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August
The Washington Post
August 29, 2003
Natural Gas Project in Peru Loses Bid for U.S. Funding
By James V. Grimaldi
A mammoth Peruvian natural gas project involving two Texas energy companies with ties to the White House lost a bid for U.S. financial aid yesterday because of concerns that it could damage a marine preserve, a pristine rain forest and indigenous people in the Amazon.
The Export-Import Bank board voted 2 to 1 to reject a request for about $ 214 million in loan guarantees for a project to extract as much as 13 trillion cubic feet of gas from a rain forest in the Amazon and pipe it over the Andes to Lima and an export facility near a marine sanctuary. The vote jeopardizes as much as $ 400 million in other public financing lined up by project sponsors, who have pledged to move ahead even if multilateral development banks decide not to support the project. The sponsors' public relations firm in Washington did not return phone calls yesterday.
"With the exception of drilling in the arctic refuge, this is the only resounding defeat for any component of the Bush energy plan that the environmental community has pulled off," said Jon Sohn, a Friends of the Earth lobbyist who fought the plan. "Two Ex-Im board members displayed courage and environmental leadership in the face of Bush 'Pioneer' fundraiser pressure."
The Associated Press
August 28, 2003U.S. funding denied for huge natural gas project in Peru
By John Heilprin
The U.S. Export-Import Bank, citing potential damage to Peru's rain forests and indigenous people, rejected $213.6 million in loan guarantees Thursday for a giant natural gas project involving two Texas-based energy companies with close ties to the Bush administration.
The bank's board of directors voted 2-1 against helping fund the project in an Amazon jungle area about 700 miles east of Lima. The area is believed to hold 13 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, along with oil.
"Ex-Im board members displayed courage and environmental leadership in the face of considerable pressure," Jon Sohn of Friends of the Earth said after the panel's vote. "What happened today was unprecedented, that the Ex-Im board turned down a project on environmental grounds."
The Ex-Im consultant's report said, among other things, that some of the construction already under way was damaging the rain forest by causing massive erosion and landslides, according to Sohn and Ollison.
Hunt is chaired by Ray Hunt, a longtime friend and financial supporter of Bush. Hunt's son, a company vice president, was on Bush's presidential energy transition team and advised his 2000 campaign on energy issues. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former chairman and chief executive officer of Halliburton.
Agence France Presse
August 28, 2003
US Export-Import Bank rebuffs Peruvian energy project
The US Export-Import Bank's directors on Thursday rejected a 214.6-million-dollar loan guarantee for Peru's Camisea oil and natural gas project, citing environmental concerns, a bank spokesman said.
Environmental and indigenous groups, with support from some US lawmakers, opposed ExIm Bank involvement, saying the 1.6-billion-dollar Camisea project harmed Peru's jungles and native communities.
Jon Sohn, international campaigner with Friends of the Earth, said project opponents hoped ExIm's decision would dissuade European export credit agencies from supporting the project.
"We hope this sends a signal to export credit agencies in Europe that the US government is committed to international environmental standards," Sohn said.
The Associated Press
August 28, 2003
U.S. funding denied for huge natural gas project in Peru
The Export-Import Bank of the United States, after heavy lobbying from environmental groups, denied funding Thursday for a large natural gas development project in Peru backed by two Texas-based energy companies with close ties to the Bush administration.
"Ex-Im board members displayed courage and environmental leadership in the face of considerable pressure," said Jon Sohn of Friends of the Earth.
Reuters
August 28, 2003
By Pablo Bachelet
WASHINGTON, Aug 28 (Reuters) - The Export-Import Bank of the United States dealt a blow to Peru on Thursday by voting against $214 million in loan guarantees for the Camisea natural gas project.
Thursday's vote marked a victory for environmental and indigenous groups, which have lobbied long and hard against the $2 billion project on the grounds that it would harm Peru's pristine jungles and native inhabitants.
"Ex-Im board members displayed courage and environmental leadership in the face of considerable pressure," said Jon Sohn, international campaigner for Friends of the Earth. "Friends of the Earth applauds Ex-Im's decision to deny U.S. taxpayer support of Camisea and the massive environmental destruction it would cause."
Vanity Fair
Sale of the Wild
By Michael Schnayerson
Department of Interior employees are horrified by how Secretary Gale Norton and her powerful deputy, J. Steven Griles, have allowed industry to exploit America's wilderness. Probing stealthy bureaucratic maneuvers and Griles's ties to coal, oil and gas, the author finds a massive, irreversible landgrab.
Meetings are what got Griles in hot water, dozens of them, beginning within days of his confirmation, in July 2001, with ex-clients and associates linked to issues from which he'd recused himself because of his former lobbying activities.
"Griles doesn't seem to understand how bad it looks," says Kristen Sykes, the Interior Department watchdog for Friends of the Earth, who got the calendars through the freedom of Information Act, "when he continues to keep company with these special interests."
Financial Times (London)
August 5, 2003,
Further Delays Loom for Peru Gas Project
By Marianne Brun-Rovet
Two votes that would clear the way for up to Dollars 335m in loans for a controversial natural gas project in Peru may be delayed by more than a month, amid growing uncertainty about the US administration's stance on the project.
Jon Sohn, of Friends of the Earth, said: "The Europeans don't want to approve something the US may or may not approve."
The Ex-Im Bank is expected to follow the IDB's lead and delay a vote. But even if it approves Dollars 200m loan guarantees for Camisea tomorrow, there would be no disbursement for more than a month. Any Ex-Im loan above Dollars 100m must be approved by the House and Senate appropriations and banking committees, now in recess.
The Associated Press
August 5, 2003
Groups seek ethics probe into Bush judge nominee's cattle grazing dealings
By John Heilprin
Environmental groups asked the Office of Government Ethics to investigate meetings between the Interior Department's top lawyer, now nominated for a federal judgeship, and cattle interests who may have been his former clients.
Friends of the Earth and Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility contended Tuesday that William Myers III broke his May 1, 2001, pledge not to participate for a year in any dealings with former clients. The ethics office is an agency within the executive branch whose purpose is to prevent and resolve conflicts of interest.
"Apparently recusal agreements don't mean very much at the Department of the Interior," said Friends of the Earth's Kristen Sykes. "Myers is one of a string of political appointees at the Interior Department who seem to put the financial well-being of their former clients above the protection of our public lands."
Friends of the Earth is among the environmental and advocacy groups that asked the Justice Department in June to have a special prosecutor investigate the No. 2 official at Interior, former lobbyist J. Steven Griles, to determine if he violated conflict of interest laws or lied to Congress.
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