News Room > Press Releases

February 22, 2001

CONTACT:

Molly Lovett, Fenton Communications 202/822-5200
Jon Sohn, Friends of the Earth 202/783-7400, ext. 226
Keith Ashdown, Taxpayers for Common Sense 202/546-8500, ext. 110

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Washington, D.C.- The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), which provides financing to American corporations to do business abroad, is among the top pork barrel programs that wastes billions of taxpayer dollars while harming the environment, according to a new report by a coalition of taxpayer, environmental and consumer groups.

The 2001 edition of the Green Scissors report shows how $55 billion can be saved by cutting 74 federal programs that range from coal industry subsidies to money-losing timber sales. International environmental groups have long criticized the Export-Import, or Ex-Im Bank, but for the first time, this year, the Green Scissors report has included the institution among its targets.

The coalition is calling for a $250 million cut from Ex-Im's budget this year. This target is in line with the anticipated budget request of President George W. Bush, who last week indicated he would ask for a 25 percent cut from the Bank's $927 million budget.

"Ex-Im Bank has authorized billions of dollars since 1992 in fossil fuel and mining projects that will destroy the environment and cause global warming," said Dr. Brent Blackwelder, President of Friends of the Earth.

"Supporting dirty, financially questionable coal-fired power plants around the globe is not where U.S. taxpayer money should go," said Cena Swisher, Program Director of Taxpayers for Common Sense. "We commend President Bush if he follows through on this budget cut."

"Where taxpayer dollars are used to harm the environment, that's polluter pork," said Lexi Shultz, staff attorney for U.S. PIRG. "Polluter pork makes no sense for the U.S. and no sense for the rest of the world."

Examples of environmentally harmful energy projects backed by Ex-Im Bank include:

· a proposed 700mw coal-fired power plant that California's Edison Mission hopes to build in the village of Bo Nok in Thailand. If constructed, the power plant would poison the rivers and land where villagers now fish and farm commercially and for subsistence. Though Ex-Im had backed down from the project in the face of strong local opposition, all indications are that the deal is once again imminent. Some villagers have threatened to blockade the roads if construction begins on the power plant;

· the Paiton coal-fired power plant in Indonesia, also built by Edison Mission, which has been fraught with corruption and blamed for severe environmental degradation; and

· a controversial new oil drilling and pipeline project in Chad and Cameroon, being built by ExxonMobil and Chevron among others, which will cut through the rainforest habitat of local indigenous people, and potentially worsen human rights abuses in both countries.

The Green Scissors 2001 report, endorsed by more than 24 organizations, highlights programs that taxpayer, environmental and consumer organizers agree should be cut. Groups endorsing the report include Friends of the Earth US, Taxpayers for Common Sense, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group (PIRG). Over the past seven years, the Green Scissors campaign has cut $24 billion in wasteful, environmentally harmful spending programs.

The complete Green Scissors 2001 report can be found at www.greenscissors.org.