And it finally turns out that little if any of this has appeared in mainstream media, which may be less of a surprise than it should be, since cynicism about government integrity is so widespread, one might be tempted to ask why the State Dept. made even this much effort at deception just to hide a fundamental conflict of interest that hardly seems unusual. And news media might cynically ask, what's the news here?
When the Conclusion
Is Predictable, Who Cares Who Wrote It?
While environmentalists and [2]others[2] promptly characterized the report's analysis as fraudulent or worse as soon as it came out, mainstream coverage was more like [3]Fox News[3] headlining an Associated Press story the next day, "No major objections to Keystone XL oil pipeline, State Department says."
On March 4, three days after the Friday release of the report, the Heritage Foundation complained that "Obama Administration Buries Good News on Keystone Pipeline" -- basing its claim on the choice of a Friday release. Based on the same fact of a late Friday release, the Sierra Club made the opposite claim, that the administration was trying to bury bad environmental news. But Heritage went on to push discredited job-creation numbers, along with the false assertion that the "Keystone pipeline has passed its environmental reviews."
The current review is not complete. The March 1 report will be held at least until mid-April, when the 45-day public comment period ends. Comments on the Draft SEIS [Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement] can be submitted via email to: Email address removed"> Email address removed for the next several weeks, or from the State Dept. website.
Lisa Song of [4]Inside Climate News[4] was apparently the first to write about the State Dept.'s use of highly conflicted providers when State decided not to do the work itself, for whatever reason. Her March 6 article concentrates on the three main contractors in the report's list of preparers:
1. EnSys Energy (3 preparers) -- the company's president, Martin Tallett said "We don't do advocacy." [5]EnSys[5] clients have included the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Dept. of Energy, and State, as well as the World Bank, ExxonMobil, BP, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute. Tallett refused to discuss the Keystone pipeline.
2. ICF International (7 preparers) -- the company's website client list is generic, and all categories are within the oil and gas industry. [6]ICF[6] recently won an award for its work in "Climate Risk Management and Adaptation" for such clients as coastal cities, the World Bank, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. ICF has more than 60 offices worldwide, employing more than 4,500 people. The company refused to talk to a reporter.
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