E-Mails Reflect U.S. Bias In Favor of Tar Sands Pipeline, Group Says

Environmental groups say newly released e-mails between U.S. State Department officials and a lobbyist for the controversial Keystone XL pipeline reveal a disturbing level of “complicity” and a bias by the regulators who will soon decide the fate of the project. The e-mails, the second batch to be obtained by the group Friends of the Earth through a Freedom of Information Act request, reveal at times an almost collaborative relationship between Marja D. Verloop, an energy and environment counselor for the State Department, and Paul Elliott, a lobbyist representing TransCanada, the company looking to build the 1,800-mile pipeline that would deliver crude oil from Alberta’s tar sands to the U.S. Gulf of Mexico coast. In one exchange, Verloop congratulates Elliott over a recent project endorsement by U.S. Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana). “Go Paul!” she wrote. “Baucus support holds clout.” Damon Moglen, director of climate and energy projects for Friends of the Earth, said the e-mails suggest that the agency sees itself as “a facilitator of TransCanada’s plans.” The State Department, which will have final approval of the pipeline, said in August that the project would have “limited adverse environmental effects” if operated according to regulations.