Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez blamed the Keystone XL pipeline for leaking about 5,000 barrels of oil in rural South Dakota about two years ago.
There’s just one problem: The Keystone XL pipeline has not been built yet.
During a House hearing Tuesday, Ocasio-Cortez claimed that “Keystone XL, in particular, had one leak that leaked 210,000 gallons across South Dakota” while she questioned Wells Fargo President and CEO Timothy Sloan.
.@RepAOC: "Mr. Sloan, why was the bank involved in the caging of children?" @AOC to #WellsFargo CEO pic.twitter.com/Pvfuv2wfXe
— Alexis Goldstein (@alexisgoldstein) March 12, 2019
Ocasio-Cortez probably confused the Keystone XL pipeline with the Keystone pipeline, which has been operating since 2010. Keystone XL is still under construction, but would also bring oil sands from Canada to Nebraska where it would connect to existing pipeline.
SCOTUS Sides Against Trump Again, Creating Major Hurdle to Mass Deportation Effort
Harvard President Takes Pay Cut So School Can Continue Racism Against Whites, Hatred of Jews
‘Failure’s not an option’: Trump budget bill will be ‘big’ help for seniors, top House tax-writer says
Middle East trip highlights President Donald Trump’s 17th week in office
NYU pauses diploma of anti-Israel student who blasted Gaza war as ‘genocide’ during graduation speech
James Carville dismisses Democratic Party’s record-low polling: ‘We’re winning elections’
Why the GOP shouldn’t underestimate AOC
Biden jokes ‘I’m a young man’ during interview with Special Counsel Robert Hur
Alex Murdaugh trial: Experts weigh in on possibility of an overturned murder conviction
Bryan Kohberger defense claims ‘alternate perpetrators’ in Idaho student murders
Karen Read murder trial: Niece reveals ‘frantic’ behavior on morning Boston officer was found dead
FLASHBACK: Biden shrugs off Hur report when pressed by Peter Doocy: ‘I know what the hell I’m doing’
New Hur interview tapes detailing Mongolia trip shed light on Hur’s ‘sympathetic’ characterization of Biden
Biden fails to remember when son Beau died and Trump’s election year in leaked Hur interview audio
Conservatives react to leaked Biden audio on social media: ‘This is painful’
Environmentalists spent years opposing the Keystone XL pipeline, filing court challenges and successfully lobbying former President Barack Obama to personally reject the project in late 2015. President Donald Trump reversed that decision in early 2017, but Keystone XL’s progress has since been delayed by activist lawsuits.
The existing Keystone pipeline, however, was responsible for leaking up to 9,700 barrels in South Dakota in 2017. The initial estimate for the spill was about 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons of oil. Both Keystone and the planned XL line are operated by Canadian pipeline giant TransCanada.
TransCanada said it repaired the pipeline and cleaned up the spill, Reuters reported in 2018, though the event has been used by environmental activists to gin up opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline.
Ocasio-Cortez, who recently introduced the Green New Deal resolution, also took aim at Wells Fargo’s financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which sparked violent protests along the project’s planned route throughout 2016.
Like Keystone XL, the Trump administration reversed the Obama administration’s blocking of the project. Dakota Access went into service in 2017. TransCanada had plans to begin building the Keystone XL pipeline later this year, but a February federal court ruling could delay construction until 2020.
Ocasio-Cortez also grilled Wells Fargo’s Sloan over their financing of the Dakota Access Pipeline, asking the bank CEO if his company should be responsible for cleaning up any oil spills. The freshman Democrat also claimed the Dakota Access Pipeline has leaked five times since it began operating two years ago.
“So, hypothetically, if there was a leak from the Dakota Access Pipeline, why shouldn’t Wells Fargo pay for the cleanup of it, since it paid for the construction of the pipeline itself?” Ocasio-Cortez asked in Tuesday’s hearing.
“We don’t operate the pipeline, we provide financing to the company that’s operating the pipeline,” Sloan said, also noting Wells Fargo had an environmental oversight group.
Story cited here.
