US lawmakers will urge Secretary of State Clinton to reject the proposed route of the XL pipeline saying they are concerned the approval process has been tainted by alleged conflicts of interest. This is important and shows all the resistance to the pipeline is having an effect. They are feeling the pressure, let's keep it up.
Representative Earl Blumenauer, a Democrat, will send a letter to Clinton, signed by more than 20 other lawmakers in the House, criticizing how her department has handled the review of TransCanada Corp's $7 billion pipeline proposal to move crude to Texas from Alberta, Canada.
Among other things, the lawmakers are concerned about a report in The New York Times that the contractor the department used to evaluate the environmental impacts of the line, Cardno Entrix, has worked on other projects with TransCanada. They said that raises questions about the impartiality of the environmental assessment.
"These relationships alarmingly suggest that the process may not have been objective, and this decision is too important to be clouded by even the appearance of impropriety," the letter says.
US law allows for US agencies to contract for environmental assessments, but the contractors have to sign a statement verifying that they have no financial interest in the projects outcome.
Cardo was the company chosen to do the assessment and they were chosen by TransCanada the major contractor on the project. This is beyond the pale.
In this case TransCanada recommended Cardno among two other contractors to the department, and paid the contractor, although Cardno answered to the State Department.
Cardno, which also conducted public hearings on Keystone XL for the State Department over the last few weeks, did not disclose it was already working with TransCanada on another project, the Bison natural gas line, according to documents seen by Reuters and obtained from the State Department by Friends of the Earth, an environmental group and staunch opponent of Keystone XL.
This is not acceptable and is showing extreme conflict of interest and manipulation.
The State Department issued a final assessment in August that said the pipeline would have only minor impacts on the environment.
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But the lawmakers said the State Department is moving too fast and the assessment did not adequately study the risks to the aquifer. "Any manipulation of the EIS process taints its outcome, and makes the final product unacceptable as the basis for a finding of national interest," the lawmakers said in the letter. "We request that you find the proposed route not in the national interest"
Here is copy of letter signed by house members to Secretary of State Clinton.
Contact your congressperson here to request that they sign on to Rep. Blumenauer's letter.
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