TC

Canada’s TC Energy, which fought tooth and nail for approval to construct the Keystone XL pipeline, made a graceful exit from the project on June 9.

Environmental groups had used Keystone to fund-raise and bolster awareness of global warming for years.

Keystone XL, which was proposed in 2008, was to carry “dirty oil” extracted from Canada's tar sands to the Gulf Coast for export overseas.

In its statement confirming the termination of Keystone XL, TC thanked its partners for their support of the pipeline.

Formerly known as TransCanada, TC said it came up with a “first-of-its-kind, industry leading plan to operate the pipeline with net-zero emissions.”

TC will “apply this level of ingenuity across our business going forward, including our current evaluation or the potential to power existing US assets with renewable energy.” Maybe some good will come out of the Keystone XL debacle.

President Obama rejected a permit for Keystone in 2015, a move overturned by his successor. Joe Biden revoked the permit during his first day in office.

The Natural Resources Defense Council took a victory lap on June 9, issuing a release headlined: “The Dangerous Keystone XL Tar Sands Project is Finally Dead.”

Anthony Swift, director of NRDC’s Canada Project, called the Keystone XL termination “a fantastic day for clean water, safe communities and the climate.”

He called Keystone “a terrible idea from the start” and feels it’s now time to “accelerate our transition to the clean energy sources that will power a prosperous future.”

The NRDC will have to look for a new corporate bogeyman.

Consumers are skeptical about Corporate America’s Pride motivation. Morning Consult is celebrating Pride Month by releasing a poll that found 31 percent US adults believe brands engage in Pride initiatives primarily to get publicity.

Twenty-nine percent say companies celebrate Pride month for a mixture of doing good and getting positive PR. Only 15 percent believe companies show their Pride primarily to do good. A quarter of the respondents either don’t know or have no opinion.

Morning Consult found among LGBTQ+ people, 24 percent say companies connect with Pride for PR purposes, 29 percent say it’s a combination of doing good and PR, and 20 percent believe it’s primarily to do good.

Noting the explosion in Pride campaigns, Spencer Harvey, communications manager at GLAAD, told Morning Consult that more than ever before the LGBTQ community is holding brands responsible for how they approach their Pride campaigns.

“Visibility is great, but nowadays, it’s about how your campaign is stepping up and showing that you support the community,” he said.

It’s a lot more than just waving a rainbow flag for a month.