For Immediate Release
March 16, 2012
WASHINGTON D.C. — The Institute for Energy Research filed a Freedom of Information Act request today with the Environmental Protection Agency, seeking key documents regarding the Obama administration’s decision to delay and ultimately deny the Keystone XL pipeline permit.
“After more than three years of study, the State Department failed to decide whether or not the pipeline was in the national interest. After Congress imposed a deadline to make a decision, President Obama rejected the pipeline application on Jan. 18, 2012, arguing that making a decision after more than three years of study was ‘rushed and arbitrary,'” wrote IER Director of Regulatory and State Affairs, Dan Simmons.
“One troubling aspect of the President’s decision is that it appears to have been influenced by political factors and not whether the pipeline is in the national interest.”
IER requested copies of all communications and correspondence regarding the Keystone XL pipeline between the EPA and:
- The Executive Office of the President
- The U.S. State Department
- U.S. Senator Mike Johanns and his staff
- U.S. Senator Ben Nelson and his staff
- Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman and his staff
- Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality
- Bold Nebraska
- League of Conservation Voters
- Natural Resources Defense Council
- Sierra Club
“For the past three years, the Environmental Protection Agency has been working overtime to blockade domestic energy development and impose the agenda of environmental extremists on the country,” according to IER President Thomas Pyle. “The American people have a right to know whether EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson or other federal regulators exerted pressure to delay and ultimately deny the Keystone XL pipeline permit. Only a full disclosure from EPA can remove questions about the agency’s ability to use its regulatory authority to promote clean air and water rather than engage in ideologically-driven crusades against traditional energy sources.”
To read the FOIA request letter, click here.
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