US oil lobby declares Keystone XL key battle in presidential election

The head of the most powerful oil and gas lobby in the United States, Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, wants energy to be front and centre in the upcoming presidential election battle. Unveiling a “Vote 4 Energy” campaign, Gerard said his group advocates energy independence for the United States and an end to the government regulations that make that goal unreachable. With a friendlier regulatory environment, America could be largely energy independent by 2026, Gerard maintains.

Gerard also warned President Obama and his administration that failure to approve the Keystone XL pipeline will have “huge political consequences” in the coming election. Obama now has until February 21 to decide whether the pipeline, which will carry 700,000 barrels of crude oil a day from Alberta’s oil sands to refineries in Texas, is in the US national interest. Obama had tried to defer his decision until after the November, 2012 presidential election, but Congressional Republicans passed a measure in December requiring him to make his decision within 60 days.

According to Gerard, Keystone is “clearly in the national interest,” and has been backed by the Teamsters Union and the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Department. Obama risks losing the support of organized labour if he fails to approve the pipeline, but he will certainly alienate environmentalists if he approves it.

TransCanada, the company that will build the pipeline, says Keystone XL could create as many as 20,000 jobs over two years. A State Department report last summer said the pipeline would create up to 6,000 jobs during construction. Others have said the 20,000 figure is vastly inflated.