Obama rejects Keystone XL line from Canada, triggering controversy

WASHINGTON - The Obama administration on Jan. 18 denied a permit for the Keystone XL oil pipeline from Canada, touching off a torrent of criticism from Republicans, whom the White House blamed for forcing a decision.

President Barack Obama, who was under a 60-day deadline imposed by congressional Republicans, left open the door to approve the 1,661-mile pipeline in the future. He also suggested the possibility of an alternative pipeline that could get Canadian oil sands crude to refineries and ports in Texas.

The company that wants to build Keystone XL, TransCanada Corp., said on Jan. 18 that it would apply for a new permit which, if approved, would allow the pipeline to be built by late 2014.

Environmentalists had made the project a test case on whether the administration was serious about fighting climate change. And though Obama didn't rule out future pipelines, they declared victory.

Business groups, congressional Republicans and the GOP's presidential candidates hammered Obama for rejecting the project, which they said would create jobs.

In a statement, Obama said he was siding with his State Department and denying the permit because of a "rushed and arbitrary deadline" that congressional Republicans attached to a payroll tax-cut extension in December.

"This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people," Obama said.

Obama said his administration would "continue to look for new ways to partner with the oil and gas industry to increase our energy security," and he said that would include a potential pipeline from Cushing, Okla., to the Texas Coast. An existing Keystone pipeline from the oil sands ends at Cushing. Extending it could be an alternative way of getting the oil sands crude to the Gulf Coast.

The administration's decision was a delay, but not necessarily the end of the line, when it comes to linking Canada's oil sands with Texas. The State Department last summer said it found no major environmental problems with the pipeline, but later it changed course because of concerns about the pipeline's route through Nebraska's sensitive Sand Hills region and asked for a review of alternative routes.

TransCanada president Russ Girling said the company would reapply for a permit and "largely maintain the construction schedule of the project." He said a route would be found by October to avoid the Sand Hills.

But he charged that "until this pipeline is constructed," the U.S. will continue to import oil from "foreign countries who do not share democratic values Canadians and Americans are privileged to have. Thousands of jobs continue to hang in the balance if this project does not go forward."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney, who spoke before the administration announced its decision, blamed Republicans for launching a "purely partisan effort to score a political point." He said the State Department had warned that forcing a decision within 60 days "would make it virtually impossible for an adequate review."

He said the concerns under review included environmental effects on air and water quality in Nebraska and a request by Nebraska's governor to consider an alternate route.

"We don't even have an alternate route identified yet, so how could anyone possibly review it thoroughly in the manner that is expected in this process?" he said.

Carney insisted Obama doesn't necessarily oppose the construction of pipelines.

"This president's commitment to expanding domestic oil and gas production is firm," he said.

Environmental groups opposed the Keystone XL pipeline chiefly because of climate change, but also because of the risk of oil spills. Canada's oil sands require more energy to extract and refine the crude, and that means a greater release of greenhouse gases than from refining conventional oil. They also argued that oil sands crude wouldn't improve energy security because it could be exported from Texas ports. 

President Barack Obama's rejection of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline demonstrates a "clear lack of leadership" and that politics played a role in the ruling, said Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute. Gerard said that API would pursue all legal and legislative options to get the pipeline constructed. "These are serious national decisions that shouldn't be made on political whims. The president has fallen victim to a small group that is anti-oil and gas," he added.

President Barack Obama should overturn his decision to reject TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, several House Republicans said, arguing that otherwise job generation and the country's push for energy independence would be affected. "It's not too often that the president of the United States has the opportunity, with one swipe of his pen, to increase private sector jobs by thousands of employees, while at the same time increasing our energy independency and energy security," said Rep. Ben Quayle, R-Ariz. "This is the wrong decision at the wrong time," he added.

Republicans are studying alternative ways to get TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline built after the Obama administration decided to reject the project. "This is not the end of the fight. Republicans in Congress will continue to push this because it is good for our country, it is good for the economy and it's good for the American people," said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee will hold a hearing next week on President Barack Obama's rejection of TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline, and committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., has invited Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to testify. The State Department was in charge of the review of the project.

Republicans pushed President Barack Obama to reject TransCanada's Keystone XL pipeline when they shortened the decision-making schedule for the project, said House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "If the Republicans care so much about the Keystone pipeline, they would not have narrowed the president's options by putting it on the time frame that they did," Pelosi said. "They left him very little choice."

API says Keystone XL construction would create 20,000 jobs

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Construction of the TransCanada Keystone XL pipeline to the U.S. Gulf Coast could create 20,000 jobs during the two-year construction phase if approved by the Obama administration, the American Petroleum Institute said on Aug. 18.

API joined the Teamsters Union in a teleconference to call for swift action by the U.S. State Department to approve the 2,000-mile Keystone XL pipeline that would transport crude oil from Canada's oil stands to the United States.

The project has been delayed for nearly three years as officials examine the pipeline's potential environmental impacts.

Environmentalists argue oilsands production results in higher greenhouse-gas emissions than traditional crude oil.

An environmental group called Tar Sands Action has been holding rallies in front of the White House to protest against the oil sands project, which the group calls "the largest carbon bomb in North America."

On July 26, the House of Representatives voted 279-147 in favor of a  bill that would force the State Department to decide on a permit for the pipeline by Nov. 1.

The majority of the jobs created will be union jobs, says James Kimball, chief economist with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

The project would increase Teamsters pipeline employment in the United States by approximately 40 percent, Kimball said.

Another quarter of a million jobs could be created to support pipeline activities, according to Kimball.

Oil lobby resorts to fake Twitter posts to promote Keystone XL pipeline

Someone working in or for the oil industry appears to be resorting to astroturfing to bolster support for the controversial proposed Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry tar sands oil from Alberta down to Texas if approved by the Obama administration.

The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) thinks the American Petroleum Institute and its oil lobby allies are behind a slew of fake Twitter accounts designed to give the impression that public opinion is for the pipeline.

The proposal has raised concerns among environmentalists, farmers, ranchers, and landowners, however. Many tweeps following the debate have been using the hash tag "#tarsands" to discuss the pipeline.

On Aug. 3, RAN noticed a group of Twitter handles posting the same tweet, "#tarsands the truth is out!" followed by a link to the American Petroleum Institute Web page about the tar sands. Then those accounts sent out another link, this time to the Nebraska Energy Forum, a state-based group sponsored by API that has also been heavily involved in promoting tar sands development.

RAN's Brant Olson has compiled a list of the apparently fake handles.

Take, for example, droidude7816, j"a regular old Star Wars fan from Chicago who's in a intimate relationship with his girlfriend Sarah." His short self-description also notes, "I own pretty much every starwar movie, action figure etc.," and "I'm also one who cares about the environment." It even has a little photo of a guy having a light-saber fight with Darth Vader! But all of his 27 tweets are about Keystone XL.

There's also SarahMama2, who claims to be just your average mother of a toddler who happens to tweet compulsively about the pipeline. And there's JennyJohnson10, "a single woman that works full time at a fitness center" and has "2 cats 1 dog and 1 snake" but only tweets about the tar sands. Or her Twitter friend kyleland1, who claims to be a Pizza Hut manager from Omaha who believes that "if you like pizza you should also like #keystonexl and the sweet #oilsands it benefits #nebraska." (Source: Kate Sheppard, Mother Jones, Aug. 4, 2011)

Oil industry launches ad campaign to tout Keystone XL approval

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The American Petroleum Institute is launching a new advertising and media campaign designed to boost support for domestic oil production and the proposed Keystone XL pipeline that would deliver Canadian tar sands crude to Gulf Coast refineries.

The campaign, dubbed "Keys to the Future," is the latest bid by the oil industry’s largest U.S. trade group to advance the controversial pipeline project, which is currently under State Department review.

Ads are already running in inside-the-Beltway publications distributed on Capitol Hill. Online and print advertising also will appear in nine key states: Arkansas, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Wisconsin.

API President Jack Gerard told reporters that the "campaign will help policy makers and the public understand the oil and natural gas industry is a major and constructive force in rebuilding our economy and that it stands ready to do much more."

The advertising push is focusing first on energy security. API is touting its blueprint for weaning the U.S. off oil imported from countries outside North America. Under the analysis, the U.S. could get 92 percent of its liquid energy needs domestically and from Canada by 2030 - compared to 62 percent today.

But that forecast assumes the U.S. approves the Keystone XL pipeline that would transport oilsands crude from Alberta to southeast Texas. It also is contingent on a jump in biofuels production, from eight percent today to 14 percent in 2030.

API’s prediction also is wedded to boosted domestic oil and gas production both on and offshore - including in areas such as along the Pacific Coast where there is strong resistance to offshore drilling.

API has been lobbying Congress and the administration for increased access to domestic oil and gas reserves and approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

"It’s taken policymakers far too long to take these constructive steps to generate jobs and generate revenues to the federal government," Gerard said.

Critics argue that there's no guarantee that boosted domestic oil and gas drilling - or even imported products from Canada - would remain in the U.S., especially given that the U.S. was a net exporter of petroleum products in February and March, even as gas prices soared.

API belatedly decides to make many of its safety standards public

WASHINGTON - The American Petroleum Institute (API) announced on Aug. 23 that it is making publicly available online for the first time more than 160 safety standards.
API has been criticized for controlling distribution of the standards. The standards were not easily accessible to the public, with copies available at the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and API in Washington, but were not available online where an interested citizen could access them.
The move comes as PHMSA regulators are being criticized for adopting as federal regulations many standards written by the industry.
API has admitted that all or part of 27 standards on pipeline safety that were later adopted by the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and its predecessors were in fact written by industry panels.
The now-defunct Minerals Management Service was also dependent on the oil and natural gas industry for developing standards.
In a statement announcing that the standards would be made available online, API President Jack Gerard said: “As API standards have been referenced in the federal register in rulemaking procedures, having copies available for public review in only a few locations did not meet our industry's goal of transparency. The industry's standards represent our commitment to
safe and successful operations and practices. Wider access through
online viewing platforms is part of our public commitment.”
The 160 standards that will be posted online - about one-third of the
total body of standards written by API - will include all regulations that
have been adopted by reference in federal regulations and all standards that relate to safety, API says.

U.S Dept. of Interior, API in dust-up over oil and gas development

WASHINGTON - The Interior Department has fired back at American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard, saying he made several "inaccurate statements" on Jan. 26 when charging the Obama administration with slowing development of oil and gas resources.
"Mr. Gerard needs to check his facts before making statements that are so far off the mark," said Interior spokeswoman Kendra Barkoff. "Oil and gas production on federal lands and waters is up - not down - from 2008, and under Secretary (Ken) Salazar's leadership, the Department has offered more than 56 million additional acres for development."
She added, "Interior's agencies will continue to promote oil and gas development in the right ways, in the right places, and with a fair return for the American taxpayer, regardless of the political spears Mr. Gerard may throw on any given day."
In a conference call with reporters, Gerard sharply criticized Interior's actions that he said have led to a dramatic drop in the leasing of federal land and waters for oil and natural gas development. Since Salazar took office, Gerard said, acreage leased "has shrunk to the lowest level on record." He also said revenues from lease sales in 2009 were less than $1 billion, compared with $10 billion a year earlier.
Interior disputed his claims, saying that last year the administration offered "more acres for lease than several years on record." In fiscal 2009, Interior said, the administration offered more than eight million more acres for oil and gas development, onshore and offshore, than in fiscal 2006.
The department also said the acreage offered far exceeded the oil and gas industry's demand in 2009. For example, the Bureau of Land Management offered 3.8 million acres in fiscal 2009 for oil and gas production, but industry bid on only 1.8 million acres.
Revenues from oil and gas lease sales in 2009 were in line with recent years, the department said. Since 2001, four years showed higher oil and gas bonus revenues, and four years showed lower revenues. The $10 billion in revenues generated in 2008 by oil and gas lease sales "is an anomaly and is largely due to high prices on world markets," it said.
But API defended Gerard's statements.
"API stands by our facts," spokeswoman Karen Matusic said.