Keystone pipeline fight heats up as foes look to rally Democratic donors

Opponents and supporters of the proposed Keystone XL oil sands pipeline are intensifying their PR campaigns as the White House decision on the project inches closer.

Several environmental groups and other pipeline foes are launching the “All Risk, No Reward” coalition with ads on the Sunday morning talk shows.

{mosads}“Oil spills. It’s not if, it’s when,” states the ad from the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), Bold Nebraska, Oil Change International, the Nebraska Farmers Union and other groups.

The new coalition hopes to harness the influence of financial supporters of Democrats. “The coalition will be targeting Democratic donors and youth with earned and paid media,” LCV spokesman Jeff Gohringer said.

The new ad highlights U.S. pipeline accidents including the recent spill of heavy Canadian crude from an Exxon pipeline in Arkansas. The ad is appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” ABC’s “This Week,” and the CBS program “Face the Nation,” Gohringer said.

The group did not provide the cost of the ad buy, but Gohringer said it’s six figures and “likely to grow.”

An advisory for a Monday press briefing about the new coalition says that beyond the April 7 Sunday show ads, the group will continue to run “national and state-based advertising.”

The 30-second spot airing Sunday argues that Keystone – which would bring oil from Canadian oil sands projects to Gulf Coast refineries – will fuel exports to other countries without benefitting the U.S.

Keystone is “putting us at risk, while big oil gets the rewards,” it states.

Pipeline backers say the export claims have been exaggerated. And, they say, exporting some products refined in the U.S. with oil from Keystone would still be economically helpful anyway.

The Canadian government and officials in Alberta, where the oil sands projects are located, are pushing hard for Keystone alongside industry groups and a number of unions.

The Calgary Herald reports that Alberta’s government is targeting U.S. policymakers with a new round of print and online ads in support of TransCanada Corp.’s proposed pipeline.

A print ad that will run in The Washington Post will tout Alberta’s environmental efforts, an effort to counter criticism of the massive oil sands projects, and cast Keystone as an economic win for the U.S.

“America’s desire to effectively balance strong environmental policy, clean technology development, energy security and plentiful job opportunities for the middle class and returning war veterans mirrors that of the people of Alberta,” states an ad that, according to the Herald, will run April 9.

“This is why choosing to approve Keystone XL and oil from a neighbour, ally, friend, and responsible energy developer is the choice of reason,” the ad states.

Alberta’s government is also running online ads on the websites of Beltway political publications, the Herald reports.

Alberta Premier Alison Redford is visiting Washington, D.C. again this week, part of an ongoing diplomatic push for Keystone XL.

The Obama administration is weighing whether to grant a cross-border permit for Keystone that would enable the project to go forward.

The State Department is leading the review, but the final call is expected to be made in the West Wing.

This post was last updated at 9:53 a.m.