Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) no longer chairs a House committee, but his famously torrid pace of letter-writing to players in political controversies is hardly slowing down.

The Energy and Commerce Committee's top Democrat today queried a lobbyist for the state of Indiana, following up on a report by a liberal blog about her advocacy on behalf of the Keystone XL oil pipeline during the fourth quarter of last year. The lobbying activity "seems unusual," Waxman wrote to former Republican National Committee adviser Deborah Hohlt, "as the state does not have an obvious interest in seeing Keystone XL constructed."

"Indiana facilities would not have access to the pipeline, nor would it appear that Indiana would particularly benefit from any economic activity associated with the pipeline," Waxman added.

His letter is the latest step in what is occasionally a one-man push to change the storyline surrounding Republican efforts to fast-track the $7 billion pipeline between the Canadian oil sands and Gulf Coast refineries, despite its veto by the White House last month. As the House GOP prepares to attach Keystone XL language to its long-term transportation bill, Waxman yesterday renewed a bid to put the conservative Koch brothers in the pipeline spotlight, to no avail (Greenwire, Feb. 1).

The Democrat cites Think Progress, the blog of the liberal Center for American Progress think tank, that reported Hohlt was paid $50,500 in the fourth quarter by Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels' (R) administration. That total was accrued for lobbying on a wide array of issues, including Keystone XL, according to financial disclosures Hohlt filed with the Clerk of the House.

Waxman's suggestion that Indiana would not specifically benefit from a federal permit for the pipeline, which runs through neighboring states, does not take into account a number of Hoosier companies that would supply raw materials to the XL project and its affiliated oil sands crude producers.

Chief among those is Caterpillar Inc., based in Lafayette, Ind., which produces the massive trucks that Canadian petroleum companies use for emissions-intensive extraction of the fuel that would run through the pipe. "The Keystone XL pipeline benefits to Indiana are invaluable," Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), a chief sponsor of legislation overriding the president's rejection of the project, states in a special Web page his office has built to tout the oil link.

Lugar and other Republicans charge the White House with underplaying the job-creation and manufacturing benefits of Keystone XL in denying the project, while the Obama administration billed its decision as forced by a GOP-backed 60-day deadline to rule rather than "the merits" of the pipeline.

Reached by phone this morning, Hohlt said she had yet to receive a copy of the letter, which asks her to meet with Waxman's staff on the issue. She declined to return a follow-up request for comment in time for publication.

Click here to read Waxman's letter to Hohlt.