Keystone XL Scandal: Obama Attorney's Law Firm Represents TransCanada's Pipeline in Alaska

picture-7018-1583982147.png
on

Aย DeSmogBlogย investigation reveals thatย Robert Bauer, formerย White House Counsel andย President Barack Obama’s personal attorney, works at the corporate law firmย Perkins Coie LLP, which does legal work forย TransCanada’s South Central LNG Project, formerly known as Alaska Gas Pipeline Project.

Furthermore,ย Dan Sullivan,ย current Commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Natural Resources, and former Alaska Attorney General and former Assistant Secretary of State in theย Bush Administration,ย is a former Perkinsย attorney.ย 

These findings come in the immediate aftermath of a recent investigation revealing the contractor hired by Obama’s U.S. State Department to do the Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) for the northern half of TransCanada’s Keystone XL tar sands export pipeline – Environmental Resources Management, Inc. (ERM Group) – lied on its June 2012 conflict-of interest filing. ERM Group checked the box on the form saying it had no current business ties to TransCanada.

In fact, ERMย a member of the American Petroleum Institute (API), which has spent over $22 million lobbying on tar sands and Keystone XL since 2008 –ย does maintain businessย ties to TransCanada, the investigation revealed. This includesย an ongoing consulting relationship with South Central LNG, co-owned by TransCanada, ExxonMobil, BP andย ConocoPhillips.

Underย 18 USC ยง 1001, making a โ€œmaterially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representationโ€ฆ[to the]ย executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United Statesโ€œย is a crime punishable by up to five years in jail.ย 

On top of his job at Perkins Coie, Bauer – a well-known architect ofย bending campaign finance law to allow more corporate moneyย to flood into electoral races – served as general counsel to President Obamaโ€™s 2012 reelection campaign. He also serves as general counsel to the Democratic National Committee and did electoral law work for John Kerry’s 2004 presidentialย campaign.ย 

His wife,ย Anita Dunnย is the co-owner of SKDKnickerbocker, former Obama Communications Director, senior advisor for Obama’s 2012 re-election campaign and isย the former communications director for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee under then-Senator Kerry.ย She’sย met with top Obama administration officials more than 100 times since leaving in 2009, according to a recentย New York Times investigation.ย 

Dunn currently does public relations work on behalf of TransCanadaย and freight rail industryย lobbying group, Americanย Association of Railroads (AAR). Theย tar sands pipeline boomย comes alongside aย freight rail boom to carry tar sandsย crude andย fracked oil from North Dakota’s Bakken Shale.

โ€œERM lied on its conflict of interest disclosure form, and State was either asleep at the wheel or chose to look the other way,โ€ FOE‘s Ross Hammondย told The Washington Post in a recent pieceย commenting on ERM‘s โ€œPinocchioย moment.โ€

Given the myriad ties that bind, โ€œlooking the other wayโ€ appears moreย plausible.ย 

Perkins Coie’s Legal Bidding for Democrats, TransCanada AK Gas Pipelineย Project

Perkins Coie is a global firm with 19 offices worldwide and maintains close ties to the Democratic Party above and beyond Bob Bauer.ย 

Bauer’s colleague Mark Ellis, for example, does legal work on behalf of the โ€œDemocratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, the Democratic Governors Associations and numerous U.S. senators and representatives and their campaigns,โ€ according to his Perkins Coie biography.

The Oil and Gas legal work portion of Perkins’ website highlights its legal work inย Alaska.

โ€œIn Alaska, our lawyers have long represented leading oil and gas companies on the North Slope and the Cook Inletโ€ฆWe are extensively involved in efforts to develop the Point Thomson field and commercialize Alaska’s natural gas resources with a pipeline to Lower 48 markets.โ€œย 

The โ€œefforts toโ€ฆcommercialize Alaska’s natural gas resources with aย pipeline to Lower 48 marketsโ€ that Perkins’ website refers to is the South Central LNG Project co-owned byย TransCanada.

A map on the original Alaska Gas Pipeline Project website depicts theย route:

ย 

โ€œThe project is designed to connect Alaska’s North Slope natural gas resources to new markets and deliver a reliable and secure source of clean burning energy for decades to come,โ€ explain TransCanada and ExxonMobil on the original Alaska Gas Pipeline Project website. โ€œTransCanada and ExxonMobil have the expertise, experience, and financial capability to develop what would be one of the largest privately funded energy projects in the history of Northย America.โ€

Before providing legal aide to South Central LNG, Perkins helped theย Trans-Alaska Pipeline System (TAPS) – co-owned by Koch Industries, ExxonMobil, BP, ConocoPhillips and Chevron and often referred to as the Alyeska Pipelineย – get up and running. TAPS takes oil from the Alaska North Slope to the Valdez Marine Terminal, home of the Exxon Valdez spill.ย 

Perkins’ legal aide, in fact, made TAPS a realityย according to an interview appearing online with Perkins’ veteran attorney Guy Martin. Martin was instrumental in opening Perkins’ office focusing on Alaska in Washington DC.ย 

โ€œI actually took a little, first-floor townhouse on Capitol Hill, and opened what was really a two- or three-person office. It was the first state office, and we worked pretty much exclusively on the pipeline,โ€ said Martin. โ€œThe Trans-Alaska Pipeline Act was passed as the direct result of the passing of the Settlement Act.โ€ย 

Perkins Coie attorneyย L. John Iani – former Region 10 (which includes Alaska) Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator from 2001-2004 under President George W. Bush – also formerly lobbied for the Alaska Gas Pipeline Projectย workingย forย TransCanada from 2005-2008, Congressional lobbying disclosure records show. He did so while working for Van Ness Feldman from 2004-2010, a firm that today lobbies on behalf of TransCanada’sย Keystone XL.ย 

Perkins still does legal work on behalf ofย TAPSย and defended it in the 2010 case Alyeska Pipeline Service Company v.ย Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.ย 

AK DNR Run by Former Perkinsย Attorneyย 

Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Commissioner Dan Sullivanย formerly worked at Perkins Coie fromย 1996-2006.ย 

His task as head of Alaska’s DNR, by law, is to serve as an oil and gas industry watchdog. As such, he will aid in overseeing whether South Central LNG becomes a reality. Sullivan – it’s important to remember – was named Attorney General by former Alaska Republican Gov. Sarah Palin of โ€œdrill baby, drillโ€ fame in June 2009.

Prior to his appointment as Attorney General, Dan Sullivan served as Assistant Secretary of Stateย during the Bush administration, reporting to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Sullivan’s full title was Assistant Secretary for Economic, Energy and Business Affairs.ย Wikileaksย diplomatic cables reveal that while at the State Department, Sullivan helped negotiate oil and gas deals with Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Turkey, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, Turkmenistanย and France. ย ย ย 

It was also under Bush and during Sullivan’s time at the State Department that the original TransCanada Keystone tar sands pipeline was approved in March 2008. Three months later, in June 2008, TransCanada proposed Keystone XL to the Stateย Department.ย 

In March 2012, President Obama issued an Executive Order to expedite the building of Keystone XL‘s southern half from Cushing, OK to Port Arthur, TX.ย It is the northern, border-crossing half whose final destiny is now in the hands of President Obama and Secretary of State Johnย Kerry.

โ€œAmericans Know a Rat When They Smellย Oneโ€ย 

Anitaย Dunn will likely be working overtime in the coming weeks and monthsย using her insider/outsider status to ensure its approval on behalf of the client she shares with her husband Bob Bauer’s law firm,ย TransCanada.ย 

โ€œOnly in the ethically-challenged world of K Street lobbyists could it be considered OK for a power couple like Dunn & Bauer to exploit their White House connections to promote the interests of a foreign corporation like TransCanada,โ€ Hammond toldย DeSmogBlog in anย interview.

โ€œBeltway insiders may yawn at the fact that TransCanada has hired people so close to President Obama and Secretary Kerry to push their dirty and dangerous pipeline, but ordinary Americans know a rat when they smellย one.โ€

Photo Credits:ย Facebook

picture-7018-1583982147.png
Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

Related Posts

on

The decision to allow Novatek to attend the flagship conference was described as โ€œdisappointingโ€ and โ€œdisturbingโ€ by campaigners.

The decision to allow Novatek to attend the flagship conference was described as โ€œdisappointingโ€ and โ€œdisturbingโ€ by campaigners.
on

Badenochโ€™s leadership campaign was part-funded by a board member at one of the worldโ€™s largest fossil fuel companies.

Badenochโ€™s leadership campaign was part-funded by a board member at one of the worldโ€™s largest fossil fuel companies.
Analysis
on

The Conservative leader, who attacked โ€œradical green absolutismโ€ in a Washington DC speech, recently met with a host of influential anti-climate figures.

The Conservative leader, who attacked โ€œradical green absolutismโ€ in a Washington DC speech, recently met with a host of influential anti-climate figures.
on

Campaigners raise concerns over โ€˜alarmingโ€™ potential conflicts in the powerful political grouping.

Campaigners raise concerns over โ€˜alarmingโ€™ potential conflicts in the powerful political grouping.