State Department hid oil industry ties in Keystone XL report

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 15:53:00 +0000

As Salon noted earlier this month, following the release of the State Department's Environmental Impact Statement, which greenlighted the controversial Keystone XL Pipeline, it emerged that the report's authors were outside contractors with oil industry ties. “Unmentioned by State: the study was contracted out to firms with tar sands extraction clientele," DeSmog Blog's Steve Horn wrote.

On Thursday Mother Jones reported that the State Department not only didn't mention these connections, but took pains to hide them:

State Dept. says no environmental bar to Keystone XL

Fri, 01 Mar 2013 22:27:00 +0000

To the chagrin of environmentalists opposed to the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, a State Department report released Friday afternoon stated there is no conclusive environmental reason it should not be built.

The report makes no recommendations for the president's anticipated decision on whether or not to approve the project, which will carry crude oil from Alberta’s tar sands to the Gulf Coast, while -- according to opponents -- producing high levels of carbon emissions, disturbing communities and adding to the coffers of oil magnates such as the Koch brothers. Friday's lengthy report suggests environmental objections have been overestimated by the project's critics. Via the New York Times:

Salon.com > crude oil

State Department hid oil industry ties in Keystone XL report

State Dept. says no environmental bar to Keystone XL