Pipeline firm pumping campaign cash into Neb.
LINCOLN, Neb. — The developer of the Keystone XL pipeline is showering Nebraska public officials with campaign cash as it fights for regulatory approval in a state that is one of the last lines of resistance for the $8 billion project.
A political action committee for TransCanada Inc. has donated more than $65,000 to campaigns within the last year, mostly to Republican state lawmakers, the Nebraska GOP and Gov. Pete Ricketts, according to an Associated Press review of campaign disclosure records.
Pipeline opponents say the company’s contributions show it’s trying to exert influence over the state’s top elected officials at the expense of landowners who don’t want the pipeline running their property.
“There is no question big political donations have bought some politicians,” said Jane Kleeb, president of the Bold Alliance.
Kleeb said her group has worked to recruit and support candidates who openly oppose the Keystone XL pipeline. She noted that activists have kept the project from moving forward for a decade, despite being outspent. TransCanada first proposed the pipeline in July 2008.
Within the past year, TransCanada has given $25,000 to Ricketts’ reelection campaign, $15,000 to the Nebraska Republican Party and $25,500 to state lawmakers, according to filings with the Nebraska Accountability and Disclosure Commission.
TransCanada through spokesman Matthew John defended the contributions.
“We participate in an open and transparent political process and will continue to support elected officials and public policies that promote the safe and environmentally responsible development of North American energy infrastructure,” he said.
John said the Keystone XL is “a safe and critical piece of energy infrastructure” that will provide economic benefit to local communities.
Most of the donations were made last year, before a state regulatory commission narrowly approved the project. The Nebraska Public Service Commission voted 3-2 in favor of the pipeline in November, but its decision is mired in a pending lawsuit before the state Supreme Court and could get returned for a new review. Oral arguments in the case aren’t expected until September at the earliest.
The 1,179-mile pipeline would transport up to 830,000 barrels a day of Canadian crude through Montana and South Dakota to Nebraska, where it would connect with lines to carry oil to Gulf Coast refineries. TransCanada announced in April it was meeting with landowners and starting aerial surveillance of the proposed route.
The pipeline faces intense resistance from environmental groups, Native American tribes and some landowners along the route, who worry about its long-term impact on their groundwater and property rights. Many of the affected Nebraska landowners have accepted the company’s proposal, however, and are eager to collect payments.