Thursday, November 29, 2012

Susan Rice holds TransCanada stock.


Potential Secretary of State candidate Susan Rice holds as much as $600,000 of shares in TransCanada, the company seeking State Department approval to build the Keystone XL pipeline.
Rice’s investments in TransCanada were first noted Wednesday by the NRDC’s website On Earth.


According to her most recent personal finance report, covering 2011 and filed in May 2012, Rice and her husband own between $300,002 and $600,000 in TransCanada stock. Those holdings brought them as much as $20,000 in income in 2011. Federal officials are required to disclose the range of an investment rather than the exact amount.

Rice’s husband was born in Canada.

TransCanada isn’t the only Canadian energy company in Rice’s portfolio. She also has investments in pipeline firm Enbridge, utility TransAlta and oil and natural gas companies Encana, Suncor and Cenovus.
About a third of Rice’s personal wealth — an amount as high as $43.5 million — is invested in Canadian energy interests, according to On Earth.

Rice has other holdings in Chesapeake Energy, Royal Dutch Shell, Devon Energy, Iberdrola, ATP Oil & Gas Corp. and Rio Tinto Limited.
Environmentalists quickly criticized the potential selection of Rice given her investments.
“It’s really amazing that they’re considering someone for secretary of State who has millions invested in these companies,” Bill McKibben told On Earth.

“[Keystone XL] would be one of the first decisions she would make, and she’s not qualified to make an unbiased decision,” said Jane Kleeb, executive director of the anti-pipeline group Bold Nebraska.

According to the Office of Government Ethics, federal officials holding significant amounts of stock conflicting with their duties must sell the stock, recuse themselves from the decision or set up a qualified trust.

Who exactly would take over the Keystone review in the event of a potential recusal is unclear, not least because Rice’s nomination is far from certain, and relevant key State Department posts could become vacant in coming months.
In a December 2008 letter attached to previous finance disclosure forms, Rice vowed to “not participate personally and substantially in any particular matter that has a direct and predictable effect on my financial interests” without receiving a proper waiver.
Activists have challenged the State Department’s review of the pipeline as “cozy,” citing emails between State officials and a TransCanada lobbyist who was also a former campaign aid for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her 2008 presidential run.
A contractor chosen by the State Department to conduct an environmental assessment also had ties to TransCanada.
The department’s inspector general earlier this year cleared the review of any wrongdoing.
TransCanada spokesman Grady Semmens declined to comment, saying potential nominees are “a matter for the president of the United States.”
Rice’s office and the White House did not immediately return requests for comment.
This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 6:14 p.m. on November 28, 2012.


Read more: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1112/84355.html#ixzz2DdW34nCU

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