A changing of the guard in the White House, with President Donald Trump taking the helm, has spawned a hiring spree of new lobbyists to advocate for TransCanada‘s long-contested Keystone XL pipeline.
In the forefront, TransCanada has hired the firmย CGCN Groupย โ former employer of Trump’s top White House energy adviser, Mike Catanzaroย โ to lobby for Keystone with a two-person team. TransCanada has also hired a duo ofย in-house lobbyists, one who worked as a Democratic congressional staffer and another who worked for a Republican, to make the case for theย pipeline.
TransCanada’s new team of lobbyists serves as a departure from recent years, in which teams of lobbyists and public relations professionals tied to the Democratic Party and President Barack Obama went to bat for Keystone. Keystone XL landed its long-desiredย presidential permit from President Trumpย in January, but now faces the specter of aย lack of sufficient market demand for oil from the Alberta tar sands.
KXL Lobbyists Underย Trump
CGCN‘sย Keystone lobbying team, as DeSmog previously reported, isย led by Jay Cranford. Cranford formerly worked as a staffer for U.S. Rep. John Boehner (R-OH) and as staff director of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee’s Subcommittee on Energy andย Minerals.ย
Mike Freeman,ย formerย legal counsel for theย House Natural Resources Committee under Chairman U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT),ย started withย CGCN in May and hasย joined Cranford in lobbying for theย pipeline.
Freeman also hasย worked as an attorney for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which oversees the presidential permit process for cross-border natural gas pipelines. TransCanada has severalย gas pipelines planned in Mexico and a cross-border pipeline, the Sur de Texas-Tuxpan pipeline, which is still in the proposalย phase.
Before leaving for his currentย White House energy job, Catanzaro actuallyย lobbied for Keystone XL during quarter one ofย 2017.
Credit:ย Office of the Clerk, U.S. House ofย Representatives
TransCanada, meanwhile, has hiredย lobbyists from both sides of the aisle to fight for its cause. One of them,ย Alex Oehler, served as a staffer for California Republican, U.S. Rep. Wally Herger,ย according to data compiled by Legistorm. TransCanada’s federal government relations manager,ย Jim Gordon, who was a long-time policy adviser for U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-MA), is also now lobbying for theย project.
After John Kerry departed the Senate to become U.S. Secretary of State, the 2013ย Democratic Party primary race for hisย seat featured Lynch, whoย ran as a pro-Keystone candidate, andย the eventual winner, U.S. Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA).
Beyond just Keystone XL, however, both lobbying teams are also pushing to ease the regulatory and permitting path for future cross-border pipelines and domestic natural gas pipelines, according to the disclosure forms. This driveย coincides with the recent passageย of two House bills, one which wouldย axย the presidential permitting process that killed Keystone XL the first time around under President Obama in November 2015, and another which wouldย expedite FERC‘s permitting process for natural gasย pipelines.
Main image: Pipes for the Keystone XL pipeline in 2009. Credit: shannonpatrick17,ย CC BYย 2.0
