May, 24 2021, 12:00am EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Julie Teel Simmonds, Center for Biological Diversity, (619) 990-2999, jteelsimmonds@biologicaldiversity.org
Sharon Lavigne, RISE St. James, (225) 206-0900, sharonclavigne@gmail.com
Anne Rolfes, Louisiana Bucket Brigade, (504) 452-4909, anne@bucketbrigade.org
Dustin Renaud, Healthy Gulf, (228) 209-2194 dustin@healthygulf.org
Attorneys General Demand Deeper Army Corps Analysis of Formosa Plastics' Louisiana Project
Letter Asks Feds to Examine Environmental Justice, Wildlife, Climate Impacts
WASHINGTON
New York State Attorney General Letitia James and four other attorneys general sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers today demanding a deeper analysis of the climate, wildlife and environmental justice impacts of Formosa Plastics' massive proposed petrochemical complex in St. James Parish, Louisiana.
"I'm grateful that these attorneys general understand the threat Formosa Plastics poses to us and are demanding action," said Sharon Lavigne, founder of RISE St. James. "The Army Corps needs to listen and do a proper analysis of a project that would endanger our lives. Because I believe that if there's an honest assessment of the environmental racism behind this project's approval then it will never be permitted. We must stop Formosa Plastics."
In November the Army Corps suspended its permit for the project after being sued by the Center for Biological Diversity, RISE St. James, Healthy Gulf and the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. Another 20 organizations and thousands of individuals then asked the Army Corps to examine the environmental impacts of the project and the role racial bias and systemic racism played in the siting of this plant in a low-income Black community already overburdened with pollution.
"We're pleased these state attorneys general are joining our coalition's call for stronger federal scrutiny of Formosa Plastics' terrible project. Any serious analysis should cause the Army Corps to reject this major threat to public health and our climate," said Julie Teel Simmonds, a lawyer at the Center. "We can't let industry pollute another working-class Black community as it creates mountains of plastic the world doesn't want or need. I'm hoping this letter will help convince Formosa Plastics to abandon this dangerous project."
The growing chorus of project opponents includes the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights, which called the project "environmental racism" in March and urged U.S. officials to reject the project. The Army Corps' initial permit also ignored the water, air and health impacts of the complex and failed to protect burial sites of enslaved people discovered on the property.
"It's refreshing to see public servants actually act in the interest of the people they serve. Louisiana public officials, including our attorney general, remain craven to the oil and chemical industries," said Anne Rolfes, director of the Louisiana Bucket Brigade. "We are glad that at least some attorneys general actually have a backbone, and we are grateful for their support. We will continue to push the Biden administration to take a stand for environmental justice and permanently revoke this project's permits."
Formosa Plastics' proposed petrochemical complex would include 10 chemical manufacturing plants and numerous support facilities. The complex would emit 13.6 million metric tons of greenhouse gases and 800 tons of toxic air pollution each year, doubling toxic air emissions in St. James Parish, which already has among the worst air quality in the country.
"We're thankful that these attorneys general are pushing the Army Corps to do the right thing," said Michael Esealuka, an organizer with Healthy Gulf. "There are over a dozen industrial facilities already located near working class, Black communities in St. James Parish. An environmental justice analysis of the Formosa Plastics project will show what parish residents have long been saying: St James is full."
By turning fracked gas into the building blocks for a massive amount of single-use packaging and other wasteful plastic products, the project would worsen climate change and the ocean plastic pollution crisis.
Today's letter was sent by the attorneys general from New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey and the District of Columbia. In their letter, they said their states will be affected by the project and its inadequate review undermining national policies on environmental justice, climate change, wetlands loss and protection of migratory birds.
"Without such analysis," they wrote, "the Plastics Complex will inevitably produce adverse health, environmental, and climate-related effects that will harm our States."
At the Center for Biological Diversity, we believe that the welfare of human beings is deeply linked to nature — to the existence in our world of a vast diversity of wild animals and plants. Because diversity has intrinsic value, and because its loss impoverishes society, we work to secure a future for all species, great and small, hovering on the brink of extinction. We do so through science, law and creative media, with a focus on protecting the lands, waters and climate that species need to survive.
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'Woah!': FTC Applauded for Launching Inquiry Into Surveillance Pricing
"Firms that harvest Americans' personal data can put people's privacy at risk," FTC Chair Lina Khan said. "Now firms could be exploiting this vast trove of personal information to charge people higher prices."
Jul 23, 2024
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday launched an investigation into surveillance pricing and requested information from eight companies on the practice.
The FTC inquiry will look at the effect of surveillance pricing—using data on consumers' behavior or characteristics to manipulate the price for them as individuals—on privacy, competition, and consumer protection.
The agency asked Mastercard, JPMorgan Chase, Accenture, and McKinsey for information on the practice, as well as four less well-known companies that service major corporations.
"Firms that harvest Americans' personal data can put people's privacy at risk," FTC Chair Lina Khan said in a statement. "Now firms could be exploiting this vast trove of personal information to charge people higher prices."
"Americans deserve to know whether businesses are using detailed consumer data to deploy surveillance pricing, and the FTC's inquiry will shed light on this shadowy ecosystem of pricing middlemen," she added.
1. Firms harvest a trove of Americans’ personal data, from your browsing history to your biometrics. Now firms could be using this data to target you with an individualized price.
Today @FTC launched an inquiry into these surveillance pricing tactics. https://t.co/G4uc8lHWOV
— Lina Khan (@linakhanFTC) July 23, 2024
Progressive advocacy groups, which have long considered Khan to be one of their strongest allies in the Biden administration, and which argue that discriminatory pricing is unfair, celebrated the FTC's announcement.
"We're thrilled to see the FTC crack down on the dystopian practice of surveillance pricing," Lee Hepner, legal counsel at the American Economic Liberties Project, said in a statement. "It's chilling to think that companies have so much control over our lives that they can leverage personal data they've harvested—including your location, demographic, and shopping history—to turn our habits against us and hike up prices on essential goods. But it's already happening."
Groundwork Collaborative executive director Lindsay Owens also praised the FTC move, warning that "a personalized price might sound nice, but it is actually a three-part corporate strategy to spy on you, isolate you, and overcharge you."
"Today's investigation is an important step in cracking down on the methods big corporations use to spy on consumers to rip them off," Owens said in a statement.
Emily Peterson-Cassin, a director at Demand Progress Education Fund, said in a statement that Tuesday's announcement was "another strong sign that the FTC is fighting for consumer power over corporate power."
Zephyr Teachout, a law professor at Fordham University who has helped lead the opposition to surveillance pricing, reacted with excitement on Tuesday.
"Woah!" she wrote on social media. "The FTC is going there! So excited to see the FTC launching a full study into how companies use data to serve different prices to different people. We know the incentive and capacity is there, but the reality of surveillance pricing has been a triple-locked black box!"
Advocates of surveillance pricing sometimes call it personalized pricing and argue that it efficiently allocates resources. Such pricing questions are the subject of great interest among business school academics, especially at elite institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University, according to a detailed article in The American Prospect last month.
A crackdown on the practice could conceivably have support across the political spectrum. Stock guru Jim Cramer of CNBC—a frequent and vociferous critic of Khan—praised the FTC's announcement on air on Tuesday, while expressing disbelief that he was doing so.
7/ Even @jimcramer agrees that surveillance pricing is not an honest or ethical way to treat customers.
“How could you live with yourself?” if you’re a business that uses this strategy, he asked this morning.
“That is a great report. I agree with [@FTC].” pic.twitter.com/23HEDk8Yqf
— American Economic Liberties Project (@econliberties) July 23, 2024
All five FTC commissioners, including two Republicans, voted to move forward with the investigation, which will focus on intermediary firms—"the middlemen enabling firms to algorithmically tweak and target their prices," according to a blog post the FTC also published Tuesday.
The requests for information don't indicate that the eight firms engaged in wrongdoing, but rather that they can be useful sources of information, an unnamed FTC official toldThe Hill.
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'What's the Holdup?' Menendez to Resign Next Month
"It's time for New Jersey to move forward," said U.S. Rep. Andy Kim, who is running to replace the senator.
Jul 23, 2024
One day after the U.S. Senate Ethics Committee notified Sen. Bob Menendez that it had voted to move toward a potential vote on expelling him from the upper chamber of Congress, the New Jersey Democrat told Gov. Phil Murphy that he would resign, effective August 20.
Menendez announced his resignation a week after he was convicted of 16 counts of bribery and acting as a foreign agent.
But with senators and members of the U.S. House long having called on the lawmaker to resign over the federal bribery charges, one leading ethics group asked why Menendez was waiting nearly a month to leave office.
"What's the holdup?" asked Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW).
Menendez was convicted last week of accepting bribes from three businessmen and acting as a foreign agent on behalf of the Egyptian government. He pleaded not guilty.
CREW promptly called on Menendez to resign after his conviction, saying he had spent years "ducking accountability for corruption."
"There is no room in the Senate for a convicted felon, especially not one convicted of taking bribes," said CREW president Noah Bookbinder last week. "He must resign today or be immediately expelled."
Manu Raju of CNN pointed out that the August 20 resignation date allows Menendez "to collect another taxpayer-funded paycheck."
Sens. Chris Coons (D-Del.) and James Lankford (R-Okla.), the chair and vice chair of the Senate Ethics Committee, respectively, said Monday that the panel had voted to begin "an adjudicatory review of [Menendez's] alleged violations of Senate Rules."
"An adjudicatory review is required when the committee considers disciplinary actions, such as expulsion or censure," said the senators.
Bloomberg reporter Steven Dennis noted that lawmakers' resignation before their colleagues have a chance to recommend their expulsion is "a pattern throughout history."
Menendez was convicted of using his influence to meddle in three state and federal criminal cases to protect his associates, as well as taking actions that benefited the government of Egypt in exchange for bribes. Prosecutors said he ghostwrote a letter to his Senate colleagues about lifting a hold on military aid to Egypt. He did the favors in exchange for stacks of gold bars and $480,000 in cash that he hid in his home.
The senator wrote to Murphy that "I fully intend to appeal the jury's verdict, all the way and including to the Supreme Court."
Menendez's term was set to expire in January 2025; following his resignation, Murphy will be empowered to appoint someone to serve for the remainder of the senator's term. U.S. Rep. Andy Kim (D-N.J.) is running to replace Menendez and is favored to win against Republican Curtis Bagshaw. The disgraced senator also launched a bid last month to run for his seat as an Independent.
Kim said Tuesday that Menendez had "made the right decision for New Jersey by agreeing to step down next month."
"It's time for New Jersey to move forward," he said. "We have big challenges ahead of us, and we can only tackle them if we show the people of our state that this is the beginning of a new era of politics built on integrity, service, and delivering for all families."
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Tlaib Says Netanyahu 'Should Be Arrested' in DC
"It is a sad day for our democracy when my colleagues will smile for a photo-op with a man who is actively committing genocide."
Jul 23, 2024
As U.S. lawmakers prepared to host Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for a rare joint address to Congress, Rep. Rashida Tlaib contended Monday that the leader of a country on trial for genocide at the World Court should be apprehended and sent to The Hague to face justice.
"Netanyahu is a war criminal committing genocide against the Palestinian people," Tlaib (D-Mich.)—the only Palestinian American member of Congress—said in a statement ahead of the Israeli leader's scheduled speech on Wednesday. "It is utterly disgraceful that leaders from both parties have invited him to address Congress. He should be arrested and sent to the International Criminal Court."
While the ICC has not authorized Netanyahu's arrest, its chief prosecutor has applied for warrants to apprehend the far-right prime minister and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged crimes including extermination and forced starvation, as well as three Hamas leaders for war crimes allegedly committed during the October 7 attack on Israel.
Israel is also on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice—also known as the World Court—which ruled last week in a separate case that the 57-year Israeli occupation of Palestine is an illegal form of apartheid that must end "as rapidly as possible."
Tlaib continued:
Since 1948, the U.S. has provided more than $141 billion in weapons to the Israeli government to fund the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, including $17.9 billion since October. Netanyahu's apartheid regime has already slaughtered over 39,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including over 15,000 children. Yet my colleagues and the Biden administration continue to approve more funding and send more weapons—even as innocent children like Hind Rajab are targeted with 355 bullets, shot in the head by Israeli snipers, burned to death in their tents with U.S.-made weapons, bombed while playing at school, deliberately starved to death, and Palestinians are bombed in refugee camps and discovered in mass graves, naked and with their hands tied, all livestreamed for the world to see. These are undeniably war crimes under international law.
"Make no mistake: This event is a celebration of the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians," Tlaib asserted. "It is a sad day for our democracy when my colleagues will smile for a photo-op with a man who is actively committing genocide."
Dozens of Democratic U.S. lawmakers and Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont have said they will skip Netanyahu's speech. Vice President Kamala Harris—the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee—has declined to preside over the prime minister's address as Senate president, although she is reportedly planning to meet privately with him on Thursday.
While U.S. President Joe Biden has decried Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza and Secretary of State Antony Blinken has lamented that "far too many Palestinians have been killed," the administration continues to send billions of dollars worth of arms to the key Middle Eastern ally.
"Our government must stop supporting and funding this genocide now."
"It is hypocritical to claim to be concerned about the massive death toll of innocent civilians, and then turn around and welcome the person responsible for these war crimes to our Capitol," Tlaib added. "Their silence is betrayal, and history will remember them accordingly. Our government must stop supporting and funding this genocide now."
On Tuesday, a coalition of labor unions representing millions of U.S. workers urged the Biden administration to suspend weapons transfers to Israel.
Progressive groups including the Council on American Islamic Relations and CodePink have also called for Netanyahu's arrest. A coalition of pro-Palestine organizations is planning to surround the Capitol during the prime minister's speech to demand his arrest.
"War criminal Netanyahu belongs in The Hague, not in D.C., and we're going to make sure the message is heard loud and clear!" Palestinian American attorney and International Solidarity Movement co-founder Huwaida Arraf said Tuesday. "We charge GENOCIDE! And we will not tire and will not rest until justice is done!"
Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now, said Tuesday that "it's hard to imagine a greater blow to American credibility and standing around the world than for our Congress to host the prime minister of Israel, an indicted and hopefully soon-to-be-arrested war criminal, responsible for the gravest mass atrocities against Palestinians the world has ever seen."
"It's a great stain on our nation that our elected leaders have chosen to honor the leader of a country facing prosecution for genocide, apartheid, and illegal occupation," Whitson added.
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