State Dept. says Keystone XL will create fewer jobs than promised

Supporters of the Keystone XL pipeline claim that the project will be a rich source of jobs, but critics say their numbers don't add up and any boost in jobs will be temporary.

The controversial TransCanada project would move tar sands oil - diluted bitumen - from northern Alberta, Canada 1,700 miles across the U.S. to refineries along the Gulf of Mexico through a three foot wide pipe that would cross North Dakota, Montana, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas.

TransCanada and the American Petroleum Institute say that the project will generate at least 20,000 jobs, but the U.S. State Dept., which considered the project's socioeconomic impact as part of the still ongoing permit process, puts the number far lower.

"During construction, there would be temporary, positive socioeconomic impacts as a result of local employment, taxes on worker income, spending by construction workers, and spending on construction goods and services," the agency said. "The construction workforce would consist of approximately 5,000 to 6,000 workers, including Keystone employees, contractor employees, and construction and environmental inspection staff."

Advocates for the pipeline say that building it will have a multiplier effect because many new jobs will be created to serve the construction work force.

An economic impact study by the Perryman Group, commissioned by TransCanada, found that the project would create 118,935 "person-years" of employment.

The Cornell Global Labor Institute recently published an analysis of the Keystone jobs claims that criticizes the methodology of the Perryman report.

"Person-years," said Institute Director Sean Sweeney, is an  inappropriate way to talk about the economic impact of the project because people will easily confuse that for the total number of jobs the project would create. And that is exactly what is happening.

On June 23, as he hailed the passage of a bill to expedite a decision on the Keystone pipeline, House Energy Committee Chair Rep. Fred Upton said that the pipeline would "create more than 100,000 jobs."

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.

More on Nebraska oil lobbyist's Astroturf tactics to plead Keystone XL case

OMAHA, Neb. - Rainforest Action Network's Brant Olson, who has been investigating the use of fake Twitter accounts to tweet propaganda in favor of TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline, has discovered that a Republican operative working on behalf of the Nebraska Energy Forum, a pro-tar sands front group, has created multiple Twitter profiles in order to create the illusion of grassroots support for the toxic pipeline.”

According to RAN, the office of a former Nebraska senator working for the American Petroleum Institute (API) appears to have set up more than a dozen fake Twitter accounts to promote the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada's tar sands.

Followers of the #tarsands hashtag on Twitter may have noticed a strange spike in posts in August. Within three minutes, 15 accounts all posted the message "#tarsands the truth is out!" linking to API's web page about oil sands. Then came another post from the same accounts, this time linking to the Nebraska Energy Forum, one of 26 state-based-front-groups sponsored by API in the leadup to the 2012 election. Then came a flurry of posts from those same accounts, all linking to a post on "publicaffairsinformant.com" touting KeystoneXL and linking back to the Nebraska Energy Forum.

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.

Industry spending on lobbying increases, more goes to Democrats

ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil and other energy companies have increased the amount they are spending on lobbying this year as Congress crafts new climate and energy legislation.
Devon Energy spent more in the second quarter lobbying lawmakers than it did all of last year, mostly on climate-change and energy proposals, according to a report filed this week with the Senate. "This is a very unusual time in Washington," said Devon spokesman Chip Minty. "It's an extremely challenging environment."
The American Petroleum Institute has increased its spending from $2.3 million in the first six months of 2008 to $3.7 million so far this year. API spokesman Robert Dodge says the increase reflects changes in the "political world" with the new Obama administration and a strengthened Democratic position in Congress.
According to an article by Jeanne Cummings in Politico.com on July 21,
Behind the new API drive is Jack Gerard, who took the helm at API last fall after three years at the American Chemical Council. During his tenure there, Gerard transformed the trade association from a Republican-bent insider's club to a more bipartisan, grass-roots-oriented player.