Earth Day Greenwash: API Front Group Iowa Energy Forum Sponsors Pro-Keystone XL Event

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The political carnival that is the prelude to the Iowa caucuses has started over a year and a half early. At the center of it this time around: a game of political hot potato over the northern leg ofย TransCanada‘s Keystone XL tar sandsย pipeline.

American Petroleum Institute (API)ย deployed one of its paid consultantsย โ€” former Obama Administration National Security Advisor Generalย James โ€œJimโ€ Jonesย โ€” to deliver an Earth Day address in the home state of the presidential caucuses at Drake University in Des Moines,ย Iowa.

James Jones used his time on the podium to promote the Keystone XLย tar sands pipeline, which another James โ€” retired NASA climatologist James Hansenย โ€” once called a โ€œfuse to the biggest carbon bomb on theย planet.โ€

โ€œGeneral James Jonesโ€ฆwill discuss the benefits of the pipeline initiative, including more jobs, less dependence on foreign oil, and cheaper energy costs for Americans,โ€ explained an April 15 Drake University press releaseย promoting theย event.


Gen. James Jones; Photo Credit: Wikimediaย Commons

Days after the Obama Administration decided to delay making a decision on Keystone XL North until after the 2014 mid-term elections, API went on the offensive, with Jones acting as the group’sย surrogate.

API is using one of its numerous front groupsย that could factor most prominently during election season: the Iowa Energy Forum, chief sponsor and organizer of the event titled, โ€œThe Pipeline to National Security Discussion.โ€

Iowa Energy Forum is part of API‘s broaderย astroturf campaign called โ€œAmerica’s Energy Forum,โ€ theย privacy policy on its website reveals. In tiny print at the bottom of the Iowa Energy Forum website, it also says, โ€œSponsored by American Petroleum Institute.โ€


Image Credit: Iowa Energy Forum Website Screenshot

API paid the powerful Des Moines-based public relations (PR) firmย LS2group to help them promote the Earth Dayย event.ย 

An April 17 press releaseย published in Des Moines’ Business Record listsย Matt Bierl ofย LS2group as the contact person. And a glance at the guest list for theย Facebook event page for Drake University eventย shows eight of the 22 attendees work at LS2group.

LS2group and the 2012ย Elections

Mark Twain once quipped, โ€œHistory doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.โ€

In that vein, rewind back to 2012 and the activities by Iowa Energy Forum before the Iowa caucuses, with PR efforts overseen by LS2group.ย 

Among other things, former Minnesota Republican Governor Tim Pawlentyย โ€” who ran for president in the 2012 GOP primaries โ€” had two campaign advisers that wore two hats, Charles Larson Jr. and Karen Slifka.ย Both of them also worked forย LS2group in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses, where they work full-timeย now.

Both Larson and Slifkaย denied they were coordinating Iowa Energy Forum’s agenda with the Pawlenty campaign in an interview withย The Des Moines Register. But evidence suggestsย otherwise.

โ€œPawlentyโ€™s new ad features people wearing Iowa Energy Forum shirts even though the ad doesnโ€™t even mention energy issues,โ€ explained an August 2011 article published on The Iowa Republican. โ€œThe people featured in the Pawlenty ad are Jennifer Cantrick and Maddison Abboud, two summer interns that were hired to work for the Iowa Energy Forum by Larson and Slifkaโ€™sย firm.โ€

Further, Iowa Energy Forum also made an appearance at theย 2011 Iowa Straw Pollย held in Ames, Iowa and did so inย style.ย 

โ€œAn air-conditioned ‘igloo’ paid for by the Iowa Energy Forum will rise up from the straw poll campus in Ames next month, an attraction meant to woo Iowansโ€™ affection with free treats, kidsโ€™ rides and displays about energy technology,โ€ย explained an article in The Des Moines Register. โ€œThe Republican Party of Iowa has received $100,000 from theย organization.โ€

Drake Studentsย Protestย Event

In response to Jones’ jaunt to campus, Drake University students held a protest outside of his speakingย engagement.

โ€œThere is no Planet B, this project wonโ€™t create jobs, it will raise gas prices in the Midwest, and none of these other issues matter if catastrophic climate change destroys the ability of the Earth to sustain human, plant, and animal life,โ€ Drake students Jade Suganuma and John Noble said in a statement provided toย DeSmogBlog.ย 

Activist groupย Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement provided DeSmogBlog with some photos of the protest and The Des Moines Register produced a short video segment on it,ย too.ย 

Political Hot Potato Beginsย Anew

As with the 2012 campaign cycle, it appearsย Keystone XL will be tossed around in 2014 by those candidates on the take of Big Oilย as a political hot potato in the aftermath of the Obama Administration’s election-yearย punt.ย 

The Drake University event featuring Gen. James Jones, then, likely just portends far more to come. After all, campaign season has really only justย begun.ย 

Image Credit:ย Shutterstockย |ย Zaptik

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Steve Horn is the owner of the consultancy Horn Communications & Research Services, which provides public relations, content writing, and investigative research work products to a wide range of nonprofit and for-profit clients across the world. He is an investigative reporter on the climate beat for over a decade and former Research Fellow for DeSmog.

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