Abby L. Harvey
GHG Monitor
7/18/2014
A new bill proposed by Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) to reauthorize the Export-Import Bank also contains language that would reverse a restriction placed on the bank preventing the financing of coal plants unless they use carbon capture technology. Such language, though, has been met with opposition from some of Manchin’s fellow Democrats in the Senate, such as Barba Boxer (D-Calif.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.). Manchin’s office did not respond to request for comment late this week.
The Ex-Im Bank approved a set of supplemental guidelines for high carbon intensity projects in December which state that “under Ex-Im Bank’s environmental policy, the Bank will not provide support for exports for high carbon intensity plants, except for high carbon intensity plants that (a) are located in the world’s poorest countries, utilize the most efficient coal technology available and where no other economically feasible alternative exists, or (b) deploy carbon capture and sequestration (CCS).”
In a letter sent late last week, a group of 13 environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club and the Natural Resources Defense Council, called on lawmakers to oppose the provision reversing the bank’s policy. “In recent years, the Export-Import Bank had dramatically increased financing for coal projects, but fortunately, the Bank’s climate policy has begun to curb this harmful practice. However, if Congress slashes enforcement of this policy, it is expected that the Bank’s coal subsidies will increase even more,” the groups wrote. The letter also says, “Increased funding for these coal projects undercuts the Obama Administration’s ability to persuade other governments to end export credit agency and other public financing for coal projects, and it erodes foreign confidence that the United States will act on climate or follow the Administration’s stated G20 goal of ending fossil fuel subsidies.”
