Activists to White House: ‘Free John Podesta’ on Keystone XL

Activists are calling on the White House to “free” incoming counselor John Podesta on the Keystone XL pipeline.

{mosads}CREDO, a national progressive group, launched the campaign to free Podesta on Thursday.

Podesta opposes the Keystone pipeline, and environmental groups don’t want him to be silenced on the issue in administration discussions.

They are worried because on Tuesday, Podesta reportedly told White House chief of staff Denis McDonough that he wanted to recuse himself from the president’s decision on Keystone XL.

“Since when is a reliance on common sense, evidence and data a disqualification for important work,” Elijah Zarlin, senior campaign manager at CREDO said in a statement. 

“It is the height of irony that John Podesta is omitted from the Keystone XL decision, while the State Department continues to rely on the analysis of oil-industry contractor Environmental Resources Management, that has direct financial ties to TransCanada.”  

CREDO’s petition had 22,000 signatures as of Thursday.

“There’s no suggestion of some sort of conflict of interest, financial or otherwise as it relates to Mr. Podesta’s opinions, views and positions on the Keystone pipeline,” he said.

The Keystone XL pipeline would carry crude from oil sands in Alberta, Canada to refineries in the Gulf.

In October, CREDO called on State Department Inspector General Steve Linick to investigate claims that the contractor Environmental Resources Management — which has consulted for the department on the environmental impact of Keystone — has ties to TransCanada, the company behind the pipeline.