Americans peacefully protesting the push to construct the Keystone XL pipeline had their activities monitored for nearly two years by the FBI, which, in turn, shared some of the information with the corporation seeking to build the massive piece of oil industry infrastructure, according to documents revealed for the first time on Tuesday.
The documents, released as a result of a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the Guardian and Earth Island Journal, show that the FBI’s Houston office promised to share with TransCanada “any pertinent intelligence regarding threats” against the company, in conjunction with environmentalists’ demonstrations against it.
The paper also noted adds that the investigation by the FBI Houston office “was opened in early 2013, several months after a high-level strategy meeting between the agency and TransCanada.”
The primary target of the surveillance efforts, which lasted from November 2012 until June 2014, was the group Tar Sands Blockade, whose members often practiced peaceful civil disobedience at various KXLconstruction sites.
“Many of these extremists believe the debates over pollution, protection of wildlife, safety, and property rights have been overshadowed by the promise of jobs and cheaper oil prices,” one FBI internal memo reads, noting that “the Keystone pipeline, as part of the oil and natural gas industry, is vital to the security and economy of the United States.”
The documents also showed that federal agents had cultivated at least one source related to activist groups—an informant that the agents described as having “good access and a history of reliable reporting.”
In their pursuit of peaceful activists, the FBI also violated its own internal protocols. Agency guidelines mandate that sensitive investigations, which target journalists or politicians and activists, must be cleared a field office legal counsel and an agent in charge.
In a statement to the Guardian, the FBI admitted it did not seek the necessary approvals before commencing its investigation into the KXL activists. The bureau claimed that once the unapproved investigation was discovered, “corrective action was taken, non-compliance was remedied, and the oversight was properly reported through the FBI’s internal oversight mechanism.”
The Houston Office eventually closed its investigation, admitting that it did not find evidence of “extremist activity.” Agents earmarked the investigation for future use, however, creating a file that, according to the Guardian, “was to be used as a repository for future intelligence” on KXL protesters.
