Rigging equipment is pictured in a
field outside of Sweetwater, Texas. The French bank BNP Paribas has been urged
not to support a fracking project in the state. Photograph:
Cooper Neill/Reuters
The Guardian
By Tom Dart
Thursday 2 March 2017
Activist points to ‘hypocrisy’ in
BNP Paribas’s involvement in south Texas export terminal, given bank’s claimed
commitment to the environment
Environmental groups have called on a French bank not
to help finance a fracked-gas export terminal planned for south Texas.
A report released on Wednesday urges BNP Paribas and
its US subsidiary, Bank of the West, to state it will not finance any projects
for liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals and to adopt a policy of not backing
LNG export schemes. One of the proposals would be built on 1,000 acres of land,
potentially making it the largest facility of its kind in the country.
“It’s a destructive fossil fuel infrastructure project
in the Gulf coast in one of the relatively untouched parts,” said Jason Opeña
Disterhoft of the Rainforest Action Network, of the plan known as Texas LNG.
He said there “is some hypocrisy” in BNP’s involvement
given that the company touts its green credentials. In the wake of the 2015
Paris agreement to address climate change, the bank said it was committed to
responsible investment, such as financing renewable energy rather than
coalmining, and minimising atmospheric pollution as a result of its business
activities.
France banned fracking in 2011 for environmental
protection reasons. A spokeswoman for BNP’s US operation declined to comment on
the report. Texas LNG did not respond to a request for comment.
Rebekah Hinojosa, an activist fighting the terminals,
fears that construction would damage sacred Native American historical sites,
harm endangered wildlife, tourism and the local shrimping industry and pollute
and scar a relatively unscathed part of the coast, as well as threaten safety
in the event of a disaster. Though proponents tout potential economic benefits
for a deprived area, Hinojosa is concerned that the projects may ultimately
cost more jobs than they create….
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