Environmental Resources Mgmt ERM

<p>=</p><p>8/27</p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; font-family: Verdana, 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Did the Obama administration's decision on the <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/5857" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">Keystone XL</a> tar sands pipeline just get delayed <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/breaking-state-department-delays-keystone-xl-decision-until-2013" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">again</a>? Quite possibly, since the State Department Inspector General<a href="http://business.financialpost.com/2013/08/23/keystone-xl-contractor-review-delayed-until-january/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">announced today</a> that it has delayed until January the release of its review of the<a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-02/calling-all-keystone-xl-cops-the-pipeline-hits-more-snags" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">scandals</a> surrounding <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/directory/vocabulary/12225" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(255, 205, 51); text-decoration: none; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Environmental Resources Management, Inc.</a><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">, the contractor chosen by TransCanada to perform State's Keystone XL environmental review.</span><span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; font-family: Verdana, 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Although the State Department was evasive about whether the IG's announcement signals a delay in the administration's decision, it would seem odd for President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry to decide on the fate of the <a href="http://priceofoil.org/2013/07/11/keystone-xl-the-key-to-crude-exports-new-report/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">KXL export pipeline</a> without waiting for the results of this critical report.  </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; font-family: Verdana, 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a href="http://business.financialpost.com/2013/08/23/keystone-xl-contractor-review-delayed-until-january/" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;"><em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Bloomberg News </em></a>and <em style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/318507-inquiry-by-state-dept-internal-watchdog-could-delay-keystone-xl-decision-until-14" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">The Hill</a> </em>broke the news about the delay, and all signs point to the fact that State's <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-08-02/calling-all-keystone-xl-cops-the-pipeline-hits-more-snags" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">"inquiry"</a> has morphed into a thorough conflicts-of-interest investigation into ERM's financial ties to TransCanada and other scandals.<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> </span></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; font-family: Verdana, 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Ever since the March 2013 release of the State Department's environmental impact statement, critics have pointed to <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/03/11/state-department-keystone-xl-study-oil-industry-big-tobacco-fracking" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">ERM Group's historical ties to Big Tobacco</a>, its green-lighting of controversial projects in <a href="http://desmogblog.com/2013/04/03/state-dept-keystone-xl-contractor-erm-explosive-faulty-peruvian-pipeline-project" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">Peru</a> and the <a href="http://desmogblog.com/2013/04/03/state-dept-keystone-xl-contractor-erm-explosive-faulty-peruvian-pipeline-project" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">Caspian Sea</a>, and its declaration that a <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/07/18/erm-state-department-keystone-xl-contractor-delaware-tar-sands-refinery-air-cleaner" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">tar sands refinery in Delaware made the air "cleaner,"</a> among<a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/08/09/corruption-pipeline-timeline-keystone-xl-misinformation" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">many other industry-friendly rulings</a>.  </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; font-family: Verdana, 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Worst of all, perhaps - and potentially in violation of federal law - <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/07/10/state-dept-contractor-erm-lied-about-transcanada-ties" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">ERM Group lied on its State Department contract</a>, claiming it had no business ties to TransCanada and the tar sands industry. The facts showed otherwise. </p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px; font-family: Verdana, 'Helvetica Neue', helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; line-height: 19.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">This latest development certainly raises the prospect of a further delay, if not another sign that the Keystone XL will be rejected by President Obama. </p><p>=

A <em style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">DeSmogBlog</em> investigation reveals that <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/05/03/obama-anita-dunn-public-relations-keystone-xl-pipeline-tar-sands-rail-transport" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(255, 205, 51); text-decoration: none; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Robert Bauer</a><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">, former </span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">White House Counsel and </span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">President Barack Obama's personal attorney</span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">, works at the corporate law firm </span><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perkins_Coie" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Perkins Coie LLP</a>, which does legal work for <span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">TransCanada's<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.gasline.alaska.gov/newsroom/Presentations/SCLNG%20-%20HRES%20Lunch%20%26%20Learn%202.19.13.pdf" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">South Central LNG Project</a><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">, formerly known as<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://thealaskapipelineproject.com/" target="_blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Alaska Gas Pipeline Project</a><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">.

Furthermore, </span><a href="http://dnr.alaska.gov/commis/sullivan.htm" target="_blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Dan Sullivan</a><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">,</span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> current Commissioner of Alaska's Department of Natural Resources, and former Alaska Attorney General and former Assistant Secretary of State in the </span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Bush Administration,</span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> is a former Perkins attorney. </span></p>

<p>

These findings come in the immediate aftermath of a recent investigation revealing the contractor hired by Obama's U.S. State Department to do the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the northern half of TransCanada's<a href="http://priceofoil.org/2013/07/11/keystone-xl-the-key-to-crude-exports-new-report/" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">Keystone XL tar sands export pipeline</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>- Environmental Resources Management, Inc. (ERM Group) -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/07/10/state-dept-contractor-erm-lied-about-transcanada-ties" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">lied on its June 2012 conflict-of interest filing</a>. <b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">ERM Group</span></b> checked the box on the form saying it had<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/205729.pdf" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">no current business ties to TransCanada</a>.</p>

<p>

In fact,<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/06/27/api-22-million-keystone-xl-lobbying-erm" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">ERM -</a><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/06/27/api-22-million-keystone-xl-lobbying-erm" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;"> a member of the American Petroleum Institute (API)</a>, which has<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/06/27/api-22-million-keystone-xl-lobbying-erm" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">spent over $22 million lobbying on tar sands and Keystone XL</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>since 2008 - </span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">does maintain business ties to TransCanada, the investigation revealed. This includes</span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> an ongoing consulting relationship with South Central LNG, co-owned by TransCanada, ExxonMobil, BP and ConocoPhillips.</span>

<span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Under </span>18 USC § 1001<span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">, making a "</span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation...[to the] </span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States</span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">" </span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">is a<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/1001" target="_blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">crime punishable by up to five years in jail</a>. </span>

<span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">On top of his job at Perkins Coie, Bauer - a well-known architect of </span><a href="http://washingtonindependent.com/95343/good-government-groups-raise-questions-about-new-white-house-ethics-czar" target="_blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">bending campaign finance law to allow more corporate money</a><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> to flood into electoral races - served as general counsel to President Obama’s 2012 reelection campaign. He also serves as general counsel to the Democratic National Committee and did electoral law work for John Kerry's 2004 presidential campaign. </span>

<span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">His wife, </span><a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/2013/05/03/obama-anita-dunn-public-relations-keystone-xl-pipeline-tar-sands-rail-transport" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Anita Dunn</a><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> is the co-owner of SDKnickerbocker, former Obama Communications Director, senior advisor for Obama's 2012 re-election campaign and is </span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">the former communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee under then-Senator Kerry.</span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> She's </span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/20/us/politics/anita-dunn-both-insider-and-outsider-in-obama-camp.html?pagewanted=all&r=0" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">met with top Obama administration officials more than 100 times</a><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>since leaving in 2009, according to a recent <em style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">New York Times</em><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span>investigation. </span></p>

<p>

<span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">Dunn currently does public relations work on behalf of TransCanada</span><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;"> and freight rail industry </span><a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000046852&year=2010" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">lobbying group, American Association of Railroads (AAR)</a><span style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-size: 13px; letter-spacing: 0.03em; line-height: 1.5em;">. The <a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20130603/map-another-major-tar-sands-pipeline-seeking-us-permit" target="blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">tar sands pipeline boom</a> comes alongside a <a href="http://www.desmogblog.com/warren-buffett-exposed-oracle-omaha-and-tar-sands" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">freight rail boom to carry tar sands</a> crude and <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-13/amid-u-dot-s-dot-oil-boom-railroads-are-beating-pipelines-in-crude-transport" target="_blank" style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(51, 153, 204); text-decoration: none;">fracked oil from North Dakota's Bakken Shale</a>.</span>

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<div class="print-breadcrumb"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/">Home</a> > Keystone XL Environmental Consultant ‘Lied’ About TransCanada Ties</div>

<div class="byline environment"><span class="field field-name-field-sources field-type-node-reference field-label-hidden"><span class="field-items"><span class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.ens-newswire.com">Environment News Service</a> <span class="print-footnote">[1]</span></span></span></span></div>

<h1 class="node-title">Keystone XL Environmental Consultant ‘Lied’ About TransCanada Ties</h1>

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<p><strong>WASHINGTON, DC</strong>, July 11, 2013 (ENS) – The latest environmental assessment of the controversial TransCanada Keystone XL tar sands pipeline is flawed because the contractor hired by the U.S. State Department to write the review “lied” on its conflict of interest disclosure form about its past work for TransCanada, finds research released Wednesday by two environmental groups.

The international consultancy Environmental Resources Management was hired by the U.S. State Department in 2012 to write a supplemental assessment of the environmental impact of TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

In their research report, Friends of the Earth and the Checks & Balances Project cite the publicly-available<a href="http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/205729.pdf" target="_blank">conflict of interest disclosure form</a> <span class="print-footnote">[2]</span> signed by ERM Senior Associate Partner Steve Koster, PE, which states, “ERM has no business relationship with TransCanada or its affiliates, and in the attached is certifying that no conflict of interest exists for working on this Project.”

“ERM lied again when it said it had no relationship with any business that would be affected by construction of the Keystone XL, which would carry tar sands oil from northern Alberta to refineries on the Gulf Coast,” Friends of the Earth states in the research report. “In fact, ERM’s own publicly available documents show that the firm has business with over a dozen companies with operating stakes in the Alberta tar sands.”But Friends of the Earth’s review of Environmental Resources Management’s business connections found that, in fact, ERM and TransCanada have worked together at least since 2011 on another pipeline – the Alaska Pipeline Project, a partnership between ExxonMobil and TransCanada designed to connect Alaska’s North Slope natural gas resources to new markets.

Environmental Resources Management, Inc., based in London, UK with 140 offices in 39 countries and territories, was contracted to write the <a href="http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/205719.pdf" target="_blank">Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement</a> <span class="print-footnote">[3]</span>, SEIS, for TransCanada’s proposed Keystone XL tar sands pipeline.

The new 875-mile pipeline would allow delivery of up to 830,000 barrels per day of diluted crude oil from the tar sands of Alberta and the Bakken Shale Formation in Montana and North Dakota to Nebraska for onward delivery to Gulf Coast refineries.

TransCanada has applied for a Presidential Permit which, if granted, would authorize the proposed pipeline to cross the Canada-U.S. border.

The SEIS was required because the State Department’s Final Environmental Impact Statement, FEIS, written by contract consultant Cardno Enterix and issued in August 2011, did not cover a change to the route through Nebraska to avoid the environmentally sensitive Sand Hills region over the Oglalla Aquifer. In February 2012, this FEIS was <a href="http://ens-newswire.com/2012/02/10/oig-report-state-departments-keystone-xl-environmental-review-flawed/" target="blank">criticized</a> <span class="print-footnote">[4]</span> for conflict of interest in a <a href="http://oig.state.gov/documents/organization/183864.pdf" target="blank">report</a> <span class="print-footnote">[5]</span> by the State Department’s own Inspector General.

“From the beginning, the State Department’s review of Keystone has been plagued by influence peddling and conflicts of interest,” said Ross Hammond, senior campaigner for Friends of the Earth.

“This is more serious. If ERM lied about its relationship with TransCanada, how can Secretary Kerry, President Obama or the American people believe anything the company says about the pipeline’s environmental impact?” said Hammond.

Hammond said ERM’s lies call into question the entire Keystone XL environmental review process.

Friends of the Earth and The Checks & Balances Project have called for an investigation by the State Department’s Inspector General into how ERM was hired given these conflicts of interest.

In the wake of the new evidence that ERM lied on State Department disclosure forms, the groups are asking Secretary of State John Kerry to throw out the ERM study and not allow it to determine the Obama Administration’s decision on whether to issue a pipeline permit.

In papers filed with the State Department in June 2012, ERM certified that it had “no existing contract or working relationship with TransCanada” for at least three years.

But public records show that TransCanada, ERM and an ERM subsidiary, Oasis Environmental, have worked together at least since 2011 on the Alaska pipeline project.

On its conflict of interest form, ERM also certified that it had no “direct or indirect relationship … with any business entity that could be affected in any way by the proposed work.”

But ERM’s own publicly available documents show that in the period 2009-2012 the firm was working for over a dozen of the largest energy companies involved in the Canadian tar sands which stand to benefit if the Keystone XL pipeline is built, including Exxon, Shell, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, Total and Syncrude.

ERM employees working on the SEIS had ties to TransCanada. As “Mother Jones” reported, “ERM’s second-in-command on the Keystone report, Andrew Bielakowski, had worked on three previous pipeline projects for TransCanada over seven years as an outside consultant. He also consulted on projects for ExxonMobil, BP, and ConocoPhillips, three of the Big Five oil companies that could benefit from the Keystone XL project and increased extraction of heavy crude oil taken from the Canadian tar sands.”

More recently, Friends of the Earth points to the May 14 version of the LinkedIn profile for Mark Jennings that listed him as Socioeconomic Advisor for ERM. Among his roles for the company were since 2011, “Consultant to ExxonMobil Development Company for the Alaska Pipeline Project,” for which Exxon and TransCanada are partners. But less than a month later, Jennings’ LinkedIn profile made no mention of his work for ERM.

ERM is a member of the American Petroleum Institute, the oil and gas industry’s national trade association, which has spent millions lobbying in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline.

“ERM is not in the business of providing unbiased environmental reviews, but working with clients “all the way to final approval” according to marketing materials,” say the environmental groups. “ERM brags about its record and experience of “Gaining Development Approval and Access to Resources” for oil and gas companies.”

Although the SEIS states, “Construction and operation of the proposed Project would result in numerous impacts to the environment,”it concludes that “approval or denial of the proposed Project is unlikely to have a substantial impact on the rate of development in the oil sands, or on the amount of heavy crude oil refined in the Gulf Coast area.”The State Department’s review of Keystone XL has been <a href="http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/keystone-xl-project-epa-comment-letter-20130056.pdf" target="_blank">criticized by the EPA</a> <span class="print-footnote">[6]</span> and the scientific community for failing to consider the climate and other impacts of the pipeline.

The environmental groups say it is impossible for the State Department to fairly evaluate whether the pipeline is in the national interest when its environmental review was conducted by a company with deep ties to the oil industry.

In April, Checks & Balances Project and 11 environmental, faith-based and public interest organizations called on Secretary of State Kerry and the State Department Deputy Inspector General Harold Geisel to investigate whether Environmental Resources Management hid conflicts of interest which might have excluded it from performing the Keystone XL environmental assessment and how State Department officials failed to flag inconsistencies in ERM’s proposal.

“Secretary Kerry must halt this flawed review process and direct the State Department to conduct a full, unbiased review of the Keystone XL pipeline’s impact,” said Gabe Elsner, director of the nonprofit Checks and Balances Project.

“In addition, the State Department Inspector General should pursue a full investigation into how a contractor with clear conflicts of interest was allowed to write the U.S. government’s assessment of Keystone XL and why the State Department failed to bring those conflicts of interest to light,” said Elsner.

“Finally,” he said, “the State Department should determine appropriate disciplinary actions for ERM to discourage contractors from lying to the federal government in the future.”</p>

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<div class="tags"><em>See more stories tagged with:</em>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/transcanada">transcanada</a> <span class="print-footnote">[7]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/keystone-0">keystone</a> <span class="print-footnote">[9]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item odd"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/tar-sands">tar sands</a> <span class="print-footnote">[10]</span>,</div>

<div class="field-item even"><a href="http://www.alternet.org/tags/pipeline">pipeline</a> <span class="print-footnote">[11]</span></div>

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<div class="print-source_url"><strong>Source URL:</strong> <a href="http://www.alternet.org/environment/keystone-xl-environmental-consultant-lied-about-transcanada-ties">http://www.alternet.org/environment/keystone-xl-environmental-consultant-lied-about-transcanada-ties</a></div>

<p><strong>Links:</strong>

[1] http://www.ens-newswire.com

[2] http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/205729.pdf

[3] http://keystonepipeline-xl.state.gov/documents/organization/205719.pdf

[4] http://ens-newswire.com/2012/02/10/oig-report-state-departments-keystone-xl-environmental-review-flawed/

[5] http://oig.state.gov/documents/organization/183864.pdf

[6] http://www.epa.gov/compliance/nepa/keystone-xl-project-epa-comment-letter-20130056.pdf

[7] http://www.alternet.org/tags/transcanada

[8] http://www.alternet.org/tags/kxl

[9] http://www.alternet.org/tags/keystone-0

[10] http://www.alternet.org/tags/tar-sands

[11] http://www.alternet.org/tags/pipeline

[12] http://www.alternet.org/%2Bnew_src%2B

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State hired corporations to write big chunks of the review, and one of them is called Environmental Resources Management, or ERM. They make their money reviewing big industrial projects, and one of their past clients is none other than TransCanada, the company behind Keystone XL -- a fact that State did not disclose to the public when the review was released.

Somehow, it gets worse. It turns out that ERM is also a dues-paying member of the <b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">American Petroleum Institute, big oil’s top lobbying group that has spent millions trying to get Keystone XL built.</span></b></p>

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<p>When the Keystone report—officially known as a <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2013/03/205548.htm" target="_blank">"draft supplemental environmental impact statement"</a>—was released, environmental activists <a href="http://www.telegram.com/article/20130304/NEWS/103049873/1052/newsrewind">ripped</a> it as shoddy and misleading. Russ Girling, TransCanada's CEO, <a href="http://www.telegram.com/article/20130304/NEWS/103049873/1052/newsrewind">cheered</a> the report as "an important step" toward receiving President Barack Obama's final stamp of approval for the pipeline.</p>

<p>

<b>Outside contractors (managed by the State Department) wrote the Keystone report, which neither endorsed nor rejected the Keystone pipeline. The contractor that produced the bulk of the report was Environmental Resources Management (ERM), an </b><a href="http://www.erm.com/en/About-Us/"><b>international consulting firm</b></a><b>. </b>On the day the State Department published the Keystone impact report, the agency also released a cache of documents that ERM submitted in 2012 to win the contract to produce the Keystone environmental report. That cache included a 55-page filing in which <b>ERM stated it had no conflicts of interests</b> writing the Keystone report.

<b>But there was something strange about ERM's conflict-of-interest filing: The bios for the ERM's experts were redacted.</b></p>

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<p>Here's what those redactions kept secret: <span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">ERM's second-in-command on the Keystone report, </span><a href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/andrew-bielakowski/1b/57b/b46"><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">Andrew Bielakowski</span></a><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">, had worked on three previous pipeline projects for TransCanada over seven years as an outside consultant. He also consulted on projects for </span><b><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">ExxonMobil, BP, and ConocoPhillips</span></b><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">, three of the Big Five oil companies that could benefit from the Keystone XL project and increased extraction of heavy crude oil taken from the Canadian tar sands.</span></p>

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<span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">Another ERM employee who contributed to State's Keystone report—and whose prior work history was also redacted—previously worked for </span><b><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">Shell Oil; a third worked as a consultant for Koch Gateway Pipeline Company, a subsidiary of Koch Industries. </span></b><a href="http://business.financialpost.com/2011/10/24/economic-benefits-will-likely-win-keystone-xl-approval-shell/?__lsa=6421-e085"><b><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">Shell</span></b></a><b><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> and Koch</span></b><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/03/keystone-xl-contractor-ties-transcanada-state-department#update"><b><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">*</span></b></a><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> have a </span><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20120510/koch-industries-brothers-tar-sands-bitumen-heavy-oil-flint-pipelines-refinery-alberta-canada?page=show"><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">significant financial interest</span></a><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> in the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. ERM itself has worked for Chevron, which has invested in Canadian tar sands extraction, according to </span><a href="http://www.erm.com/en/About-Us/What-we-do/Our-Clients/"><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">its website</span></a><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">.</span></p>

<p>

Here is ERM's redacted filing as it appeared on the State Department's website (begin reading on page 30):</p>

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<p>...

ERM spokesman Simon Garcia directed all questions to the State Department. TransCanada spokesman Grady Semmens said that although the company paid for ERM's analysis (as is common practice), TransCanada did not control what State and ERM released to the public. "The Department of State was responsible for posting the conflict of interest statements and has complete control over all activities of ERM," Semmons wrote in an email. "TransCanada does not direct or control ERM's actions in any way. TransCanada does not speak for the State Department with respect to the details of how it manages its review process."

After a half-dozen inquiries, a State Department official emailed this statement: "Some information in the administrative documents that was required for State Department conflict of interest procedures has been redacted.

<b> This redaction protects the private information of ERM's previous clients."</b> Asked who exactly made the redactions, the official said: "On background, I don't know."

The State Department appears to be responsible for the attempt to mask the ERM-TransCanada connection.<span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> When State first posted the redacted ERM filing, it was possible to digitally remove the redaction and read the ERM bios. But some days later, a new version of the filing was posted online in which the ERM bios had been scrubbed from beneath the redactions.</span></p>

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<span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">The State Department has faced heaps of criticism for </span><b><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">potential conflicts of interests</span></b><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> involving TransCanada and Keystone XL. In October 2011, Obama's reelection campaign </span><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/10/team-obama-hires-transcanada-lobbyist" style=" line-height: 24px;"><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">hired</span></a><span style=" font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> Broderick Johnson, who had previously lobbied in favor of Keystone, as a senior adviser. </span></span><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">Emails obtained by Friends of the Earth, an environmental group that opposes the Keystone pipeline, </span><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/10/emails-state-department-transcanada-elliot"><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">revealed a cozy relationship</span></a><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> between TransCanada lobbyist Paul Elliott and Marja Verloop, an official at the US Embassy in Canada whose portfolio covers the Keystone project. Before he lobbied for TransCanada, Elliott </span><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/09/revolving-door-keystone-xl-edition"><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;">worked as deputy campaign manager</span></a><span style=" background-color: #FFF200;"> on Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential bid. Clinton served as secretary of state until recently. </span></p>

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The State Department's<b> inspector general disagreed</b> with critics who cried foul over these apparent conflicts of interest. In February 2012, the IG <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0212/72675.html" target="_blank">found no evidence of bias</a> in State's handling of the application to build the pipeline.  </p>

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mojo</p>

<h1 class="title">Team Obama Hires TransCanada Lobbyist</h1>

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<p class="byline byline-byline">—By <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/authors/kate-sheppard" rel="author">Kate Sheppard</a></p>

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<p>Critics of TransCanada's proposed Keystone XL pipeline are crying foul over yet another example of the<b> revolving door ties between the company and the Obama adminstration</b>. On Monday, the Obama team announced that <b><span style=" color: #ED1C24;">Broderick Johnson</span></b> had been <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66701.html">hired as a senior adviser</a> to the president's reelection campaign. Johnson, a lobbyist at Bryan Cave LLP, had lobbied on behalf of TransCanada.</p>

<p>

According to <a href="http://disclosures.house.gov/" target="_blank">public disclosure forms</a>, Johnson lobbied Congress, agencies, and the White House in support of the pipeline in 2010. Bryan Cave reported $120,000 in lobbying income and six registered lobbyists for the fourth quarter of 2010 alone; it is among <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/client_reports.php?id=D000057745&year=2011">several firms</a> that TransCanada has hired to lobby the US government on its behalf. <b>Johnson, who is the husband of NPR's Michele Norris, has also lobbied on behalf of Anheuser Busch Companies, Comcast, FedEx, and Microsoft.</b></p>

<p>

The Obama campaign doesn't seem too excited to highlight his lobbying work, as <em>Politico</em>'s Mike Allen <a href="http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66701.html#ixzz1bj455wwh">wrote earlier today</a>:</p>

<blockquote>The Obama campaign’s press release did not mention his lobbying experience. But a campaign official said later that Broderick "is no longer a lobbyist — he deregistered in April — and he will not discuss any matters related to his former firm’s clients with the campaign."</blockquote>

<p>Pipeline critics have already raised concerns about the close ties between TransCanada and the Obama administration. Paul Elliot, the company's top lobbyist, was once a national deputy director for Hillary Clinton's 2008 presidential campaign; according to internal emails obtained through a Freedom of Information Request, he has proved to be <a href="http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/10/emails-state-department-transcanada-elliot">well-connected in her office</a>. The former US special envoy on energy also left the State Department earlier this year for a consulting job and has since <a href="http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/09/revolving-door-keystone-xl-edition">advocated for the approval</a> of the pipeline in that role. </p>

<p>

DeSmogBlog, which first coverd Johnson, has <a target="_blank" href="http://www.desmogblog.com/hillary-clinton-keystone-xl-lobbyists">more on the Keystone lobbying connection</a>.

The latest hire in the Obama campaign has provided more fodder for critics in the environmental community. "President Obama ran for office in 2008 promising that the days of lobbyists setting the agenda in Washington were over, yet now he's hired a top oil pipeline lobbyist into his campaign," said Kim Huynh, a campaigner at Friends of the Earth, in a statement. "This is a deeply troubling development. A lobbyist who has taken corporate cash to shill for this dirty and dangerous pipeline now has even more opportunity to whisper into the president's ear."</p>

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