Leaked recordings reveal TC Energy's strategies to influence North American governments and foster relationships with security officials to protect its fossil fuel interests.
TC Energy employs former Trump staffers to influence policies and manage geopolitical threats from Washington, D.C.
Recordings detail efforts to alter Canadian legislation to benefit TC Energy's security and intelligence sharing.
The company's strategies include leveraging geopolitical crises and relationships with national security officials.
Key quote:
“Our focus as a team is to look at what exposes us to hostile complex threats such as nation-states using asymmetric tactics, cyber-threats exploiting vulnerabilities, geopolitical uncertainties impacting global markets and supply chains, and evolving regulatory challenges.”
— Michael Evanoff, director of national security policy, geopolitical intelligence and research, TC Energy
Why this matters:
These revelations emphasize the deep ties between major fossil fuel companies and government officials, highlighting how industry influence can shape national policies on energy and security.
One of Canada’s largest pipeline operators lobbied the federal government to exclude two major sources of carbon pollution from its emissions cap for the oil and gas sector.
The estimated 600,000 gallons spilled from Keystone Pipeline into a Kansas creek this week could be among the largest onshore releases of oil or petroleum in the U.S. since 2010.
On Friday, the developer announced it will seek more than $15 billion from the Biden administration in damages. Those damages would come out of taxpayer money, expertssay.
Even though it has canceled the project, TC Energy can retain the easements it secured indefinitely and use them for another purpose, or even sell them to other companies.
The embattled project to carry oil from Canada to Nebraska had been on life support since President Biden’s first day in office and stalled by legal battles for years before that.
