Top executive behind Dakota Access has
donated more than $100,000 to Trump
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[October 27, 2016]
By Liz Hampton and Valerie Volcovici
HOUSTON/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The top
executive at the company behind the embattled Dakota Access Pipeline has
donated more than $100,000 to Republican presidential candidate Donald
Trump since June, according to campaign finance disclosure records.
The donations by Kelcy Warren, chairman and chief executive officer at
pipeline operator Energy Transfer Partners, support the candidate seen
by many as more likely to promote the U.S. oil and gas industry than his
opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton.
Warren donated $300 to the Trump campaign during the primaries, and
$2,700 to Trump during the general election phase of the campaign, for
the maximum contribution allowed by a single individual during an
election.
He also gave $100,000 to the Trump Victory Fund, a joint fundraising
committee that includes the Trump campaign, the Republican National
Committee, the Republican Party of Arkansas and the Connecticut
Republican Party.
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The donations, first reported by the British newspaper The Guardian,
were made before the U.S. government halted construction on a segment of
Energy Transfer Partners' 1,100-mile (1,770-km) Dakota Access Pipeline
in early September following protests by Native American and
environmental groups.
The project, which would move oil from the highly productive Bakken
shale formation to the Midwest and Gulf Coast, sparked violent clashes
between security officers near the construction site and Native American
tribe members and other protesters. Opponents have said the project will
damage burial sites considered sacred to the Standing Rock Sioux tribe
and pollute the area's drinking water.
Warren has also given $66,800 to the Republication National Committee
since Trump secured the nomination for the Nov. 8 election, The Guardian
reported.
Trump has not yet taken a position on the Dakota Access Pipeline, but
supports the development of oil and gas and related infrastructure,
including pipelines.
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Republican U.S. presidential nominee Donald Trump rallies with
supporters at the Million Air Orlando airplane hangar in Sanford,
Florida, U.S. October 25, 2016. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst
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Asked about Trump's position on the Dakota Access Pipeline in a
policy debate this week, U.S. Representative Kevin Cramer of North
Dakota, one of the candidate's main energy advisers, declined to
answer, saying he did not want to get ahead of Trump.
He added, "I'm not sure he (Trump) is aware of it."
If elected, Trump in his first 100 days will ask TransCanada to
renew its permit application for the Keystone XL Pipeline, according
to his campaign website. U.S. President Barack Obama rejected the
proposed pipeline from Canada last November.
Trump has holdings in Energy Transfer Partners and Phillips 66, a
joint owner of the Dakota Access Pipeline, through mutual funds,
according to financial disclosure records.
U.S. oil and gas industry workers have contributed slightly more to
Clinton, with employees giving $114,141 to the Democratic candidate
and $99,302 to Trump since July, according to a Reuters review of
federal campaign finance disclosures.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton and Valerie Volcovici in Washington;
Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
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