The U.S. government’s Export-Import Bank wants to finance a huge coal project that would put Australia’s Great Barrier Reef at risk. We are calling on Fred Hochberg, Chair of the Export-Import Bank, to stop the destruction.
Click the links below to send a tweet and take action:
Thanks to your pressure last year, many of the world’s largest banks have said “no” to financing a huge coal project that would put Australia’s Great Barrier Reef at risk. But the Reef is still in danger. As you know, news reports have revealed that the U.S. government’s Export-Import Bank is considering financing this destructive project.
Thousands have taken to social media, calling on Fred Hochberg, Chair of the Export-Import Bank, to stop the destruction. Click now to add your voice!
Funding the Abbot Point coal port expansion is a step in the wrong direction. The port expansion and the coal mines that would feed it would gravely damage the Great Barrier Reef and accelerate climate change. The resultant dredging and ship traffic would threaten one of the world’s most biodiverse ecosystems, a global treasure that is under protection as a World Heritage Site. Even Wall Street thinks the coal industry’s plan to build a giant coal port in the middle of the reef is too toxic to fund. It’s ridiculous that a U.S. bank supported by taxpayer dollars would even consider funding such a destructive project.
We know that our pressure can help to stop the coal industry’s reef destruction. Thanks to your pressure, major banks have publicly committed not to fund this project, because it would be a disaster for the climate, the reef, and their bottom lines. Not only would this perpetuate climate chaos, the proposed Abbot Point expansion could threaten the breeding grounds of endangered green and loggerhead turtles.
In concert with our allies at the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, 350 and Friends of the Earth, we’ve been ramping up the pressure at the Export-Import Bank about this issue. We need to insure they are hearing loud and clear how dangerous investing in this project would be.
This is the perfect time for us to creatively change how we’re communicating with the bank, and we’ve discovered a great angle. Fred Hochberg, chair of the U.S. Export-Import Bank, is very active on twitter, tweeting nearly every day.
It’s time to amplify our message by tweeting at Fred Hochberg. Right now and through the week, send a tweet to @Fredhochberg about the proposed Abbot Point coal port expansion that the Export-Import Bank is considering financing.
The U.S. government’s Export-Import Bank isn’t used to having citizens weigh in on their decisions and Fred Hochberg isn’t used to having people communicate with him though his Twitter account. We have a great opportunity to impact his decision on whether or not to fund this destructive project. Let’s keep up the pressure so he knows we’ll be petitioning, calling and tweeting until this proposal is off the table.
Additional Information:
1. “US Banks baulk at Abbot Point coal port expansion“, The Australian, October 28, 2014
2. “Adani lines up $1 bln Indian state bank loan for Australian coal venture”, Reuters, November 17, 2014
3. “Great Barrier Reef“, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization