How Hillary Clinton and David Goldwyn sold fracking

December 01, 2014
LobbyingPrincipal Campaign CommitteeSecretary of StateFamilyPositionDonation, FamilyPosition2013 Donation: $100,000–$249,999LobbyistDeputy DirectorFounderSpecial envoy for international energy affairsPositionPositionPositionPositionPosition, DonationProfessionalSocialNonresident senior fellowMembershipCo-authored book on energy policyExecutiveContributor Unveiled State Dept.'s Global Shale Gas Initiative, April 2010Director, 2005-2009FunderESI reportSecretary of Statesigned a $10 billion shale gas production-sharing agreementUkraine's largest private natural gas producerTestified on importance of Keystone XL pipelinePresident and CEOCoached on Keystone XL messagingOrganized for officials from Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and UkraineFunded fracking workshop for officials from Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and UkraineChevronCorporationHouse ForeignAffairs CommitteeJoe BidenHillary ClintonJohn KerryDepartment ofStateHillary Clintonfor PresidentBrookingsInstitutionHunter BidenUnited StatesEnergy AssociationRosemont SoleburyCapital ManagementChristopher HeinzDevon ArcherPaul ElliottTransCanadaCorporationDavid L GoldwynGoldwyn GlobalStrategies, LLCJan KalickiBurisma HoldingsRosemont SenecaPartnersCrude oil exportsreportUS-Libya BusinessAssociationUkraineHal KvisleChevron fundedworkshop onfrackingArranged meeting between Kvisle and Goldwyn

The Brookings Institution's Energy Security Initiative recently released a report advocating lifting the U.S. Export ban on crude oil. This map shows some of the Brookings Institution's connections to the energy industry and focuses on David Goldwyn, a Brookings nonresident senior fellow, who is thanked at the beginning of the oil exports report. Goldwyn was recently profiled in a Mother Jones article on the State Department's role in pushing fracking under Hillary Clinton's leadership.

On Goldwyn's history in the oil and gas industry: 

Goldwyn had a long history of promoting drilling overseas—both as a Department of Energy official under Bill Clinton and as a representative of the oil industry. From 2005 to 2009 he directed the US-Libya Business Association, an organization funded primarily by US oil companies—including Chevron, Exxon Mobil, and Marathon—clamoring to tap Libya's abundant supply.
On Goldwyn's move from his role as Special Envoy at the State Department to the private sector:

Goldwyn was also busy promoting fracking overseas—this time on behalf of industry. Between January and October 2012, his firm organized a series of workshops on fracking for officials in Bulgaria, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, and Ukraine, all of them funded by Chevron. The events were closed to the public—when Romanian journalist Vlad Ursulean tried to attend the Romanian gathering, he says Goldwyn personally saw to it that he was escorted out.

Goldwyn told Mother Jones that the workshops featured presentations on technical aspects of fracking by academics from the Colorado School of Mines and Penn State University. Chevron, he maintains, had "no editorial input." But all of these countries—except Bulgaria, which was in the midst of anti-fracking protests—would later grant Chevron major shale concessions.
In 2011 The Guardian reported that during his tenure at the State Department, Goldwyn met with the president and CEO of Transcanada Pipeline to coach him on how to best present the Keystone XL pipeline project. 

The documents show that in May 2010 Elliott had arranged for Hal Kvisle, president and CEO of TransCanada Corporation at the time, to meet with David Goldwyn, head of international energy affairs for the State Department.

"Our meeting with David Goldwyn and Michael Sullivan (another State Department official) was very productive," Elliott wrote to Toiv, his acquaintance from Clinton's campaign days. "David provided us with insight on what he'd like to see by way of on-the-record comment during this public comment period of this Keystone KXL draft environmental impact statement. We are working with our stakeholders, shippers and vendors to deliver on the insight David shared with us and to do so by the June 15 deadline."

TransCanada was quick to act on the coaching it got from Goldwyn. Three days later Elliott sent Goldwyn the text of a letter written by Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer in support of pipeline approval. Similar letters followed in the months ahead.