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A project of Common Dreams

For Immediate Release
Contact:

Seth Gladstone - sgladstone@fwwatch.org, 347.778.2866

Enbridge-Spectra Mega-Merger Bad for Consumers, Climate

Statement of Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch

WASHINGTON

"The White House completed its pipeline trifecta yesterday by rubber stamping the Enbridge-Spectra merger after approving the Dakota Access Pipeline and reversing the blocked Keystone XL Pipeline. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved the deal without requiring the merged firm to divest a single inch of its 38,000-mile oil and gas pipeline network. The company will be able to exert market power to reduce output and raise prices on consumers. As with other industries, this mega-merger only benefits company shareholders, not communities.

"The Trump administration is quickly fulfilling the fossil fuel industry's wish list. The American people will pay the price for gargantuan gas giveaways -- higher prices, a dirtier environment, and climate chaos. Approving this deal is a bad omen for future antitrust enforcement. It seems as though the White House has pulled the cops off the antitrust beat entirely, much to Wall Street's delight."

Food & Water Watch mobilizes regular people to build political power to move bold and uncompromised solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate problems of our time. We work to protect people's health, communities, and democracy from the growing destructive power of the most powerful economic interests.

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