The Progressive

NewsWire

A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Damon Moglen, (202) 222-0708, dmoglen@foe.org

Ex-Im Bank Rejects Funding for Dirty Coal Project in Vietnam

Friends of the Earth: Obama administration keeps promise in climate action plan

WASHINGTON

Today the Board of the U.S. Export-Import Bank voted to reject financing for the 1200-megawatt Thai Binh II coal plant in the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam. Earlier this week, Friends of the Earth and other organizations wrote to President Obama asking that he intervene and assure that this project be rejected because funding the plant would be a clear violation of both the president's climate action plan and the Ex-Im Bank's own environmental policy.

Damon Moglen, senior strategic advisor at Friends of the Earth, had this reaction to the Bank's decision:

"Friends of the Earth commends the Obama Administration for rejecting financing for this dirty power plant, and believe it bodes well for the implementation of the President's ban on public financing for overseas coal deals. Going forward, we urge Ex-Im and other government agencies to ensure that the spirit and intent of this commitment is upheld, and not weakened by fine print and loopholes. With this momentum, the president should now encourage these institutions to support investment in renewable energy, efficiency technologies and energy storage so as to assure that we have a real, clean 21st century energy future."

Friends of the Earth fights for a more healthy and just world. Together we speak truth to power and expose those who endanger the health of people and the planet for corporate profit. We organize to build long-term political power and campaign to change the rules of our economic and political systems that create injustice and destroy nature.

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