February, 11 2015, 01:15pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Michelle Chan, Friends Of The Earth U.S., (510) 900-3141, mchan@foe.org
Cindy Carr, Sierra Club, (202) 495-3034, cindy.carr@sierraclub.org
Jane Garcia, Essential Media, (028) 280-9112, jane.garcia@essentialmedia.com.au
Cindy Carr, Sierra Club, (202) 495-3034, cindy.carr@sierraclub.org
Jane Garcia, Essential Media, (028) 280-9112, jane.garcia@essentialmedia.com.au
Coalition Tells U.S. Export-Import Bank: Don't Use U.S. Dollars to Finance Coal Project that Threatens the Great Barrier Reef
Today, a coalition of scientists, business owners, Australian elected officials, and civil society groups from the U.S. and Australia--including the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth U.S.--sent a letter to U.S. Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg calling on the Bank to reject any proposal to finance Adani's massive Carmichael coal mine and associated railways and export terminals in Australia.
WASHINGTON
Today, a coalition of scientists, business owners, Australian elected officials, and civil society groups from the U.S. and Australia--including the Sierra Club and Friends of the Earth U.S.--sent a letter to U.S. Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg calling on the Bank to reject any proposal to finance Adani's massive Carmichael coal mine and associated railways and export terminals in Australia. If completed, coal from Australia's Galilee Basin will be mined and transported by rail to the coast, where it will be shipped overseas through ports expanded by dredging three million tonnes of seabed from the bottom of the Great Barrier Reef. Reports indicate that Ex-Im is considering financing the project with U.S. tax dollars, contradicting the spirit of President Obama's Climate Action Plan and recent climate progress both in the U.S. and abroad.
"The Great Barrier Reef is under considerable threat from a variety of stressors including climate change, crown of thorns sea stars, and runoff from land," said Dr. Selina Ward, a prominent Queensland Reef scientist at the University of Queensland School of Biological Sciences. "The Abbot Point port expansion would considerably exacerbate this pressure. This continuing industrialisation of the GBR coastline invites reef degradation, especially from the dredging of the ocean floor, the dumping of the dredge spoil and the enormous increase in carbon emissions from the proposed coal mines."
The recent January 31 election in the State of Queensland saw the biggest swing against a first term government in Australia since 1955. Many Queenslanders rejected the sitting government due to their support for the Galilee Basin coal mines and associated port facilities and their impacts on the Great Barrier Reef. The Greens achieved their highest ever Queensland election result, and Labor is now forming a government, after that party pledged to prevent any dredge spoil from being dumped in the World Heritage Area or nearby wetlands and to reverse the billions in tax breaks and tax dollar support the previous government promised Adani.
"Queenslanders clearly do not accept the government's destruction of the Reef," said Greens Senator Larissa Waters of Queensland. "The Queensland Government's plans to industrialise the Reef threaten to destroy one of the most precious places on earth, through dredging, shipping and climate change. We call on the U.S. Ex-Im Bank to reject any requests for financing of the Abbot Point expansion or associated rail and mine infrastructure. U.S. taxpayer dollars should not be subsidising the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef."
And while Ex-Im is considering backing the project, major financial institutions -- including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, Royal Bank of Scotland, HSBC, Barclays, Goldman Sachs, Credit Agricole, and JPMorgan Chase -- have publicly rejected the proposal not only for jeopardizing the Reef's World Heritage status, but because reports show the project is not financially viable.
On top of that, this decision by Ex-Im would come on the heels of significant U.S. climate leadership domestically and abroad. But progress -- including the U.S.-China emissions reduction deal, a $3 billion commitment to the Green Climate Fund, and recent climate and clean energy progress in the President's FY2016 budget -- would be undermined by Ex-Im financing the Carmichael project.
"Chairman Hochberg should refuse to provide financing to any project that would harm the precious Great Barrier Reef," said Friends of the Earth U.S. President Erich Pica. "To do otherwise would contradict President Obama's call to protect this special place for his daughters and grandchildren and his State of the Union address, at which he called climate change the biggest threat to future generations."
"The fact is that this disastrous project would damage a world treasure like the Great Barrier Reef while making our climate crisis even worse. The notion that Ex-Im would use American taxpayer dollars to support it is unconscionable," said John Coequyt, director of the Sierra Club's International Climate Program. "If the Export-Import bank puts a single U.S. dollar towards funding this project, it is literally financing the destruction of one of the great natural wonders of the world."
Signers of the letter include:
Kirsty Albion, Co-Director, Australian Youth Climate Coalition
Sue Arnold, Coordinator, Australians for Animals
Darren Kindleysides, Director, Australian Marine Conservation Society
Paul Oosting, Projects Chief of Staff, GetUp!
Blair Palese, CEO, 350 Australia
David Ritter, CEO, Greenpeace Australia Pacific
Ellen Roberts, Coordinator, Mackay Conservation Group
Wendy Tubman, Coordinator, North Queensland Conservation Council
Julien Vincent, Lead Campaigner, Market Forces
Cam Walker, National Liaison Office, Friends of the Earth Australia
Glenn Walker, Acting CEO, The Wilderness Society Australia
Lindsey Allen, Executive Director, Rainforest Action Network
May Boeve, Executive Director, 350.org
Michael Brune, Executive Director, Sierra Club
Leda Huta, Executive Director, Endangered Species Coalition
Alex Levinson, Executive Director of Pacific Environment
Erich Pica, President, Friends of the Earth -- U.S.
Kieran Suckling, Executive Director, Center for Biological Diversity
Kathryn Kelly, Documentary Director, The Inertia Trap
Keith Roberts, Business Owner, Whitsunday Catamarans, Sailing Whitsundays, and KDR Investments
Helen Sheehy, Manager, Southern Cross Sailing Adventures and
Australian Tall Ship Adventures, Airlie Beach
Ken Sharpe, Business Owner, Aqua Dive, Airlie Beach
Asher Telford, Business Owner, Tongarra, Airlie Beach
Steve Edmondson, Owner Operator, Sailaway, Port Douglas
Dirk Werner-Lutrop, Director, Diverson Dive and Travel, Cairns
John Edmondson, Director, Wavelength, Port Douglas
Heather Batrick, Owner Operator , Yongala Dive , Ayr
John and Linda Rumney, Owners, Eye to Eye Marine Encounters, Port Douglas
Heidi Taylor, Managing Director, Tangaroa Blue Foundation, Port Douglas
Sandra Williams, Treasurer, Whitsunday Residents Against Dumping, Airlie Beach
Deborah Brown, Owner, Airlie Beach Travel and Tours, Airlie Beach
Tony Brown, Owner, True Blue Sailing, Airlie Beach
Jan & Peter Claxton, Owner/operator, Ocean Safari Cape Tribulation, Cape Tribulation
Tony Fontes, Director, Order of Underwater Coral Heroes (OUCH), Airlie Beach
Professor Terry Hughes, Director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies, James Cook University
Daniel Kammen, Professor of Energy, Energy and Resources Group and Goldman School of Public Policy, University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Selina Ward, School of Biological Sciences, University of Queensland
Senator Christine Milne, Senator for Tasmania
Senator Scott Ludlam, Senator for Western Australia
Senator Janet Rice, Senator for Victoria
Senator Lee Rhiannon, Senator for New South Wales
Senator Rachel Siewert, Senator for Western Australia
Senator Larissa Waters, Senator for Queensland
Senator Penny Wright, Senator for South Australia
Senator Richard Di Natale, Senator for Victoria
Read the letter here.
The Sierra Club is America's largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than 2.4 million members and supporters. In addition to helping people from all backgrounds explore nature and our outdoor heritage, the Sierra Club works to promote clean energy, safeguard the health of our communities, protect wildlife, and preserve our remaining wild places through grassroots activism, public education, lobbying, and legal action. For more information, visit www.sierraclub.org.
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.
(202) 783-7400LATEST NEWS
After Israel Trip, George Latimer Files to Primary Rep. Bowman
While Latimer has said Israel will be a "big issue" but "not the whole issue," one observer predicted that the contest "is going to be the ugliest Democratic proxy war of the 2024 cycle."
Dec 04, 2023
After visiting Israel last week, Westchester County Executive George Latimer on Monday filed paperwork to launch a primary challenge against Democratic New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman, a critic of the Israeli government and its devastating war on the Gaza Strip.
The 70-year-old county executive, who previously served in the New York State Senate and Assembly, has been openly considering a run for the 16th Congressional District—which Bowman has represented since 2021, after successfully primarying former Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel.
Latimer suggested toThe Washington Post early last month that if he ran against Bowman, "it might be that this becomes a proxy argument" between "the left and the far left." He later toldPolitico that Israel would be a "big issue" but "not the whole issue," and his campaign would focus on his record as "the most progressive" county official in the state.
Bowman is the fourth "Squad" member to face a serious primary challenger for 2024, joining Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), and Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). They are all among the eight progressives who in October voted against a bipartisan House resolution expressing unconditional support for Israel's government as it waged war on Gaza.
The four of them also support a resolution demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. While the number of House members calling for a cease-fire has grown to more than four dozen as Israeli forces have killed thousands of Palestinians over the past two months, as The Intercepthighlighted last week, "a closer look at some lawmakers' statements raises questions about whether they are truly pushing for an end to the violence."
Latimer does not support a cease-fire. As Politico reported on his trip:
The county executive and former state lawmaker said that his time with Israelis, such as meeting with President Isaac Herzog, taught him that there is "no animosity directed toward the Palestinian people."
"There's people that are protesting that they're pro-Palestine, as if the Israeli position is anti-Palestinian," he said in an interview while waiting to board his return flight at Ben Gurion Airport.
"There wasn't a 'let's go get those bastards' kind of mindset," he said. "The anger and fear is directed at Hamas as the terrorist organization that runs the country and that's a differentiation you don't often pick up."
Since declaring war in retaliation for a Hamas-led attack on October 7, Israel has killed nearly 15,900 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded another 42,000 in airstrikes and raids, according to health officials in the besieged enclave. At least hundreds of those killings have come after the seven-day pause in fighting that ended late last week.
Responding to Latimer's filing on Monday, Slate's Alex Sammon said, "There it is: after weeks of unnecessary hemming and hawing (during which he stockpiled an extra helping of cash from the Israel lobby), George Latimer is challenging Jamaal Bowman, aiming to [replace] one of the party's rising stars as a 70-year-old white freshman congressman."
It was Sammon who reported in mid-November that the lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is set to "spend at least $100 million in 2024 Democratic primaries, largely trained on eliminating incumbent Squad members" including Bowman, Bush, Omar, Lee, and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), who had a U.S. Senate candidate reject an offer of $20 million if he instead primaried her, the only Palestinian American in Congress.
Ocasio-Cortez's 2024 campaign said in a Monday email that "AIPAC's top recruit to challenge Jamaal Bowman officially filed his candidacy" and asked supporters to "please chip in right now to help us defend Jamaal and our progressive values."
Along with stressing his support for a cease-fire in Gaza, her campaign pointed out that Bowman is "his district's first Black representative" and "one of the only members of Congress with actual experience working in public education."
Westchester's News 12reported Monday that while Latimer "is preparing a video announcement over the next 24 hours and will formally launch his campaign by Wednesday," he is not Bowman's only challenger—Democratic "Dobbs Ferry investment banker Martin Dolan also plans to run."
While the contest is considered a test of whether politicians can survive criticizing Israel, some observers noted Monday that in March 2021, as many elected officials—including Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez—called on then-Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to resign over outrage about his Covid-19 pandemic response and sexual misconduct allegations, Latimer said the claims should be taken seriously but also drew a comparison to Emmett Till, which he later retracted.
Who wins the next primary for New York's solidly Democratic 16th District could depend on an effort to replace the GOP-friendly map drawn by a court-appointed expert for the 2022 election cycle. City & Statereported last month that a new order could mean "the Independent Redistricting Commission—which is led by Latimer's deputy, Ken Jenkins—will have the opportunity to change the boundaries."
"The district currently includes much of Westchester and a sliver of the northern Bronx and is home to many Jewish voters who have turned against Bowman," the outlet explained. "Should the district lines change, it will change the dynamics of the race."
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House Progressives Vow to Oppose Spending Bill With Anti-Migrant Policies
"Progressives reject Republicans' cynical attempt to imperil the lives of people seeking safety to pass this supplemental funding bill," said leaders of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
Dec 04, 2023
The U.S. Congressional Progressive Caucus said Monday that most of its 103 members would oppose an emergency spending package for Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan that empowers the Republican House majority to undermine protections for asylum-seekers, reinstate Trump-era travel bans, and implement other anti-immigrant policies.
"As Congress returns this week to consider the president's emergency supplemental funding request for international aid and increased border funding, Republicans are still trying to force their anti-immigrant policies into the legislation," CPC Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Deputy Chair Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.), and Whip Greg Casar (D-Texas) said in a statement. "Progressives are clear: We will not play this game."
President Joe Biden requested the $106 billion "national security" spending package in October after Israel launched its retaliatory—and many experts say genocidal—war against Gaza and amid a battlefield stalemate in Russia's 20-month invasion of Ukraine.
Among Biden's asks are $61.4 billion more for Ukraine—which has already received $111 billion from Washington—and $14.3 billion for Israel, which already gets nearly $4 billion each year.
Politico congressional reporter Burgess Everett reported Monday that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has moved for a Wednesday vote on the package, even though he knows it is likely to fail.
"His hope: That the prospect of defeat is enough to make both sides get serious about a deal," Everett wrote.
Schumer said on the Senate floor Monday that "the step I am taking tonight will ensure the process for the supplemental moves forward, and that hopefully disagreements on immigration do not prevent us from doing what we must do to protect America's security."
Republicans in both chambers of Congress are pushing to condition any additional U.S. aid to Ukraine upon what GOP lawmakers call "border security" measures meant to stop migrants including people legally seeking asylum from entering the United States.
As Common Dreams reported Friday, Senate Republicans, backed by House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), are working to include provisions of the Secure the Border Act—which calls for hiring more U.S. Border Patrol agents, continuing construction of the border wall, and other policies—as part of the broader funding package. GOP lawmakers also want to strip $14.3 billion in funding from the Internal Revenue Service as part of the deal.
"House Republicans are trying the same strategy that continues to fail: Hold Congress hostage to force their cruel, extreme, and unworkable agenda because they can't pass it through the regular legislative process," the CPC leaders said Monday. "This is the strategy that brought us to the brink of economic default and two government shutdowns. Proposed policies would destroy our U.S. asylum system and endanger immigrant lives while making the situation at the border worse, not better."
The lawmakers continued:
Progressives have fought for decades in Congress to advance a comprehensive immigration policy that would uphold U.S. and international law, respect the humanity and dignity of those seeking refuge in this country, and strengthen the U.S. economy. We have passed commonsense legislation with bipartisan majorities. Our members are prepared to work with any colleague who wants to advance thoughtful, holistic, and relevant reforms to create a roadmap to citizenship, increase the efficiency of our asylum system, and more—but this extortion is not going to work.
"Progressives reject Republicans' cynical attempt to imperil the lives of people seeking safety to pass this supplemental funding bill," the trio added. "We call on our Senate Democratic colleagues to stand up for immigrants and the allied communities who sent us to Congress and show Republican extremism for what it is by moving forward an aid package without new anti-immigrant policies."
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Families Rally for Opioid Accountability as Supreme Court Hears Purdue Case
"I don't want their money," one woman who lost a son to the opioid crisis said of the Sackler family. "I want them in prison."
Dec 04, 2023
At the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, families whose loved ones are among the tens of thousands of Americans who have died of opioid use disorder each year over the past two decades rallied to push the nine justices to reject a proposed bankruptcy plan that would give the former owners of Purdue Pharma legal immunity—with many joining the U.S. Justice Department in arguing that the company should not be released from accountability for the opioid epidemic.
Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy in 2019, as the number of Americans killed by opioids hit 50,000 and the OxyContin manufacturer faced thousands of lawsuits alleging its aggressive marketing of the addictive painkiller had fueled the rising death toll.
The company agreed to settle the lawsuits for $10 billion, with the Sackler family—which oversaw Purdue when OxyContin was introduced and flooded communities across the U.S.—contributing $4 billion. In exchange, the Sacklers would be shielded from future lawsuits.
The bankruptcy plan—which now includes $6 billion from the Sacklers following a push from lawsuit plaintiffs—has been approved by state and local governments, tribes, and families and individuals who would be entitled to money.
But the U.S. Trustee Program, a watchdog at the Justice Department, has joined some families in arguing that the Sacklers should not be shielded from liability for the opioid crisis.
"No Sackler immunity at any $$," read one sign held by a woman outside the Supreme Court on Monday, while another said, "My dead son does not release Sacklers."
The issue at hand in the case, Harrington v. Purdue Pharma, is whether it is legal to give a third party—the Sackler family—legal immunity in a bankruptcy case even though they themselves have not declared bankruptcy, also known as nonconsensual third-party release.
A lawyer for groups and individuals told the court that families and governments are highly unlikely to get any more out of Purdue and the Sacklers than the money the company and family have offered as part of the deal.
The plan would include $161 million in a trust set aside for Native American tribes and $700 million to $750 million in a trust for families and individuals who were able to file claims, with payouts expected to range from about $3,500 to $48,000. Governments would use the money to set up addiction treatment centers and other programs to mitigate the opioid crisis.
"Forget a better deal—there is no other deal," lawyer Pratik Shah told the Supreme Court on Monday.
Curtis Gannon, representing the U.S. Trustee Program, noted that the Sackler family already showed that a "better deal" could be possible when it offered $6 billion for the plan instead of $4 billion. The Justice Department is advocating for a new settlement that would not include nonconsensual third-party releases, saying the current bankruptcy deal violates federal law.
"We do hope there is another deal at the end of this," said Gannon.
The justices appeared split on the case, in which a ruling is expected next summer. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson noted that appeals courts do not allow bankruptcy plans that take away the rights of alleged victims to sue parties that have not declared bankruptcy.
Outside the court, Alexis Pleus, who lost her son to opioid use disorder, told Aneri Pattani of KFF Health News that many families, including hers, will not be entitled to money under the current deal because they are required to provide records such as the original opioid prescription.
Beth Macy, author of the book Dopesick, told CNN Monday morning that while some families "are divided" about whether the bankruptcy plan and payouts should move forward, as the U.S. Trustee Program "has pointed out, only 20% of the families who were eligible to vote on [the proposal], even voted."
"I don't want their money," Jen Trejo, whose son Christopher was prescribed OxyContin at age 15 and died of an overdose when he was 32, told Pattani. "I want them in prison."
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