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Conflict of Interest, Cronyism Revealed as Details Leak on TransCanada’s Keystone XL
By Kate Colarulli, Sierra Club
Friday, October 21, 2011
Read this blog post on the originating site
Key documents have recently come to light, exposed by a Friends of the Earth "Freedom of Information Act" request. The documents paint a disturbing picture of negligent mismanagement by the State Department and TransCanada's successful efforts to manipulate any attempts to objectively review the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.
This week the New York Times went public with the story revealing that the State Department "flouted the intent of federal law" in hiring a major client of TransCanada, Cardno Entrix to oversee the third-party environmental assessment of the pipeline.
Voicing their dismay and concern, Senators Bernie Sanders, Patrick Leahy, and Ron Wyden sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton about the conflict of interests with TransCanada and a contractor.
From the letter (PDF):
On October 7, 2011, the New York Times reported that TransCanada was permitted by the Department of State to screen possible contractors and, for all intents and purposes, to select the one that would prepare the (Environmental Impact Statement – EIS) mandated by the National Environmental Policy Act. The articles states that TransCanada successfully recommended to the Department of State that it select Cardno Entrix to conduct the environmental review, despite the fact that Cardno Entrix lists TransCanada as a “major client.” The article goes on to state that Cardno Entrix may not have fully disclosed all of its work for TransCanada in the conflict of interest affidavit required in the EIS, despite the conflict its relationship with TransCanada presents in this case. Cardno Entrix also apparently played a significant role in organizing public hearings on the pipeline proposal.
Senator Harry Reid has seconded these concerns, sending a letter to Secretary Clinton "saying he has ‘serious concern’ about allowing TransCanada to construct and operate a 1,700-mile-long pipeline between Hardisty, Alberta, and Port Arthur, Tex."
Another excellent quote from Reid:
The proponents of this pipeline would be wiser to invest instead in job-creating clean energy projects, like renewable power, energy efficiency or advanced vehicles and fuels that would employ thousands of people in the United States rather than increasing our dependency on unsustainable supplies of dirty and polluting oil that could easily be exported.
These concerns are magnified by third party assessment of Cardno Entrix's assessment and a continual unfolding of suspicious events.
Most recently the Sierra Club has learned that over 25,000 opposition comments submitted by its members have been "lost" by Cardno Entrix. Attempts to ensure that these comments are noted have been rejected by the same State Department bureaucrats who hired Cardno Entrix. These concerns have been raised with Deputy Assistant Secretary Kerri Ann Jones, but no explanation has been forthcoming from the State Department.
The integrity of Cardno Entrix's work has been further undermined by the Environmental Protection Agency which has twice called the Environmental Impact Statement "inadequate." The EPA has found that the EIS, "does not provide scope or detail of analysis to fully inform decision makers and the public."
According to EPA, the State Department ignored greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution at refineries, pipeline safety and spill response, potential impacts to environmental justice communities, and wetlands and migratory birds. State also limited review of spills into waterways 10 miles from the pipeline, and wells 1 mile. However, the Kalamazoo tar sands pipeline spill plume reached 40 miles away.
The EPA and several other federal agencies get a final say on Keystone XL's approval:
In addition, an executive order (PDF) explaining the national interest determination - signed by President George W. Bush in 2004 - requires the State Department to garner input from the EPA administrator, the attorney general, as well as the secretaries of Defense, Interior, Commerce, Transportation, Energy and Homeland Security before reaching a final decision about a pipeline such as Keystone XL.
We believe that the exposed conflict of interest should result in a throwing out of the current flawed process and a redo with an actually objective, third party firm. And we hope that President Obama and Secretary of State Clinton will step in to right the situation by disavowing the currently flawed and corrupt process.
To help the President make this decision, we to show him how the American people really feel about tar sands and this mega-pipeline. We need to send him a message he can't ignore about tar sands. On November 6th, the Sierra Club is gathering with allies from around country to encircle the White House and rally against tar sands. We hope you will join us.
And to learn more right away, join us on a conference call with on Tuesday, October 25th, from 5:00 - 6:00pm PT with Executive Director Michael Brune to discuss the Sierra Club's Tar Sands Campaign and learn more about how you can help us stop the expansion of this harmful oil. We'll talk about our plans for the November 6th action, and how you can get involved to help stop the expansion of tar sands.
Tagged with: keystone xl, transcanada, pipeline, sierra club, friends of the earth, cardno entrix
