Green groups sue US agencies over global warming
Date: 29-Aug-02
Country: US
The lawsuit claims the U.S. Export-Import Bank and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation, or OPIC, illegally provided $32 billion in financing and insurance over 10 years to develop oil fields and build pipelines and coal-fired power plants.
The environmental groups Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth argued in their lawsuit that the Ex-Im Bank and OPIC failed to follow federal law that required the agencies to assess the environmental impacts of the projects for which they provided financial backing.
The city of Boulder, Colorado also joined in the lawsuit against the two agencies that was filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco. Officials from both agencies could not immediately be reached for comment.
Power plants and oil refineries are the among the biggest producers of greenhouse gas emissions that many scientists believe are the cause of rising global temperatures.
The parties said the purpose of the lawsuit was to compel the Bush administration to take action against global warming.
"All of the work that the city of Boulder does to maintain the quality of life for our residents will be negatively impacted by the detrimental effects of climate change," said Boulder Mayor Will Toor.
"We believe that this lawsuit is one way to force the federal government to start paying attention to this critical issue," he said.
President George W. Bush withdrew the United States last year from the international Kyoto treaty that seeks to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
The Bush administration feared the treaty would hurt the U.S. economy, and instead promoted voluntary efforts among American energy firms to cut their emissions.