WASHINGTON, D.C. – The fight over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline is turning into a street battle in the U.S. capital.
The Canadian government spent millions on advertisements to sell itself and the pipeline, linking Alberta’s oil sands to Gulf of Mexico refineries, as the best energy provider and oil partner for the U.S.
On the side of the bout, environmentalists and opponents that include former Barack Obama campaign staffers and a San Francisco billionaire who launched a social media campaign against the project on Thursday.
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As opposition to TransCanada’s $5.3-billion project grows, the Canadian government invested an undisclosed amount of cash on ads.
But, The Canadian Press noted last month, when the Tories rolled out the campaign, budgetary estimates showed the Dept. of Natural Resources set aside $16.5 million for advertising in the 2013-14 – $12 million of which was tabled in the government’s supplementary estimates at the start of May.
The advertisements are plastered around Washington D.C.’s subway system– where they appear side-by-side with anti-oil sands messages funded by environmental groups — on bus shelters and in political publications.
It’s not public opinion the Tory government is after. They want the attention of D.C. power players and those inside President Obama’s inner circle, telling them to “Go with Canada.”
“That’s why so many people advertise in Politico and The Hill, and on Metro stations. Why do they do it? Because it does influence people that influence decision makers,” Gary Doer, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., told Global News.
The adverts also appeared in the New Republic, Roll Call, CQ Weekly and the Washington Post.
The ads promote Canada’s neighbourly alliance with the U.S., the two countries’ similar greenhouse gas reduction targets and how Canada is “America’s largest supplier of oil.”
Critics, of course, say the public relations offensive is a waste of money.
He said President Obama could still turn the project down.
The Sierra Club, one of the most prominent environmental groups in the U.S., says its members have been “galvanized in a way that’s unprecedented.”
And while the Canadian Keystone XL push is targeting those that may be able to sway Obama, another group – also close to the president – is using its connection to the president to urge him to reject the proposal.
On Thursday, 145 former aides and members of the Obama 2012 campaign signed a letter to the president (below).
“You can cement a legacy as a climate champion by rejecting this pipeline. You already know all the reasons we can’t afford this pipeline,” the letter read.
They’ve also got another big player in their ring in Obama friend and billionaire Tom Steyer.
Former hedge fund manager Steyer — founder and former Co-Senior Managing Partner of Farallon Capital Management — ranks number 347 on Forbes 400 list.
He co-founded the political action committee Next Generation Action to confront “the risk of dangerous climate change, and the threat of diminished prospects for children and families,” the committee’s website says.
With a jar full of oil sands in tow – Alberta heavy crude gathered from the Exxon Pegasus pipeline spill in Mayflower Ark. spill in March — Steyer announced a social media campaign at the National Press Building in Washington D.C.
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“I think, today, the chance of the Keystone pipeline getting turned down is higher than yesterday, and tomorrow will be higher than today,” Steyer told Global News after the press conference. “The longer this drags on, the more the logic becomes clear and the less likely this thing goes forward.”
He plans to use, online petitions, Twitter and Facebook to round up supporters who want to block the pipeline project. The campaign, called We Love Our Land, is set to run until Labour Day.
Calgary-based TransCanada slammed Steyer on its website earlier this month.
“Mr. Steyer continues to peddle the false dichotomy between fossil fuels and renewable energy in an attempt to stifle a pragmatic, fact-based debate,” TransCanada blogger Matthew John, a recent hire for the energy giant, wrote shortly after Steyer made his dispatch to Obama public.
“Fortunately the majority of Americans, including President Barack Obama, know that a diverse and robust energy mix leads to greater energy security.”
*With files from Global‘s Robin Stickley, The Canadian Press and The Associated Press
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