After bowing to political
pressure to reverse its rejection of a huge coal-fired power project in India, the United States Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) voted
on Wednesday to provide a "final commitment" and send the project to Congress
for final review.
The move marks the last step before final approval of U.S.
subsidies for one of the world’s largest point sources of carbon dioxide
emissions, and yet another strategic misstep for the global climate and the
clean technology export sector in the United States.
The 3,960-megawatts (MW) Sasan project is one of nine "Ultra
Mega Power Plants" (UMPP) being pursued by the Indian government. Each UMPP is roughly the equivalent of
eight average U.S. coal fired power plants. Sasan alone will be responsible for 26 to 27 million tons of
carbon dioxide annually–one fifth of all proposed coal fired power plants in
the United States combined. With India averaging some of the highest
transmission losses in the world of 25-40%, as well as facing an increasing
need for imported coal, which leads to price instability for end users, many
question the ability of these plants to deliver India’s much needed boost in
energy supplies.
Civil society groups have
condemned Ex-Im Bank’s reversal on Sasan. "The fix is in at Ex-Im Bank. The
Bank’s board bowed to political pressure and in so doing wastes public
financing to worsen their fossil fuel binge" said Doug Norlen Policy Director
for Pacific Environment.
Like many large scale
projects Sasan requires government backed financing to reduce the risk the
private market refuses to take on.
"The US government already lavishly
subsidizes the coal industry with some $19 billion in tax breaks and other
handouts," said Michelle Chan, Economic Policy Director for Friends of the
Earth, which recently issued a subsidies
report. "With this vote, Ex-Im Bank is choosing to dole out hundreds of
millions more to dirty coal." The U.S. company set to profit from the deal,
Bucyrus (Nasdaq: BUCY), took home hefty profits last year with $2.6 billion in revenue; and
despite its jobs rhetoric, the company’s 10-K states that it "recently
finalized a joint venture with a local partner to expand our manufacturing
capacity in China."
However, the support of Sasan
is not an isolated incident. According to a
recently released Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, more than 95%
of Ex-Im’s energy portfolio is based on fossil fuels, and in 2009 Ex-Im Bank
financing for renewable energy was less than 0.5% of the agency’s total
financing. Yet, according to a recent study by the World Wildlife Fund,
for every million dollars invested in energy projects, 13.5 jobs are created in
the clean tech export sector, while only 3.7 and 4.9 jobs are created in the
oil, gas and coal industries, respectively.
"Addressing climate change by
developing and exporting tomorrow’s clean energy technologies strengthens the
US economy. Continuing to finance outdated technologies that destroy our
environment also destroys our chances for clean energy job creation. It only
serves to cripple our competitiveness in the long run" said John Coequyt, Director
of International Programs at the Sierra Club.
The agency is now turning its sights on an even larger
and more destructive project, the Kusile coal-fired power project in South
Africa. The 4,800 MW project would be responsible for 36.8 million tons of
carbon dioxide annually and would increase South African energy sector
emissions by 12.8% and the country’s total contribution to climate change by
9.7%.
US citizens have already
submitted nearly 7,500 public comments in opposition to the US government’s
contribution to this dirty project and its environmental impacts. The US Ex-Im Bank Board is expected to
take up a due diligence vote on Kusile in early September. With the agency’s reversal on Sasan,
and the sheer scale of the Kusile project in the pipeline, it is likely to be a
pitched battle.
"These public financing decisions will literally determine our future.
We can either help lead the world in a clean energy economy, or deepen the
climate change crisis we are already in," said Norlen.
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