FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Keystone XL Pipeline “Clone” Ready to Pump 800,000 Barrels of Tar Sands a Day Across Canadian Border With State Department Blessing ____________________________ New investigative report by Washington Spectator reveals how Canadian company Enbridge used deceptive measures and State Department complicity to push through cross-border pipeline with same capacity as hotly contested KXL Pipeline ____________________________ WASHINGTON DC, NOVEMBER 11, 2014 – As Republicans gird to push through the controversial Keystone XL pipeline that would pump 830,000 bbl/day of tar sands to the United States across the Canadian border, another pipeline with equal capacity is being built outside the public eye and outside the legal process. Canadian pipeline company Enbridge is on track to achieve what has eluded TransCanada since 2008: a high-volume pipeline connecting Alberta’s tar sands with refineries in the United States. The biggest tar sands spigot to date—the Alberta Clipper pipeline—is set to open six to eight months from now. In an exhaustive analysis of annual reports, State Department documents, and interviews with Enbridge officials and attorneys, the Washington Spectator uncovers the tactics of Enbridge to push through a KXL clone without the robust public process demanded by the law. Any cross-border pipeline requires a Presidential Permit and State Department sanction that the project is “in the National Interest.” But Enbridge took matters into its own hands, using creative interpretations of an existing 1967 permit to circumvent the law and public opinion. The article will be available online today at noon EST at washingtonspectator.org. The State Department has denied FOIA requests on the matter in what appears to be a deliberate effort to keep the press and public in the dark. Environmental groups will announce a lawsuit against the State Department for colluding with Enbridge to circumvent environmental laws and needed Presidential approval in Washington tomorrow. The Alberta Clipper is an existing pipeline with 450,000 bbl/day capacity. In 2012, Enbridge sought State Department approval to expand it to full capacity of over 800,000 bbl/day. A major change of this kind triggers National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) review and requires a Presidential Permit for the cross-border segment. Impatient with the State Department’s silence 18 months later, Enbridge devised a novel approach to evade the law, hooking the Clipper up to an existing cross-border pipeline, the so-called “Line 3” pipeline approved in 1967. The State Department rubberstamped the approach, and the Clipper should be operating at full capacity my mid-2015. “The State Department has been fully briefed on the interconnection and provided Enbridge with a letter on July 24, 2014, concluding that ‘Enbridge’s intended changes to the pipeline outside of the border segment do not require authorization from the U.S. Department of State,’” says Terri Larson, an executive at Enbridge’s Houston office. Lou Dubose, the author of the investigative report, can be reached at 202-352-0141, 512-567-0752,[email protected] **** The Washington Spectator is a nonprofit, reader-supported monthly periodical of national affairs now celebrating its 40th anniversary. The Spectator delivers fact-based, uncompromising reporting on significant stories ignored by the mainstream press, and provides insight and analysis on trending developments in the news. The Spectator enjoys a robust paid circulation of 40,000 and is read online at washingtonspectator.org. The Washington Spectator is published by The Public Concern Foundation, an educational foundation committed to a vigorous public discourse. Lou Dubose, the author of this article on the Enbridge pipeline, has been the Editor of The Washington Spectator since 2007. Based in Austin, Texas, Dubose co-wrote two books with Molly Ivins on the Bush presidency, and a political biography of former Republican Majority Leader Tom DeLay. He has been interviewed on news programs such as 60 Minutes, NOW with Bill Moyers,[3]The Rachel Maddow Show,[4]Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman,[5]Fresh Air,[6]PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton,[7]andThe OReilly Factor. Lou Dubose can be reached at [email protected] Hamilton Fish is the Publisher and Editorial Director of The Washington Spectator. A former publisher of The Nation magazine, Mr. Fish is also a documentary film producer, having produced the Academy Award-winning Hotel Terminus and the soon-to-be-released Food Chains, which chronicles the struggle of the Immokalee workers, the coalition of tomato pickers in Central Florida. Mr. Fish also serves as the Chair of the Board of Visitors of the School of Global Journalism and Communications at Morgan State University. Hamilton Fish can be reached at hf@hamiltonfish
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 17:32:35 +0000
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