Critics of the controversial Keystone XL pipeline notched a fresh victory today, as the State Department's independent auditor agreed to investigate its handling of the Canada-to-U.S. oil link amid growing political pressure from Democrats and green groups to restart what they call a flawed review of the $7 billion project.

The announcement of a special review by State's inspector general (IG) less than 24 hours after an anti-pipeline protest drew an estimated 10,000-plus environmentalists to the White House gates lent momentum to speculation that the Obama administration would seek to push a final ruling on the project into 2012 -- and perhaps beyond Election Day. To be sure, the IG's move bolstered calls from the Democrats who requested an independent probe for a delay in Keystone XL decisionmaking until after the audit is finished.

"At a time when all credible scientific evidence and opinion indicate that we are losing the battle against global warming, it is imperative that we have objective environmental assessments of major carbon-dependent energy projects," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who joined Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) and a dozen fellow lawmakers in seeking an IG inquiry, said in a statement today.

The Sanders-Cohen request followed months of snowballing charges from conservation groups that State's review of the 1,700-mile pipeline is compromised by conflicts of interest (E&ENews PM, Oct. 26). In addition to emails documenting warm ties between State officials and a top lobbyist for TransCanada, the Alberta-based company behind the pipeline, greens also point to the federal selection of a contractor paid for by TransCanada as evidence of pro-pipeline bias within the department.

Those issues and more are poised to come into play as acting IG Harold Geisel examines "to what extent the department and all other parties involved complied with federal laws and regulations relating to the Keystone XL permit process," as he put it in a memo confirming a probe involving at least four separate bureaus at State that was released by Sanders' office.

Coming on the heels of the White House protest and as Nebraska state lawmakers continue a special legislative session aimed at examining plans to force a new route for the pipeline, the IG inquiry only served to entrench a growing sense in Washington that Keystone XL could be too hot for the president to touch before he stands for re-election.

Environmentalists who have long pressed for a delay in State's decisionmaking on the pipeline -- which would nearly double U.S. import capacity for emissions-intensive Canadian oil sands crude if approved -- cheered the IG's revelation, underscoring the degree to which the pipeline has unified them in recent months (Greenwire, Nov. 4).

Natural Resources Defense Council Canada project director Danielle Droitsch, whose group joined Sanders in calling for an IG probe, echoed the Vermonter in urging "that the State Department halts the permitting process for the pipeline until the review is complete." Another green group that urged the IG to step in, Friends of the Earth, also insisted on "an immediate suspension of the pipeline permitting process."

TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha said via email that the company would "welcome an independent review by the Inspector General's office so that these latest claims by professional activists and lawmakers who are adamantly opposed to our pipeline project can be addressed."

"At TransCanada, we conduct ourselves with integrity and in an open and transparent manner," Cunha said. "We are certain that the conclusion of this review will reflect that."

Asked about the IG review today, White House spokesman Jay Carney continued tying the president to the outcome of the pipeline debate, a marked shift from his week-old attempt to distance Obama. The review of Keystone XL "is a process that includes input from a variety of agencies and departments within the administration" and "not done in a vacuum," Carney told reporters.

Nudge from Boxer

The IG was not the only official to press State on its TransCanada-linked contractor, Cardno ENTRIX, in recent days. Senate Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) spoke out on an array of pipeline-related concerns in a letter released today by her office.

"Following the nation's worst oil spill and at a time when the effects of global warming become more apparent every day, it is imperative that we have thorough and objective environmental assessments so that the public can fully understand the impacts of proposed projects," Boxer wrote Friday to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, using language very similar to that of Sanders.

Among Boxer's half-dozen detailed queries to Clinton were requests for data relating to TransCanada-Cardno ENTRIX ties and the extent that the contractor's work informed State's finding in August that Keystone XL would have a limited environmental impact on the six states through which it would ferry oil-sands crude (Greenwire, Aug. 26).

Boxer also questioned whether State's Keystone XL analysis accounted for "any investigation or allegation regarding inadequate quality control procedures used by TransCanada" on the pipeline's predecessor, Keystone I, which federal regulators briefly shuttered in June after a series of small spills.

Click here to read the IG's memo to State.