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March 18, 2013

Oil-Linked Firms Provided Research for State Dept.'s Keystone XL Review 
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A State Department review that could help clear the way for the Keystone
XL oil pipeline was based, in part, on research conducted by two firms
with ties to big oil companies and even a potential financial interest
in the project's approval. According to Inside Climate News, the section
of the report concluding the Keystone XL's completion would not impact
the rate of development in Canada's oil sands was based on analysis by
the companies En Sys Energy and ICF International. En Sys' client list
includes Exxon Mobil and Koch Industries, both of which have financial
ties to the extraction of tar sands oil. The companies' research
challenges environmentalists' argument that building the Keystone XL
would lead to additional extraction of tar sands oil and the release of
dangerous levels of carbon into the atmosphere.

 

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