Originally Published at DeSmogBlog
Shaun King, a writer for the New York Daily News, has uploaded what appears to be a recorded audio file of Energy Transfer Partners’ Chief Operating Officer saying that “election night changed everything” for the company as it relates to its embattled Dakota Access Pipeline.
King stated on social media and on the SoundCloud page on which he posted the file that a source sent him the file on December 13, hours after Matthew Ramsey — COO of Energy Transfer Partners — gave his speech. The source who gave King the audio, he explains on SoundCloud, “claimed to be in a corporate meeting at Energy Transfer Partners” and told him that the person speaking was Matthew Ramsey, the COO of Energy Transfer Partners. King also wrote that the recording was made during a mandatory company meeting.
Leaked Audio Clip:
[soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/297768615″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /]
“I’ve got to tell you, election night changed everything,” Matthew Ramsey, COO of Energy Transfer Partners, apparently said in the 10-minute clip, the authenticity of which DeSmog could not independently verify. “We now are going into a transition where we are going to have a new President of the United States who gets it. He understands what we’re doing here and we fully expect that as soon as he gets inaugurated his team is going to move to get the final approvals done and we’ll begin to put [Dakota Access] across Lake Oahe.”
Dakota Access has yet to receive the easement permit it needs from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in order to cross Lake Oahe, which the company has publicly decried. Ramsey said in the clip, one in which the voice sounds similar to his voice heard in a November 21 company conference call, that it will take about 65 days to cross the lake once they get the permit.
Energy Transfer Partners recently saw one of the members of its Board of Directors, former Texas Republican Governor Rick Perry, nominated as U.S. Secretary of Energy by President-elect Donald Trump. Perry also sits on the Board of Directors of Dakota Access LLC co-owner, Sunoco Logistics.
Two days after the presidential election, Energy Transfer Partners CEO Kelcy Warren expressed a similar sense of jubilation about the prospects for Dakota Access when Trump assumes the White House.
“Having a government that actually backs up what they say that we’re going to support infrastructure, we’re going to support job creation, we’re going to support growth in America, and then actually does it?,” Warren told The Dallas Morning News. “My God, this is going to be refreshing.”
Warren was a major donor to Perry’s short-lived run for president during the Republican Party primary cycle and also served as a major donor to Trump’s presidential campaign. Warren also sat on the advisory board for Perry’s run for president.
Ramsey and Energy Transfer Partners spokeswoman Vicki Granado did not immediately respond to a request for comment from DeSmog.
Read more here, and see this profile Democracy Now! ran on Warren last month:
