Environmentalists brace for decision on massive oil pipeline project

Environmentalists are bracing for a decision from the State Department on a massive proposed pipeline project that would transport oil sands crude from Canada to Texas.

The State Department, which is heading a multi-agency review of the Keystone XL project, is expected to complete the review in 2011. But at least one environmental group is weighing the chances that the decision could come during the holiday season.

In an e-mail to reporters Wednesday, National Wildlife Federation (NWF) spokesman Tony Iallonardo said, “NWF’s sources are saying there’s less than a fifty-fifty chance that the State Department will make an announcement on the controversial Keystone XL tar sands pipeline over the holiday season, but it’s certainly still possible.”

NWF, the Sierra Club and other environmental groups have mounted an opposition campaign against the project, pointing to the greenhouse gases emitted during oil sands production and warning of the potential for future oil spills.

The groups have targeted Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, arguing she is predisposed to approve the project. In October, Clinton said she was “inclined” to approve it, though the State Department has sought to walk back her comments.

More recently, the environmental group Friends of the Earth said Clinton might have a conflict of interest in the review because a former staffer for her presidential campaign now works as a lobbyist for TransCanada, the company that proposed the pipeline project. The State Department pushed back against the accusation, saying, “The Department is considering this permit application on its merits. The Department is not, and will not, be influenced by prior relationships that current government officials have had.”

Environmentalists hope the State Department calls for more environmental review of the Keystone XL project rather than issuing a final environmental impact statement.

Meanwhile, the oil industry, for its part, is preparing to launch an advertising campaign early next year focusing on “the benefits of oil sands to U.S. consumers.”