Home » News » Enviros blast pipeline companies ahead of Obama’s decision
News
Enviros blast pipeline companies ahead of Obama’s decision
News Articles | Nick Juliano | E&E reporters | December 06, 2012
Read the full article on the originating site
As pressure mounts from both sides ahead of President Obama's crucial decision on whether to approve a controversial international oil pipeline, activists are taking direct aim at the two largest pipeline companies in Canada.
A new report released today by the National Wildlife Federation accuses TransCanada Corp. -- which is behind the proposed Alberta-to-Texas Keystone XL pipeline -- of abusing eminent domain powers, not properly consulting with American Indian tribes and obscuring its safety record. The report also takes aim at Enbridge Inc., which operated the pipeline that burst in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 2010 and has a variety of other lines transmitting oil from Alberta's oil sands.
The report comes as NWF and other groups continue to urge Obama to block construction of the Keystone pipeline, which they say would devastate the climate because of high greenhouse gas emissions generated through extraction of the oil sands crude it would carry as well as local environmental concerns in Nebraska.
Obama is expected to decide whether to approve the pipeline around the end of March 2013 -- a decision that environmentalists and industry both say will provide insight into his plans for a second term.
"Clearly Keystone doesn't fit in with creating a legacy on climate," said Joe Mendelson, NWF's director of climate and energy policy.
