Rogers’ rider throws climate and communities under the bus

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Friends of the Earth expressed outrage at a rider attached by House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-KY) to the FY 2015 Omnibus Appropriations bill , a provision which seeks to prevent enforcement of landmark climate policies of the U.S. Government’s trade and development finance agencies, the Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im Bank) and Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC). 

Last year, President Obama launched a Climate Action Plan that requires OPIC and Ex-Im Bank to end coal plant financing abroad except in very limited circumstances.  This blazed a trail followed by similar agencies in the U.K., France, Germany and the Nordic countries. The World Bank, European Investment Bank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development also adopted analogous measures. While over the last decade OPIC and Ex-Im Bank have provided billions of dollars in financing for projects harmful to the climate and local communities in developing countries, more recently these agencies have adopted vitally important policies to protect global climate, the local environment and human health. 

“The Rogers climate rider undercuts one of the most important contributions President Obama has made to climate policy internationally,” said Friends of the Earth President of Erich Pica. “This rider harms U.S. foreign policy interests, and throws climate change priorities and local communities in developing countries under the bus.”

“With Republicans launching wholesale assault on landmark environmental policies, our climate and communities will be under increasing threat in the upcoming Congress,” concluded Pica.  

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Expert contact: Doug Norlen, (202) 465-1650, [email protected]
Press contact: EA Dyson, (202) 222-0730, [email protected]