lobbyist and bully with these veiled threats,” said BOLD Nebraska Executive Director Jane Kleeb. “Can you picture President Obama, Secretary Kerry, or any other legitimate politician making these same sorts of threats on behalf of a private corporation?”
The Keystone XL tar sands pipeline will carry toxic tar sands from Alberta to the Gulf Coast before exporting refined products to foreign countries like China and Venezuela. The route runs through the Ogallala Aquifer, one of the country’s largest sources of freshwater. A spill in the aquifer would affect irrigation and drinking water for millions of Americans. A thorough risk analysis of the effects of a worst-case spill in aquifer has not been completed.
