Emails between lobbyists for the TransCanada pipeline -- which, if given the go-ahead by the government will move oil from Canada's oil sands to the Gulf Coast -- and State Department officials show a "warm and collaborative relationship," The New York Times' Elisabeth Rosenthal reports. Environmental activists have been protesting the proposed pipeline for weeks, and the group Friends of the Earth, which got the emails through a Freedom of Information Act request, say they show "complicity" between the government and TransCanada.
Rosenthal reports the emails "show a senior State Department official at the United States Embassy in Ottawa procuring invitations to Fourth of July parties for TransCanada officials, sharing information with the company about Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton's meetings and cheering on TransCanada in its quest to gain approval of the giant pipeline, which could carry 700,000 barrels a day."
Former vice-president Al Gore, a Democrat, and current Nebraska Gov. Dave Heineman, a Republican, have both come out against the pipeline. Gore says the tar sands are "the dirtiest source of fuel on the planet," while Heineman is worried the pipeline will risk the Ogallala Aquifer, where Nebraska gets nearly 80 percent of its drinking water.
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Elspeth Reeve
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