Friends of the Earth knows regulation, legislation, taxes, and banking have a big impact on our environment. We hold our government and elected officials accountable and work to reform our economic and financial systems so that they serve people and the planet.
Too often, environmental destruction is profitable for corporations. We aim to create a more environmentally sustainable and socially just economy by transforming the rules, incentives, and practices of the financial and economic system. We work to redirect tax policies and public spending to make polluters pay and to drive the transition to a cleaner, low-carbon economy.
At home and abroad, we advocate for policies that minimize environmental harm and fund the future. In the United States, we strengthen financial regulations to encourage sustainability in financial markets and work to stop trade policies which allow companies to run roughshod over the environment. And we work with allies around the world to alter lending practices at organizations like the World Bank and the U.S. Export-Import bank that fund pollution and harm communities in developing countries.
Despite conclusive evidence (see http://foe.org/keystone-xl-pipeline-influence-scandal) that the State Department has overseen a corrupt Keystone XL tar sands pipeline review process, the Obama administration indicated last Thursday (November 10) that the department will remain in charge of the new environmental review of the proposed pipeline.
But additional evidence has surfaced that will complicate the State Department's bid to oversee this review. Friends of the Earth and allies have received a third tranche of documents in response to our Freedom of Information Act request and what is hidden from view is just as concerning as the further evidence of collusion with TransCanada that is revealed. The evidence indicates State Department employees have inappropriately shown favoritism toward TransCanada – acting as though it was their job to ensure the pipeline was approved rather than that an impartial review was conducted. It also shows that the department is hiding something.
Friends of the Earth is proud to team up with Annie Leonard, creator of the hit video The Story of Stuff, on her latest project -- The Story of Broke. This new video describes the myriad ways in which our government subsidizes big polluters and other destructive industries and then tells us that we’re broke. As the video illustrates, the truth is we're not broke. If we shift government spending away from the "dinosaur economy" and toward protecting our environment, safeguarding public health and educating our kids we can create jobs and build a better future.
As another round of negotiations on the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement between the United States and seven other Pacific countries began on October 19 in Peru, Friends of the Earth joined 20 other environmental and civil society groups to call for an end to secrecy in these important trade talks.
Evidence is mounting that the State Department’s review of a proposed tar sands oil pipeline has been corrupted by bias, lobbyist influence and conflicts of interest. The growing scandal is making front-page headlines and putting new pressure on President Obama to stop the pipeline.
The proposed pipeline — TransCanada’s Keystone XL — would transport the world’s dirtiest oil from Canada’s tar sands to refineries on the U.S. Gulf Coast. The pipeline threatens drinking water, air quality, and the livelihoods of the people who live along its route. It would also act as a “carbon bomb” that jeopardizes our climate.
At the core of the scandal: the firm Cardno Entrix, allowed by the State Department to conduct the impacts review for the pipeline despite a stunning conflict of interest; emails between State Department staff and TransCanada lobbyist Paul Elliott, previously a top Hillary Clinton campaign aide, that indicate bias and complicty at State; a web of lobbyists and State Department employees cozy with the oil industry; and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who announced last year announced she was “inclined” to approve the pipeline even though the State Department’s review was not yet complete.
October 14, 2011 -- Our communications director has compiled a must-read list of coverage of the Keystone XL pipeline controversy. There has been a lot of coverage. He's compiled some of the last week’s key stories here.
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Friends of the Earth, DeSmogBlog, Oil Change International and the Other 98% have investigated the cozy relationships and pro-pipeline cronyism stemming from the State Department’s review of the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline.
Check out the white board from our research to see how this web of corruption is spun around State Department officials, oil company lobbyists, and K Street campaign donors...and how it all leads to President Obama.
October 5, 2011 -- Since there has been so much news related to the Keystone XL pipeline controversy subsequent to our release of the second round of State Department documents, we put together the following news roundup.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/05/usa-keystone-suit-idUSN1E7940FS20111005
WASHINGTON Oct 5 (Reuters) - Environmental groups sued the U.S. government on Wednesday to stop the clearing of grasslands, the moving of threatened species and other work going on ahead of U.S. approval of $7 billion Canada to Texas planned oil pipeline.
A news release with a link to the complaint can be found here: http://foe.org/lawsuit-challenges-state-dept-allowing-construction-begin-keystone-xl-pipeline
With the release of the second batch of documents, the filing of a lawsuit to stop illegal pipeline construction work in Nebraska and the expansion of our Freedom of Information Act request, there has been extensive media coverage of the pro-pipeline bias and oil industry complicity within the State Department. Coverage highlights can be found after the jump.
We have received a new round of documents from the State Department in response to our Freedom of Information Act request. These documents are deeply disturbing in that they provide definitive evidence of pro-pipeline bias and complicity at the State Department -- including one “smoking gun” email in which State Department employee Marja Verloop literally cheers “Go Paul!” for pipeline lobbyist Paul Elliott after he announces TransCanada has secured Senator Max Baucus' support for the pipeline.
On September 15, 2011, McDonald’s and 14 other chain restaurants called on the Super Committee to go on a diet by cutting back on corn subsidies.
Citing high corn prices, the National Council of Chain Restaurants and many of its members urged Congress to allow VEETC (the refundable Volumetric Ethanol Excise Tax Credit) to expire this December. VEETC costs taxpayers billions of dollars every year by providing tax breaks to the oil industry for blending ethanol into fuel, which they are already required to do by law (via the Renewable Fuel Standard 2).
