Slick Hillary: Keystone Reversal Timed to Distract from Email Scandal

If there was ever any doubt that Democrats used the Keystone XL oil pipeline as a political football, emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign should erase it.

The proposed pipeline, which would have transported as much as 800,000 barrels of oil daily from Alberta, Canada, to refineries in the southeast of the United States, has been a frequent subject in emails unearthed by WikiLeaks. The emails, flowing since Oct. 7 in batches of 1,000 or 2,000, were hacked from Clinton campaign Chairman John Podesta’s Gmail account.

“We could even have her come out against Keystone on Monday as well (not sure where that stands), which will solicit criticism, but that might help distract from emails.”

Most of the banter on Keystone XL was typical policy discussion — until Tuesday, when new Podesta emails showed just how much of a useful political tool Keystone was to Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Besieged by questions about her private server at the State Department, and an ongoing FBI investigation, campaign manager Robby Mook said the campaign should consider finally opposing the pipeline to distract from the email scandal.

“We could even have her come out against Keystone on Monday as well (not sure where that stands), which will solicit criticism, but that might help distract from emails,” wrote Mook to a number of top Clinton aides, including Podesta, on Aug. 7, 2015. “Kind of like bundling taxes, health, and email last Friday.”

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It would have been quite a pivot for Clinton. She was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013, and could have halted the pipeline then, because the State Department has to issue a permit if pipelines cross the U.S.-Canadian border.

Clinton instead punted the issue to her State Department successor, John Kerry, whose staff said the pipeline would not significantly contribute to global warming. But President Barack Obama had final say.

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Obama also used the oil pipeline as a tool. He visited the Cushing, Oklahoma, pipeline industry on March 22, 2012, during his re-election campaign. He promised to help expedite the Keystone XL expansion — but only from Cushing to the U.S. Gulf Coast. Pipelines do not need as many government approvals if they are within U.S. borders.

But on Nov. 6, 2015, after stalling the pipeline through two midterm elections in 2010 and 2014, and through his own re-election in 2012, Obama came out against the pipeline from Alberta to Texas.

The pipeline’s owner, TransCanada, is suing the U.S. government on grounds that the rejection violates NAFTA policies.