By, Mary Anne Hitt Director, Sierra Club’s Beyond Coal Campaign
Reposted from 08/09/2012 3:07 pm. Huffington Post.
The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) and its chairman, Fred Hochberg, are facing a big decision about a coal project in one of the world’s most treasured places. Disturbing reports are emerging that the bank is considering financing a massive coal project in Australia with taxpayer money that would include an export terminal inside the Great Barrier Reef.
We need your help to put the brakes on this project now. This is only the latest in a string of coal projects supported by Ex-Im Bank that are harming communities and the environment in South Africa, India, and even here in Appalachia.
The project’s backers, India-based GVK and Australia-based Hancock Coal, are telling various media outlets that Ex-Im is prepared to finance equipment for their massive Alpha mine in Australia’s Galilee Basin. The Galilee Basin is ground zero for Australia’s push to triple coal exports, a move that would put Australia well ahead of Saudi Arabia for total carbon exports. The planned projects from Hancock Coal, including the Alpha mine, would not only flood the international market with nearly 8 billion tons of coal (double China’s current annual consumption) but also could ravage one of the world’s unique natural treasures — the Great Barrier Reef. Read the full article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-anne-hitt/tell-us-exim-bank-dont-us_b_1757638.html
Read the UNESCO report that demanded that Australia take action to halt the project