State Dept.: Tillerson Has Recused Himself from Matters Pertaining to Keystone Pipeline
The State Department said in a letter today that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has recused himself from issues over the Keystone XL pipeline.
Given that Tillerson was until recently the CEO of ExxonMobil, Greenpeace publicly called on him to recuse himself when any issues about the pipeline come up:
“When a decision about Keystone, or other oil and gas projects, reaches Rex Tillerson’s desk, he will only see dollar signs for Exxon with no regard for what the people want and the impact on our climate. It’s time for the Office of Government Ethics to do their job and urge that Tillerson recuse himself from decisions regarding the Keystone XL Pipeline.”
The State Department responded to the Greenpeace letter with a letter from an ethics official saying that Tillerson has recused himself on those matters:
Tillerson recused himself from any #KeystoneXL decisions, acc to letter to @Greenpeace. Says decision made in Feb; this is 1st we’re hearing pic.twitter.com/c0lC8YC4BT
— Conor Finnegan (@cjf39) March 10, 2017
Greenpeace reacted by saying, “Rex Tillerson’s recusal from the Keystone Pipeline decision might have never been transparent to the public without people flooding the lines of the Office of Government Ethics today. We must keep pushing this administration into the spotlight and demanding that ethics watchdogs hold these individuals accountable and make these decisions regarding rampant conflicts of interest transparent.”
Tillerson came under scrutiny from the press today for not bringing reporters on his trip to Asia.
[image via screengrab]
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