Losing Nemo

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Wednesday January 22, 2014 · 12:42 PM PST

2014/01/22 · 12:42

After his stop in Los Angeles, everyoneâs favorite cartoon clownfish, Nemo, continued his tour of the U.S., stepping out in sub-freezing temperatures in Washington, D.C. to ask Americans to help him save his home, the Great Barrier Reef.

What's Nemo doing touring the U.S.? Is he lost again?

While the Australian Embassy and Alliance 21 -- a partnership that includes large corporations and big polluters like DOW Chemical, Chevron, Conoco Phillips, GE, NewsCorp, Morgan Stanley and Raytheon -- hosted a dialogue on energy and Asia as part of "G'Day USA," a month-long promotion of Australian business interests, Nemo hit the streets to protest possible U.S. involvement in plans that could destroy the reef.

Not one-but two-companies, GVK and Adani, want to open new enormous coal mines in Australia's Galilee Basin, and then dredge (the destructive operation of scooping up and moving sediment from waterways) within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Site to expand shipping channels to take the coal to Asia. But that's not all. Media reports have linked the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) to the projects, which means U.S. tax dollars could help finance the scheme -- something Ex-Im Chairman Fred Hochberg has failed to deny, despite going against the spirit of President Obama's pledge to end financing for coal plants overseas in his Climate Action Plan.

Dredging in the Great Barrier Reef will put clownfish like Nemo, as well as sea turtles, dugongs, dolphins, and many other amazing coral reef creatures in grave danger. Sustainability agency UNESCO has even warned the Australian government that dredging could endanger the Reef's World Heritage status. Meanwhile, numerous reports have shown the projects are a financial boondoggle, and investors continue to drop out of dredging projects.

You can help Nemo save his home by tweeting at the G'Day USA event organizers and the U.S. Export-Import Bank and telling them to #SaveTheReef:

Hey @GDAYUSAofficial @EximBankUS: #SaveTheReef for clownfish like Nemo. Say no to dredging for #coal exports http://sc.org/...

Photos from Nemo's trip to DC are available on Flickr.

Grassroots Activists Across Globe Condemn World Bank President’s Continued Support of Tata Mundra

nicoleghio

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Thursday November 07, 2013 · 9:41 AM PST

2013/11/07 · 09:41

After a yearlong investigation, the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), the independent accountability mechanism at the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation (IFC), issued a damning report that found serious lapses in the IFC's $450 million loan for the 4,000-megawatt Tata Mundra coal-fired power plant in Gujarat, India.

The CAO report upheld the complaints of local fishing communities, which have been struggling with severe health effects and the loss of livelihoods due to the project. But instead of withdrawing from the Tata Mundra power plant, or at a minimum, offering reparations to residents and drafting a rehabilitation plan, World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim abandoned his obligation to the affected communities and instead signed off on a response – written by the same people who approved the project at the IFC – dismissing the CAO findings.

Today, 68 groups from 28 countries across six continents sent a letter to Dr. Kim condemning the World Bank Group's continued support for the deadly project. This action comes on the heels of a letter from over 100 groups in India demanding that the IFC withdraw from Tata Mundra.

Dr. Kim has made numerous public statements on his commitment to public health and fighting climate disruption, charging the World Bank to learn from past mistakes, but this decision flies in the face of his claims and shows the system for accountability within the institution is broken. The CAO found clear violations within the IFC, but instead of addressing the problems, Dr. Kim allowed them to be swept under the rug – and the fishing communities in Gujarat are forced pay the price.

Moreover, Tata Mundra is a failing project. Even its backers admit it is running at unsustainable losses. When the project was proposed, Tata Power argued the local impacts were justified because it would provide power for the poor, but this has proved to be a lie. Instead, the company is asking to raise rates for consumers, putting the price of electricity beyond the reach of the people it was supposedly built to help. Unfortunately, this is hardly surprising. According to the International Energy Agency, if we are ever going to reach 100 percent energy access, over half of services must come from off-grid sources. This means we must start making serious investments in clean, off-grid renewable energy that we can deploy today, without poisoning the air and water, instead of continuing to support centralized coal projects while waiting on costly grid extensions that may never happen.

The overwhelming response from groups throughout India and the world shows that the call to move from coal to clean energy is not an isolated drive, but rather a global movement that is gaining momentum as communities band together to demand their right to clean air, drinkable water, and access to land and livelihoods. It is time to abandon once and for all the notion that coal is inevitable and unquestioningly welcomed in places like India, and that it is acceptable to sacrifice local residents to coal development. It's time, Dr. Kim, to hold the World Bank Group accountable for its failures and withdraw from the dangerous Tata Mundra project.

Blog Action Day: Violence and Intimidation Don't Stop Indian Activists Fighting Deadly Coal Plant

nicoleghio

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Wednesday October 16, 2013 · 8:20 AM PDT

2013/10/16 · 08:20

This blog post is part of Blog Action Day. Founded in 2007, Blog Action Day brings together bloggers from different countries, interests and languages to blog about one important global topic on the same day. Past topics have included Water, Climate Change, Poverty, Food and the Power of We, with over 25,000 blogs taking part since 2007. This year's theme is human rights.

What would you do if a massive coal plant that would poison your air and water broke ground adjacent to your home? What if your neighbors were forcibly removed to make room for the project? What if friends who attempted to protest the plant disappeared mysteriously? And what if this was not a new occurrence, but rather a story that has been repeated again and again for over 50 years? If you live in Singrauli, India, this is your reality, and amazingly, the answer is you would still fight back.

Starting with the construction of the Rihand Dam in the 1960s, and continuing with the opening of numerous, massive coal mines and multi-thousand megawatt coal plants, Singrauli is a sacrifice zone for power and powerful interests. When I visited the district in 2011, I was told no one was an "original" resident - everyone had been forcibly moved, many multiple times, as new projects are developed.

Originally the dam was supposed to bring prosperity and energy to the district, but today it feeds the water hungry coal plants. Nearby residents are supplied with drinking water from the damn, but "the officials themselves say that water is not fit even for taking a bath, and is highly toxic as the waste of most of the power plants in the area mixes with the water," according to Hiralal, one of the community members. And lest there be any doubt about how dangerous coal is, in 2012 pollution from coal-fired power plants caused 100,000 premature deaths in India.

Who is behind the push to exploit Singrauli's resources at the expense of local communities? There is the state owned Coal India Limited, the world's largest coal company, private corporations like Reliance Energy, which benefited from illegal land acquisitions in the coal-gate scandal that rocked India, and the U.S. government, which approved over $900 million in financing for Reliance Energy's 4,000 megawatt Sasan coal-fired power plant and its associated mine.

Lining up against these forces are local residents, tribal leaders, and labor interests, which must contend not only with the loss of their homes, their health, and their livelihoods, but also with government and police forces that operate hand in hand with corporate interests.

nicoleghio

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Monday October 07, 2013 · 2:14 PM PDT

2013/10/07 · 14:14

The world of international energy financing has become a bit stranger lately. While the World Bank came out with a new energy strategy that will end funding for coal plants except in rare circumstances, the draft language for a new energy strategy at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) would allow retrofits to dirty, existing facilities, which could allow some of the most deadly plants to continue operating for decades to come. You might imagine, then, that the World Bank is actively supporting sustainable energy in Kosovo while EBRD pushes fossil fuels, but in fact the reverse is true.

Despite its new energy strategy and President Dr. Jim Yong Kim's urgent calls for the world to act on climate change, the World Bank continues to press forward with a new coal-fired power plant in Kosovo, even though there is strong grassroots opposition to the project and studies have shown the county's energy needs can be meet through clean technology that will cost less and create more jobs. Meanwhile, although it may still consider supporting coal in Kosovo, the EBRD announced new sustainable energy investments in the country last week, the exact type of initiative the World Bank should promote under its more robust energy strategy.

The World Bank argues that the new plant will be cleaner than existing coal-fired power plants,which kill 835 people in Kosovo every year, but even this is a distortion of the truth. Unfortunately, it's not the statistic about the number of deaths that is being distorted, but rather the idea that the proposed plant will be "clean." In fact, the new plant will not even employ the best available technology to reduce deadly pollution.

The tide is turning against coal. As health effects are more widely known and as grassroots opposition grows, as clean technology becomes cheaper and the forecast for coal in international markets becomes bleaker, large financial institutions are turning away from the dirty fuel in droves. In June, President Obama announced an end to financing for coal plants overseas with public funds, a move that has already spurred the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) to reject a dirty coal plant in Vietnam, possibly signaling an end to the institution's fossil fuel binge. The Nordic countries then endorsed the plan, putting further pressure on Export Credit Agencies to follow Ex-Im's lead and cutoff support for coal. And the private sector is taking notice too. HSBC, Citi, and Goldman Sachs have all sounded the alarm on the dwindling prospects for coal and fossil fuels.

In this environment, there is no excuse for the World Bank or EBRD to leave loopholes open or make half promises. Both institutions must commit to strong policies that end support for dirty coal projects, and then they must fully implement these policies to protect public health and ensure that funding goes to clean energy projects that power local communities without the deadly pollution that accompanies coal.

World Bank-Supported Coal Plant Faces Further Delays Due to Local Opposition

nicoleghio

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Monday October 07, 2013 · 8:07 AM PDT

2013/10/07 · 08:07

Just one week after a report from Oil Change International revealed how the World Bank Group's infrastructure program in Indonesia is circumventing restrictions on funding for coal plants in the new energy strategy by using development policy loans and financial intermediaries to promote a government plan to build over 40 coal-fired power plants, Japan's Electric Power Development Co. (J-Power) announced new delays in securing the $4 billion it needs to construct the World Bank-supported 2,000-megawatt Central Java coal-fired power plant. The Central Java plant exemplifies almost everything that is wrong with massive coal projects, and the fact that these issues are forcing repeated delays puts new pressure on the World Bank to close the loopholes that allowed the World Bank-financed Indonesia Infrastructure Guarantee Fund to provide a $33.9 million guarantee for the project.

Aside from forcing people from their homes, massive coal-fired power plants like Central Java pose an immediate threat to nearby communities that will be forced to live with contaminated air and water. It is for this reason that more than 7,000 local residents are strongly opposed to the project, with many citing the environmental impact of the plant as their reason for refusing to sell their land. And despite the massive financial interests behind the project, activists are winning very real victories. Construction was supposed to begin in October of 2012, but with 2014 just around the corner, J-Power's inability to secure land and issues around environmental assessments have effectively stopped the project in its tracks.

Perhaps most vexing, though, is that the World Bank not only continues to support projects like Central Java over protests from impacted communities and clear impacts on public health and the environment, but they continue to claim these projects will help address the very real problem of access to electricity. But the International Energy Agency has shown that over half of energy services must be provided by clean, off-grid renewables if we are ever going to reach 100 percent energy access. Too often local communities are forced to contend with all of the devastating effects of coal-fired power plants, while transmission lines carry the energy to industries that can afford to pay more for electricity.

The Sierra Club celebrated the directive to end funding for coal plants in the World Bank's energy strategy as a testament both to President Dr. Jim Yong Kim's leadership as a public health advocate and in the fight against climate disruption, as well as President Obama's commitment enforce his Climate Action Plan, which calls for an end to financing for oversees coal with public funds. However, without strong implementation, the energy strategy and the Climate Action Plan are just words. Now is the time to close the loopholes and end support for dangerous and financially risky projects like the Central Java coal plant.

Thousands In Bangladesh March for 5 Days to Stop Proposed Coal-Fired Power Plant

nicoleghio

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Tuesday October 01, 2013 · 2:29 PM PDT

2013/10/01 · 14:29

Last week, thousands of Bangladeshis completed a nearly 250-mile, 5-day march from the capital city, Dhaka, to Rampal, in the Sundarbans area of southwest Bangladesh and home to the worldâs largest mangrove forest. The participants -- men and women, students and professionals -- joined this massive undertaking with one unifying goal: to stop the 1,320-megawatt Rampal coal-fired power plant backed by the Indian state-owned National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and the Bangladesh state-owned Power Development Board (PDB).

Home to rich biodiversity, including the planetâs largest mangrove forest, the endangered royal Bengal tigers, and nearly extinct Irrawaddy dolphins, the Sundarbans was a finalist for the Seven Natural Wonders of the World and remains a UNESCO World Heritage site. But it is also so much more. The marchers know that toxic pollution from the plant will not only endanger this rich biodiversity, but also people who breathe the same air and drink the same water. The destruction of mangrove forests will devastate the local economy, costing nearly $7 billion (5.4 trillion taka), according to Professor Anu Muhammad, Secretary Chair of National Committee to Protect Oil, Gas, Mineral Resources, Power and Ports.

Moreover, Bangladesh is one of the most vulnerable nations to climate disruption in the world, and the mangrove forests are one of the only protections people have against powerful storms and rising sea levels. As Professor Muhammad explains, "no people can replicate the power that the Sundarbans possess. Sunderban has played a powerful role over the years to protect Bangladeshi people during cyclones like Sidr and Aila. There are many alternatives for producing electricity but there are no alternatives to the Sundarbans. We can produce more and cheaper electricity using renewable sources of energy such as wind and solar power. But instead we have arranged for the destruction of the Sundarbans for the sake of only 1,320 megawatts of energy."

In fact, the very idea that people must choose between electricity and the environment is a false dichotomy. Centralized coal projects are actually very bad at reaching rural communities without electricity, and the International Energy Agency (IEA) found that if we are ever going to reach 100-percent energy access, more than half of services must be provided by clean, off-grid power. And the march in Bangladesh is not happening in a vacuum. People across the world are joining together to fight deadly coal projects and demand the clean energy alternatives they need to power the future.

The people of Bangladesh know that their health and well-being is intrinsically linked to the environment, and if the Rampal coal plant goes forward, it will not only poison the Sundarbans, it will poison the people and put their country's future in danger. When clean renewable alternatives are readily available, itâs time to get on the right track.

Is the World Bank Serious About Ending Finance for Dangerous Coal Projects?

nicoleghio

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Thursday September 26, 2013 · 3:23 PM PDT

2013/09/26 · 15:23

Starting with President Obama’s announcement of an end to overseas coal financing in his Climate Action Plan, and quickly followed by new energy strategies at the World Bank and European Investment Bank that also reject coal, large international financial institutions are finally wising up to the fact that coal is a financially risky investment that causes massive suffering in local communities while doing little to alleviate energy poverty. But investigations by our partners at Oil Change International reveal that the World Bank continues to fund development policy loans and financial intermediaries that then use the money to fund coal projects, a clear violation of the coal ban that must end now or risk calling into question World Bank President Dr. Jim Yong Kim’s commitment to protect public health and fight climate disruption.

So how exactly does this work? In their report, Oil Change International shows how the World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation (IFC) created and financially backed the Indonesia Infrastructure Guarantee Fund, which then provided a $33.9 million guarantee for the Central Java coal-fired power station, for which the IFC served as a transitional advisor. In what Oil Change calls a “coal industry wish list,” the World Bank’s infrastructure program in Indonesia includes policies and government subsidies to promote over 40 coal projects, promoting dirty and deadly coal over renewable alternatives.

The danger posed by massive coal-fired power plants like Central Java cannot be understated. More than 7,000 local residents are strongly opposed to the project, and they have successfully stalled the $4 billion project by refusing to sell their land over the environmental impact of the plant. This is a story we’ve seen repeated time and time again across the globe, as local communities band together to save their land, their water, and their health from deadly coal.

The truth is that coal-fired power does little to reduce energy poverty. While industry likes to claim coal can provide power to those without access, the truth is that local communities are forced to contend with all of the devastating effects while transmission lines carry the energy to industries that can afford to pay more for electricity. In fact, the International Energy Agency found that over half of energy services must be provided by clean, off-grid renewables if we are ever going to reach 100 percent energy access.

Programs like the Indonesia Infrastructure Guarantee Fund provide a backdoor to funnel money towards dirty coal projects and undermine both the World Bank’s energy strategy and President Obama’s Climate Action Plan. As the Bank’s largest shareholder, the U.S. has an obligation to oppose these loopholes, and as a longtime public health advocate, Dr. Kim must recognize the danger posed by coal and support local communities striving for safer alternatives. But there is good news. Project finance for Central Java will not go forward until October 6, which means the World Bank still has one week to reverse course and stop this deadly project.

U.S. Taxpayer Dollars Funded India Coal Scam

nicoleghio

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Tuesday September 10, 2013 · 9:49 AM PDT

2013/09/10 · 09:49

Last week, new details of a coal industry scam emerged when Indiaâs Comptroller and Auditor General denounced the Environment Ministry for showing favoritism toward Reliance Energy, a private company owned by Anil Ambani, one of the world's richest men. It just so happens the project that prompted this scorn was financed by none other than the US. Export Import (Ex-Im) Bank. That means that our hard-earned tax dollars are propping up a coal scam involving Indiaâs richest tycoons. Thankfully President Obama ended the Ex-Im Bankâs coal spree with a ban on overseas coal-plant finance. But the harmful effects of past projects continue to haunt our Indian friends.

The Sierra Club first uncovered this story in 2011 when we visited Sasan, Reliance Energy's 4,000-MW coal plant in Singrauli, India. Then, we were told by an employee of Coal India Limited, a state-owned corporation and the world's largest coal company, that Reliance Energy obtained the land for Sasan from the government without the proper paperwork. Since then, a corruption scandal has erupted across India over the government essentially giving away land to private coal companies, cheating the public out of critical revenue, and destroying local communities and critical habitat in the process. Now we've learned that Sasan was allowed to move forward without the required forest protections, in yet another giveaway to private interests.

The devastating effects Sasan has had on local communities are impossible to quantify. When Sierra Club staff visited the project, we met a village with a school and running water that was going to be forcibly relocated to make room for a toxic coal-ash storage pond. We spoke with a local resident whose friend protested the plant and disappeared. We learned of a smokestack collapse that killed 30 workers, which was swept under the rug.

It's bad enough that Reliance Energy has trampled on the rights and health of local communities while the Indian government at times looked the other way, and at times actively supported the destruction, but Reliance Energy also did so with the help of the U.S. government and Americansâ tax dollars. In 2010, the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) approved more than $900 million in financing for Sasan, despite warnings from activists in both the U.S. and India that the project would devastate local communities, endanger public health, and destroy the environment. The revelations that have come out since then have exceeded our worst fears.

But the tide might be turning. While new details emerge in the widening corruption scandal around Sasan and India's coal sector in general, the U.S. government is taking steps that could help prevent funds going toward similar projects in the future. In June, President Obama announced an end to financing for overseas coal projects with public funds -- our tax dollars -- as part of his Climate Action Plan.

The plan could mean an end to Ex-Im's fossil fuel binge, which has seen more than $1.5 billion dollars in financing funnel toward massive, dirty coal projects in India and South Africa, despite clear violations of local laws and regulations. And we've already seen progress. In July, Ex-Im rejected a 1,200-MW coal plant in Vietnam, and just last week, the Nordic countries pledged to join Obamaâs drive to end financing for overseas coal. Ex-Im and its Chairman Fred Hochberg now have an opportunity to show leadership by implementing President Obamaâs Climate Action Plan, as export credit agencies (ECAs) across the globe face increased pressure to end coal financing. And ECAs arenât alone. International financial institutions are running away from coal, with the World Bank and European Investment Bank eliminating coal funding in their new energy strategies. Weâve long said that coal is a bad investment that hurts communities and endangers public health, and while itâs too late for Sasan and the people of Singrauli, the biggest financiers are finally catching on.

U.S. Export-Import Bank Shady Coal Scheme in Mongolia

nicoleghio

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Monday May 06, 2013 · 10:10 AM PDT

2013/05/06 · 10:10

Once again, U.S. Export-Import Bank (Exim) Chairman Fred Hochberg is using our taxpayer dollars to finance a dangerous fossil fuel project. This time it’s Rio Tinto’s Oyu Tolgoi gold and copper mine and the associated coal-fired power plant in Mongolia. What’s even more galling is that Hochberg and the Exim board of directors approved the project in April despite what amounted to a vote of no confidence in the very same project by the U.S. Treasury, which abstained from a decision on funding from World Bank Group’s International Financial Corporation (IFC).

When explaining their abstention, Treasury officials stated, "The ESIA does not provide a sufficiently detailed analysis of associated facilities and cumulative impacts, notably concerning a coal-fired power plant that will likely be needed to provide reliable power for the project." Clearly these were trivial matters for Mr. Hochberg and Exim that should not come between them and a new destructive coal plant.

The sad part is we now know that the situation is much worse. At the time of the World Bank vote, Rio Tinto was telling officials that a final decision had not been made on whether or not they would construct a coal-fired power plant. But in Mongolia, they were already making preparations on the ground for the plant. In other words, Rio Tinto was lying in order to get funding from the IFC and the U.S. Government -- and it worked because neither the World Bank nor Exim did the necessary due diligence to check Rio Tinto’s claims. Did I mention this is your tax payer dollars at work?

Our partners at Accountability Counsel did check, and it wasn’t that hard. They traveled to Mongolia and took a tour of the mine with a Rio Tinto official. Not only did he tell Accountability Counsel that he had not heard any talk of reconsidering the decision to build the coal-fired power plant, he pointed out where the worker housing was already under construction. It is the white line in the distance of this photo provided by Accountability Counsel.

Of course, Hochberg has a long history of supporting controversial coal projects backed by unscrupulous companies, so we’re hardly be surprised. But we can’t let him, or the US Government off the hook for decisions like these. It’s clear that abstention votes are not enough. Going forward Exim and Treasury must vote “no” on fossil fuel projects, especially dirty coal projects. It’s way past time for the World Bank and the U.S. Export-Import Bank to get out of the coal business.

-- Nicole Ghio, Sierra Club's International Campaign

Protect the Great Barrier Reef from Coal Exports

nicoleghio

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Thursday May 02, 2013 · 8:16 AM PDT

2013/05/02 · 08:16

The Great Barrier Reef off the coast of Australia literally sits in the way of the fossil fuel industry and its massive expansion plans. There are so many new coal terminals in the works that just one port, Abbot Point, near Mackay, could increase almost nine-fold in capacity to become by far the biggest coal export port in the world.

While campaigns in Australia to resist fossil fuel expansion in the Reef have stepped up in recent days, the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Exim) and its Chairman Fred Hochberg have been quietly using our taxpayer dollars to support these controversial projects. Specifically, Exim was behind the single-biggest loan to a fossil fuel export project in the Great Barrier Reef, the $2.8 billion credit to the Australia Pacific LNG project, which has become the subject of legal action over alleged breaches of the US Endangered Species Act.

But our partners in Australia are not sitting idly by and allowing the fossil fuel industry to destroy the Reef. Last week a coal carrier bound for Korea was occupied by six Greenpeace activists and a letter signed by 10,000 Australians supporting their action ran in the Australian Financial Review.

Then, over the weekend, a TV commercial featuring Bob Irwin (father of the late Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter) went to air that asked Queenslanders "imagine if we lost the Great Barrier Reef", and described the impacts that the array of proposed new coal export ports would have on the Reef. And now Market Forces and 350.org are revealing the role banks play in financing the Reef’s destruction in a new report: Financing Reef Destruction, identifying which banks have lent the most money to coal ports and liquefied natural gas plants inside the Great Barrier Reef World
Heritage Area from 2008 to 2012.

The report draws attention to the critical role that the ‘big four’ Australian banks play in enabling new coal and gas projects to come online. Together, the biggest Australian banks – ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac – lent $3.8 billion to coal ports and liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals between 2008 and 2012.

But when massive, controversial fossil fuel projects and huge sums of money meet, you can bet Hochberg is involved. In addition to the Australia Pacific LNG project, Exim is also considering financing not one, but two massive coal projects that will ship coal through the Great Barrier Reef.

These projects aren't just bad for the Reef, they are bad for business. This week, Carbon Tracker released a new report: Unburnable Carbon: Australia’s carbon bubble, showing that the rising cost of coal combined with the transition to a low carbon economy make Australia’s coal industry ripe 'for financial implosion'.

In Australia, Market Forces and 350.org are working to mobilise customers of the banks, calling on people to give their bank an ultimatum -- either stop lending to new coal and gas projects and develop a policy to stop loans to dangerous projects in future, or the customer walks.

You can support efforts in Australia to save the Reef by telling Exim Chairman Fred Hochberg it’s time to stop funding fossil fuel projects.

This post was written by Market Forces Lead Campaigner Julien Vincent and Sierra Club International Campaign Representative Nicole Ghio

Corruption Allegations, Monster Mine Madness, and the US Ex Im Bank

nicoleghio

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday February 20, 2013 · 7:33 AM PST

2013/02/20 · 07:33

Despite President Obama's commitment to tackle climate change, the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Exim) President Fred Hochberg continues to underwrite some of the world's largest and most destructive fossil fuel ventures. He has personally overseen financing for massive coal projects coal projects in South Africa and India. But the Bank has run up against a determined international resistance to its most controversial project to date – a pair of coal mega mine and export terminals that would ship millions of tons of coal through Australia's Great Barrier Reef.

Greenpeace Australia dubbed one of these projects, Adani's proposed Carmichael mine, Monster Mine Madness. If completed, the mine would be Australia's largest ever, sucking up 10 billion liters of water and emitting 128 million tons of carbon pollution annually. That's more carbon than Sweden, Norway, and Denmark emit combined. To accommodate the enormous output of this mega mine, Adani is planning to expand its existing Abbot Point terminal and build two more ports to ensure the 60 million tons of coal can be dumped on international markets - after traveling through the Great Barrier Reef.

Now, Greenpeace Australia has uncovered new information on Adani's corrupt history in India (PDF), including a bribery scandal, illegal ore exports, illegal construction on private land, concealing and falsifying facts in application processes, and activity without environmental clearances. These shady practices resulted in the flooding of villages, massive losses in tax revenue, and the destruction of critical tiger habitat and mangroves.

Australian Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke has called Greenpeace's revelations "serious" and insisted they must be investigated. Meanwhile, Greenpeace Australia and the Lock the Gate Alliance have uncovered evidence that Adani has already brought their illegal practices to Australia by starting to clear the Carmichael Mine site before acquiring approval from the government.

With evidence mounting that Adani is a corrupt company (PDF), and worldwide uproar to save the Great Barrier Reef, one would think that Fred Hochberg would keep Exim and our taxpayer dollars as far from the Monster Mine Madness as possible. But Hochberg has remained steadfastly determined to support outdated fossil fuel projects that should be regulated to the previous century. But with concerted international resistance, and White House leadership, Hochberg may yet surprise us and finally do the right thing.

Check out Greenpeace Australia's video on the danger coal mining in the Galilee Basin poses to the Great Barrier Reef.

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