Greenpeace was in a lather that Rex Tillerson would oversee the Keystone pipeline approval and wanted his recusal. The problem: he recused himself in early February. From Washington Examiner:
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson recused himself from having any role in the approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, the State Department said Thursday.
“Secretary Tillerson decided in early February to recuse himself from TransCanada’s application for a presidential permit for the proposed Keystone XL pipeline,” said Mark Toner, acting State Department spokesman. “He has not worked on that matter at the Department of State, and will play no role in the deliberations or ultimate resolution of TransCanada’s application.”
The statement came just hours after the activist group Greenpeace sent letters to State Department legal advisers and a top federal watchdog asking that Tillerson be forced to recuse himself because of a conflict of interest.
Tillerson was formerly CEO of oil giant Exxon Mobil, which has a stake in seeing the oil pipeline approved. The pipeline would move crude oil from Alberta, Canada, nearly 1,200 miles southward to refineries on the Gulf Coast.
