Keystone pipeline proposal pumps out more controversy

Posted on September 23, 2011 by Staff under Controversy, Energy

A major pipeline expansion project in the U.S. drew new criticism Thursday over potential job losses in Canada, threats to endangered species, and an emerging lobbying controversy.

Major labour unions representing oil workers told federal politicians they were opposed to the Keystone XL pipeline project that would link Alberta’s bitumen deposits to the Gulf coast of Texas.

They are urging Prime Minister Stephen Harper‘s government to focus on pipelines and electric grids that secure Canadian energy from east to west instead of shipping tens of thousands of jobs to refineries down south.

“They get the jobs (in the U.S. through the Keystone XL project) and we end up with the environmental mess that’s left over,” said Dave Coles, president of the Communications, Energy and Paperworkers Union of Canada, at a news conference.

Coles said the union representatives met with about 20 MPs, but were unable to speak to anyone from the government about promoting new refineries in Canada.

Their concerns were quickly dismissed moments later by Harper’s government in the House of Commons.

“The fact is the oilsands are responsible for over 140,000 jobs across Canada,” said Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver in response to questions from Laurin Liu, the NDP MP for Rivière des Mille Îles. “The job number is expected to grow to almost half a million jobs. . Employment in Canada is much too important to be used to make political gains.”

The multi-billion dollar pipeline expansion, proposed by Alberta-based TransCanada, also came under attack through a petition submitted by environmental groups to U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar, which suggested the project should not be approved because it supports oilsands production that is threatening species at risk such as the whooping crane and woodland caribou.

The petition also coincided with the release of emails from a TransCanada lobbyist, Paul Elliott, who had worked as campaign manager for U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, revealing details of how the company offered to support the Obama administration’s efforts to broker a climate change deal at a 2009 conference in Copenhagen.

“TransCanada executives spend a great deal of time with Ottawa government officials and we’ve established strong working relationships that might be an asset for the U.S. during the UN Conference in Copenhagen,” said one of the emails sent by Elliott to Clinton’s office on Dec. 6, 2009. “If there is a message and or topics that the State Department would welcome us to encourage with Canadian government officials, I am happy to pass on that direction to the senior executive leadership team of TransCanada.”