New Obama campaign adviser lobbied for Keystone pipeline

Green groups have highlighted friendly emails between TransCanada lobbyist Paul Elliot — a former 2008 campaign aide to now-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton — and the State Department.

Bill McKibben, the climate activist helping to orchestrate anti-Keystone protests at the White House, slammed the announcement that Johnson is advising Obama’s reelection campaign.

“It stinks. I don’t think you could conceive a more elaborate way to disrespect not just the environmental community but also Occupy Wall Street, because this is simply a reminder of the way that corporate lobbyists dominate our politics. Forget ‘Hope and Change’ — it’s like they want their new slogan to be ‘Business as Usual,’ ” McKibben, founder of the group 350.org, said in a statement.

Green groups and some lawmakers are also questioning the use of the firm Cardno ENTRIX to perform State’s environmental impact study of the proposed pipeline — which gave it a largely favorable review — despite the firm’s financial ties TransCanada.

McKibben and other environmentalists are pushing Obama to reject TransCanada’s proposal and are planning a Nov. 6 demonstration at the White House.

More than 1,200 people were arrested in peaceful protests against the project near the White House over the summer. The State Department plans to make a final decision on the project around the end of the year.



Environmentalists oppose the pipeline due to greenhouse gas emissions from the oil sands and concerns about potential spills that could harm vital groundwater supplies along the pipeline route.

“Maybe, just maybe, Barack Obama himself still hasn’t made up his mind about the pipeline. That’s why we’re going to surround the White House on November 6, carrying signs and banners with words from his 2008 campaign about the need to end ‘the tyranny of oil’. We want to see if we can somehow jog his memory,” McKibben said.

Advocates of the project, including major business groups such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, call it a way to bolster U.S. energy security and create jobs, and TransCanada officials vow to adhere to tough safety standards.

The Hill’s Kevin Bogardus has much more on Johnson’s hiring here.

From his story:

An aide to the Obama campaign emphasized that Johnson is no longer a
lobbyist and said he will not discuss matters related to his former
clients with the campaign.

The campaign aide also said that,
unlike the Republican presidential candidates, Obama is not accepting
campaign contributions and fundraising help from K Street. 

—This post was updated at 3:10 p.m. and 7:35 p.m.