Consultant ERM wrote the Keystone XL environmental impact statement
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
ERM, a consulting firm, wrote the environmental impact statement for the Keystone XL pipeline for the US State Department. It was alleged that ERM did not disclose earlier work for TransCanada, and the sources reviewed do not establish that the conflict changed the review’s findings.
- Alberta taxpayers — Bore the loss on Keystone XL, about C$1.3 billion Global News
What happened
ERM wrote the environmental impact statement for the pipeline for the US State Department (no source link in the sources reviewed).
Alberta’s loss on Keystone XL, about C$1.3 billion, fell on taxpayers, Global News reported in June 2021.
In July 2024 a tribunal rejected, for lack of jurisdiction, TC Energy’s claim for more than $15 billion over Keystone XL, Hydrocarbon Processing reported.
In court and with insurers
Lawsuits and rulings
Insurers
What we don't know
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- Disputed Reported but not verified: ERM was alleged not to have disclosed prior TransCanada work and American Petroleum Institute membership on a conflict-of-interest form.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: a State Department inspector general (reported by Grist in 2014) found the rules were “largely” followed but criticised weak documentation.
- Insufficient Reported but not verified: KKR owns ERM.
- None on record The sources reviewed do not say whether ERM’s role changed the environmental findings of the statement.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Press and investigations
- Alberta finance minister on Keystone XL lossGlobal News · 2021-06-10
- Tribunal rejects TC Energy’s $15 B claim for Keystone XLHydrocarbon Processing · 2024-07-17
Connected cases
- Mozambique LNG environmental assessment (ERM) Mozambique · 2014–2024
- ERM (Environmental Resources Management) (Company) — here: Consultant that wrote the environmental impact statement; there: Consultancy that prepared the Mozambique LNG environmental impact assessment
- TC Energy's claim over Keystone XL cancellation dismissed for lack of jurisdiction United States · 2021–2024
- TC Energy (Company) — here: Pipeline developer; claimant in the 2024 tribunal case; there: claimant