[Dialogue] US Power Company Linked to Bush Is Named in Database As a Top Polluter

[Harry Wainwright]

Published on Friday, November 16, 2007 by The Independent/UK
<http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article3166414.ece>  

US Power Company Linked to Bush Is Named in Database As a Top Polluter

by Leonard Doyle

An American power company with close financial links to President George
Bush has been named as one of the world's top producers of global warming
pollution.
<http://www.commondreams.org/archive/wp-content/photos/1116_02.jpg>
<http://www.commondreams.org/archive/wp-content/photos/1116_02.jpg> 1116 02
<http://www.commondreams.org/archive/wp-content/photos/1116_02.jpg> 

The first-ever worldwide database of such pollution also reveals the rapid
growth in global-warming emissions by power plants in China, South Africa
and India. Power plants already produce 40 per cent of US greenhouse gas and
25 per cent of the world's.

But it is the enormous carbon footprint of Southern Company - among the
largest financiers of Republican Party politicians - which has raised
eyebrows. Southern's employees handed George Bush $217,047 to help him get
elected, and they and the company have contributed an extraordinary $6.2m to
Republican campaigns since 1990.

A single Southern Company plant in Juliette, Georgia already emits more
carbon dioxide annually that Brazil's entire power sector. The company is in
the top two of America's dirtiest utility polluters and sixth worst in the
world.

Apart from vague promises by the Democratic presidential hopefuls, there is
no pressure on this or any other power company to clean up their act and cut
back on CO2 emissions.

Politicians from both parties fear the influence of Southern, which spends
huge sums both on lobbying and on political campaigns and is among the
biggest power players in Washington. It has seen off numerous attempts to
impose controls on the amounts of pollution it pumps out.

The link between massive cash contributions by America's power companies and
political arm-twisting in Washington has rarely been put into such sharp
relief. Environmentalists have long suspected that President Bush's dogged
refusal to sign up to international agreements to control global warming was
linked to campaign contributions.

Yesterday's report has finally identified the impact these power companies
are having on global warming. Southern, which earned $14.4bn in revenues in
2006, is using its influence to block the introduction of wind, solar,
biomass and other renewable energy sources on the grounds that it would eat
into its profits.

Haley Barbour, one of the main lobbyists for Southern Co when President Bush
took office, played a crucial role in persuading him to back away from his
original campaign promise to reduce CO2 emissions when he first ran for
president in 2000. Mr Barbour is a former chairman of the Republican Party,
and was reelected governor of Mississippi last week.

According to FrankO'Donnell of Clean Air Watch, after Mr Bush became
president, "he was got at by Haley Barbour, who said, 'Hey, Mr President we
didn't elect you to have high energy costs'".

Mr O'Donnell said: "Southern Company Lobbyists treated the president as if
he was someone to give orders to and he took them. The upshot is that
America's biggest polluters used their chequebooks effectively to block
actions to stop global warming."

The detailed breakdown of the worst polluters comes in the form of an
on-line database, compiled by the Center for Global Development (CGD), an
independent policy and research organisation that focuses on how the actions
of the rich world shape the lives of poor people in developing countries.

It lays out exactly where the worst CO2 emitters are and how much greenhouse
gas they are pumping into the atmosphere. The globe's most concentrated
source of greenhouse gases are the CO2 emissions of 50,000 power plants
worldwide.

The database clearly shows the US as the world's biggest carbon dioxide
producer from electricity generation - emissions that are continuing to
grow.

At present electricity companies pump out 2.8 billion tons of CO2 each year.
But China, with 2.7 billion tons, is about to overtake the US. The new
report also reveals that power plants in other developing countries
including South Africa and India emit more than the worst US plant.

A spokesman for Southern Company, Mike Tyndall said the pollution is high
"because of the size of the plants which are serving an ever-larger
population".

The company opposes the idea of any legally enforceable cap on emissions,
but Mr Tyndall said: "We're at the forefront of developing new technology to
address CO2 emissions."

Asked about the huge financial contributions of the company's employees to
Republican party politicians, he said: "We don't influence them, but I think
it's a good thing that we are involved in the political process."

C 2007 The Independent

Article printed from www.CommonDreams.org 

URL to article: http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/11/16/5267/

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20071117/ffb73165/attachment-0001.html 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/gif
Size: 6731 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20071117/ffb73165/attachment-0001.gif 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 35913 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://wedgeblade.net/pipermail/dialogue_wedgeblade.net/attachments/20071117/ffb73165/attachment-0001.jpe