South African Coal Plant vs. the World Bank: (25 mill tons pollutants)

[amborin]

"On Wednesday, the World Bank board is expected to vote on a $3.75 billion loan to help South Africa build a 4,800-megawatt coal-fired power plant.

The plant will release an estimated 25 million metric tons of global warming pollution into the atmosphere. Its loan application has sparked some of the fiercest public outcry the World Bank has seen in years.

Opponents are leaning hard on the United States to cast one of its rare but potent "no" votes, shining a spotlight on the secretive World Bank decisionmaking process, in which critical choices are made behind closed doors and, analysts say, diplomatic sensitivities mingle with an institutional drive to approve loans.

Actual "yea and nay" votes, in fact, are almost unheard of at the World Bank, where the money flow is virtually always given the green light by a well-orchestrated consensus.

http://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2010/04/05/05climatewire-south-african-coal-plant-proposal-strains-cu-41781.html

[amborin]

1. South African locals say 'No'

South Africans say “No” to Eskom coal

Project-affected communities take their case to the World Bank Inspection Panel
WASHINGTON - April 6 - Residents located near Lephalale in South Africa’s Limpopo Province today filed a complaint with the World Bank’s independent complaint body, the Inspection Panel, stating that a proposed $3.75 billion World Bank loan to help finance the Medupi coal-fired power plant will significantly damage their health, livelihoods and the environment. The complaint, submitted by Earthlife Africa and groundWork on behalf of affected community members, alleges that the project violates numerous World Bank policies and poses considerable threats to local communities and to the South African society at large. The clock is ticking, as the proposed Eskom loan is expected to go before the World Bank’s board of directors for approval on April 8th.

Impacts on communities
Communities living near the Medupi plant contend that if the proposed loan is approved, they would be the ones to bear the burden of hidden costs in terms of health impacts from air pollution, elevated SO2 levels, and mercury residues in their water, air and land; constrained access to water; and the livelihood impacts from degradation of land and water in this largely agrarian area. Already illegal sand mining operations are taking place in the area for the building of Medupi.

The community members who filed the complaint argue that the problems will be compounded by plans for a number of new coal mines and plants in the area; cumulative impacts that the World Bank failed to consider in its assessment of the project.

Caroline Ntapoane, who hails from South Africa’s polluted industrial heartland near Sasolburg, insisted that her concern with the loan is personal. “I know first-hand what the communities have to look forward to, because we experience it every day. We live it in the polluted air we breathe, when our water taps run dry, and when our children get sick. We shouldn’t have to choose between electricity and our health.”

Access for the poor
While the project’s proponents claim it will provide energy access for the poor, in reality, the project would largely benefit major industries that consume electricity below cost, and whose apartheid-era secret agreements prevent them from sharing the costs associated with construction of the project and repayment of the loan.

Tristen Taylor of Earthlife Africa emphasized that, "With massive disconnections looming due to a doubling of electricity tariffs, a million jobs lost last year, and an effective 40% unemployment rate, one would think that poverty eradication would be foremost in the World Bank and the South African Government's mind. None of Medupi's output will be for the poor, but will be used to service multinational firms.”

Conflict of interest
Not only will industries benefit, but the ruling party, the African National Congress, is set to reap major profits from the loan through its investment in Hitachi Power Africa, which was awarded a dubious contract – an obvious conflict of interest. World Bank approval of the loan will help further entrench the ANC off the backs of the poor.

snip

http://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2010/04/06-1

[tabatha]

2. Once again, the irony

In order to keep people alive, they have to be killed.

Beautiful place, near many wildlife areas.