More Pro-TransCanada Bias from KELO

KELO continues its "We Love TransCanada and Tar Sands Oil!" coverage by utterly underplaying concerns about possibly defective steel in the Keystone pipeline. Over a month ago, Plains Justice published its report citing hundreds of federally certified instances of defective steel delivered by Welspun to U.S. pipelines installed between 2007 and 2009. For over a month, the Madville Times story on Plains Justice's concerns about the Welspun steel in TransCanada's Keystone pipeline has sat on KELO's website. KELO doesn't touch this story until yesterday, August 8.

The signs of pro-TransCanada bias:

1. Cherlene Richards gets to run this story on Sunday, when no one is paying attention (folks all tuckered out from going to the lake with Denny).
2. KELO doesn't cite Plains Justice at all. Instead, KELO says the concerns are coming from a North Dakota environmental group, Dakota Resource Council. That group has joined Plains Justice in calling for a thorough check of the Keystone pipeline for defects. The puzzler here: why would KELO, which strains to find local tie-ins for every national story, would ignore the South Dakota-based activist-researchers who broke the Welpsun-defect story?
3. KELO doesn't seek input from the North Dakota group that evidently sparks Cherlene Richards's interest in the story. Instead, KELO only presents comment from TransCanada spokesman Terry Cunha (everything is fine, nothing to see here, move along) and South Dakota Public Utilities Commissioner Dusty Johnson.
   
4. Our man Dusty first characterizes the pipeline concerns as "rumors." Funny: I didn't see any rumors in the Plains Justice report, just facts derived from a review of 3710 pages of federal documents. But then KELO doesn't give space in its story for Plains Justice or Dakota Resource Council to make that point, do they?
5. Commissioner Johnson also notes that the hydrostatic testing on the Keystone pipeline has already been done (everything's fine, move along...). KELO doesn't give any attention to what Plains Justice says about TransCanada's assurances on hydrostatic testing.
6. KELO completely ignores an obvious tie-in to its Keystone pipeline story: what about the Keystone pump station leaks reported on the blogs and the mainstream press?

Alas, I can't find my rapelling gear, so I can't go Tom-Cruising into the KELO headquarters at midnight to riffle through Beth Jensen's file cabinet for receipts from TransCanada. But KELO's report Sunday continues a pattern of pro-TransCanada, pro-Big Oil reporting. I guess I'll have to continue my pattern of anti-TransCanada, anti-Big Oil reporting just to keep some balance in the South Dakota media. How nice to be needed....