US Bank

=<div>reneg on promise</div><div><div><div>=</div><div>astroturf</div><div> bs news</div><div>
</div><div>lots of cute white ppl with hardhats and clipboards</div><div>no names at all</div><div>
</div><div>front for </div><div>Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance (EEIA</div><div>
</div><div>Contact: (202) 870-7715</div><div>
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</div><div>USBancorp, parent of U.S. Bank, announced at their 2017 Annual Meeting of Shareholders their new “2017 Environmental Responsibility Policy.” The policy expressly prohibits the bank from financing oil and natural gas pipeline projects. It further subjects new and existing business banking customers who provide construction, equipment, supplies or services to energy infrastructure to discriminatory heightened scrutiny of their policies and practices. This misguided action affects millions of American workers who work hard every day to provide construction, equipment, supplies, logistics, professional services and technology to improve and expand our nation’s energy infrastructure.</div><div></div><a href="https://www.alternet.org/environment/former-senator-exposed-major-conflict-interest-over-pipeline-approval">https://www.alternet.org/environment/former-senator-exposed-major-conflict-interest-over-pipeline-approval</a>From Dakota Access to Keystone to Atlantic Coast, there has been no shortage of controversies over major proposed oil and gas pipelines in recent years. We can add the Bayou Bridge Pipeline to this list.Energy Transfer Partners and Phillips 66’s Bayou Bridge Pipeline is a proposed connection to ETP’s Bakken Pipeline network that will ship between 280,000 and 480,000 barrels of crude oil per day through southern Louisiana’s bayous and wetlands to petroleum refineries in Lake Charles.The pipeline is facing committed resistance, both from environmental activists concerned about climate change and the impact of inevitable pipeline leaks and accidents on the environmentally sensitive Atchafalaya Basin, as well as from the communities of people whose homes and ways of life are threatened by the project.On the other side are the oil and gas corporations that stand to profit from building the pipeline, the banks seeking interest payments on loans to oil and gas companies, and the politicians and academics dependent on oil and gas industry largesse for their careers.PAI’s latest report, "<a href="https://public-accountability.org/2018/01/the-power-behind-the-pipelines-bayou-bridge-pipeline/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">The Power Behind the Pipelines: Bayou Bridge Pipeline</a>," examines the interests pushing Bayou Bridge despite the substantial public opposition.Former Senator Mary Landrieu working for ETP and key environmental regulatorThe most shocking find in our investigation was that Mary Landrieu, the former Democratic senator from Louisiana, has been working as a consultant for Energy Transfer Partners touting the pipeline in <a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/environment/article_df87e132-d927-11e6-b036-9ffd6f09c0fc.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">public testimony</a> and in <a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_3a4aa278-ee25-11e6-a12d-d7a2c9782a60.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">print media</a> at the same time as she is registered as a lobbyist for the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, which needed to approve Bayou Bridge before the project could move forward.It is not entirely clear whether Landrieu is being paid by Energy Transfer Partners, and if so, how much. She is not registered to lobby on behalf of ETP at the state or federal level, however, the former senator <a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/opinion/letters/article_3a4aa278-ee25-11e6-a12d-d7a2c9782a60.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">identified herself</a> as a consultant for the firm in an article endorsing the pipeline and <a href="https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/news/environment/article_df87e132-d927-11e6-b036-9ffd6f09c0fc.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reportedly told protesters</a> that “she would support the project even if she wasn’t working for the company.”At the same time, Landrieu is registered to represent the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, one of the final remaining regulatory agencies to approve of Bayou Bridge, to the federal government.These dual roles—working both for an environmental regulator and an energy company with a project that must be approved by the regulator—pose an extraordinary conflict of interest.Landrieu is a powerful politician who served in the US Senate for 18 years and whose family is heavily involved in Louisiana politics. During her time there, she received more than <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/industries?cid=N00005395&cycle=CAREER" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">$1.7 million</a> from the oil and gas industry, including $41,400 from Energy Transfer Partners. Her formidable connections and conflicting positions raise questions of whether she may be influencing CPRA on behalf of ETP.map]Our other most notable finding was that two banks—US Bank and DNB Capital—that had pledged they would stop financing ETP’s Dakota Access Pipeline after public pressure on them to do so were lending to the companies behind Bayou Bridge.In the case of US Bank, after Food & Water Watch’s Hugh MacMillan <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/who%27s-banking-dakota-access-pipeline" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">revealed</a> the banks financing Dakota Access spurred a pressure campaign that included <a href="https://www.startribune.com/2-protesters-who-dropped-banner-from-stadium-ceiling-during-vikings-game-charged/411681776/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">a banner drop</a> at a Minnesota Vikings game at US Bank Stadium, <a href="https://www.usbank.com/pdf/community/Environmental-Responsibility-Policy-Web-Final-April2017.pdf" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">the bank announced</a> to great accolades that it would cease “project financing for the construction of oil or natural gas pipelines.”Crucially, US Bank did not pledge to stop lending to the companies building pipelines but merely pledged to stop financing individual projects. This distinction is academic, however, since corporate debt is, in fact, financing pipeline construction. In its <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1276187/000127618717000023/ete12-31x201610k.htm" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">most recent annual report</a>, Energy Transfer Equity, ETP’s parent company, said that ETP’s credit facility would provide “temporary financing for growth projects,” which includes Bayou Bridge.In December 2017, eight months after their announcement US Bank joined other banks in two new agreements to lend up to $5 billion to Energy Transfer Partners, the main company behind Dakota Access and the majority owner of Bayou Bridge. US Bank is also party to credit agreements to lend up to $5.75 billion to Phillips 66.DNB Capital, a Norwegian bank which had been a member of credit agreements with Energy Transfer Equity and both Energy Transfer Partners and Sunoco Logistics Partners before their merger, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-north-dakota-pipeline-banks/norwegian-bank-dnb-sells-its-share-of-dakota-pipeline-funding-idUSKBN16X10G" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">announced</a> that it would sell off its loans to Energy Transfer Partners “to signal how important it is that the affected indigenous population is involved and that their opinions are heard in these types of projects.”However, DNB Capital remains party to credit agreements with Phillips 66, which is a 25 percent owner of Dakota Access and a 40 owner of Bayou Bridge.The banks’ announcements about pulling financing from Dakota Access show that public pressure campaigns like <a href="https://mazaskatalks.org/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Mazaska Talks</a> have had an impact, however, the fact they are still finding ways to finance pipeline construction that threatens the environment and the sovereignty of indigenous people shows that the promise of oil profits still has major allure.map of banks...For more information on the power behind Bayou Bridge Pipeline—including other politicians backing the pipeline, the major investors like Blackstone and Berkshire Hathaway invested in the companies behind it, and the significant conflicts of interest at Louisiana State University which published a report touting the pipeline—see the full report, <a href="https://public-accountability.org/2018/01/the-power-behind-the-pipelines-bayou-bridge-pipeline/" rel="noopener" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">available at the Public Accountability Initiative website</a>.</div><div>=</div></div><div>
<div><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/us-bank-dapl-2519145269.html">https://www.ecowatch.com/us-bank-dapl-2519145269.html</a></div><div>
</div><div><div class="headline-container" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><h1 class="headline h1" style="margin: 10px; padding: 0px; position: relative; line-height: 31px;">U.S. Bank Quietly Joins $4B Deal With Dakota Access Owner After Declaring End to Oil and Gas Pipeline Loans</h1></div><div id="utm_campaign" style="margin-top: 10px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div class="body js-expandable clearfix js-listicle-body js-update-url" data-elid="2519145269" data-authors="DeSmogBlog" data-headline="U.S. Bank Quietly Joins $4B Deal With Dakota Access Owner After Declaring End to Oil and Gas Pipeline Loans" style="margin: 10px; line-height: 24px;"><div class="body-description" style="">By Sharon KellyAt a shareholder meeting this past spring, U.S. Bank announced it would be the first large American bank to completely stop issuing loans for oil and gas <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/pipelines" style="text-decoration-line: none;">pipeline</a> construction projects.Environmental groups, indigenous activists and divestment advocates hailed U.S. Bank's announcement as a triumph.Yet that triumph—and the bank's commitment—seems less sure with the news that U.S. Bank has entered into a new $4 billion loan deal with the company behind the contentious <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/dakota-access-pipeline" style="text-align: center; font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" text-decoration-line="text-decoration-line" none="none">Dakota Access pipeline</a> (DAPL).For months, the bank had been under fire for financing the Dakota Access pipeline by providing over a quarter billion dollars <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/news/who%27s-banking-dakota-access-pipeline" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">worth of funding</a> to its builder, <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/energy-transfer-partners" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Energy Transfer Partners</a> (ETP). Environmentalists <a href="https://www.colorlines.com/articles/us-bank-pulls-funds-all-oil-and-gas-pipeline-construction" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">famously</a><a href="https://www.cnn.com/2017/01/01/us/dapl-protester-minnesota-vikings-chicago-bears-us-bank-stadium/index.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">dropped a banner</a> calling on U.S. Bank to divest from DAPL at the New Years 2017 Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears football game.The language of the bank's new policy seemed blunt."The company does not provide project financing for the construction of oil or natural gas pipelines," U.S. Bancorp, parent company of U.S. Bank, wrote in its April 2017 Environmental Responsibility Policy.Divestment advocates cheered. "We applaud this progressive decision from U.S. Bank," an <a href="http://www.honorearth.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Honor the Earth</a> representative said in a statement, as the bank's new policy <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/us-bank-divest-pipelines-2408440397.html" target="self" style="text-decoration-line: none;">made headlines</a>.Some advocates remained skeptical, however, pointing out that the line of credit extended to Energy Transfer Partners wouldn't be covered by that language, because it could be considered a loan for the company as a whole, not the more specific "project financing." And U.S. Bank's CEO told shareholders that his bank wouldn't end its existing Energy Transfer Partners deal, saying that instead it would "fulfill that contract and commitment.""We know there are always loopholes through which banks will try to pass off responsibility," Rachel Heaton of <a href="https://mazaskatalks.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Mazaska Talks</a> and a Muckleshoot Tribe member <a href="http://www.yesmagazine.org/but-wait-u-s-bank-has-not-stopped-funding-pipelines-20170516" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">told Yes Magazine</a>, "but we will continue to resist until these banks completely divest from all pipeline and fossil fuel corporations and incorporate the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent of Indigenous peoples into their corporate lending structures."Even if that specific contract wasn't going to be torn up, environmental groups hoped that in the future, the bank would limit its funding of fossil fuel projects.CEO Andy Cecere "strongly implied that the bank would pull back from pipelines and ETP in particular—aside from its obligations under its 'contract with ETP' (i.e. its existing credit facility)," Brant Olson, Program Director at <a href="http://climatetruth.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">ClimateTruth.org</a>, told <a href="http://desmogblog.com/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">DeSmog</a>.U.S. Bank's new environmental policy added that any new deals the bank did with companies in the oil and gas pipeline industry would have to undergo additional scrutiny, including a look at their environmental record."We want to confirm that a firm's policies and processes are sound and effective as they relate to the environment and the community in which it operates," the <a href="https://www.usbank.com/pdf/community/Environmental-Responsibility-Policy-Web-Final-April2017.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">policy adds</a>. "In accordance with our environmental responsibility commitment, we prohibit relationships with customers who participate in any illegal activities."Transferring More Money to Energy Transfer PartnersThat's why it was so striking when Energy Transfer Partners quietly announced in a Dec. 1 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing that U.S. Bank was part of ETP's new $4 billion credit deal.ETP's projects <a href="http://www.energytransfer.com/ops_bakken.aspx" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">include</a> numerous controversial fossil fuel pipelines nationwide, including not only Dakota Access, but also Mariner East 2, <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/tag/rover-pipeline" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Rover</a>, <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/conflict-cajun-country-bayou-bridge-pipeline-louisiana-standing-rock" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Bayou Bridge</a>, and the Energy Transfer Crude Oil pipeline.Asked whether Energy Transfer Partners had passed muster during the additional due diligence in U.S. Bank's much-lauded environmental review policy, U.S. Bank's spokesperson Cheryl Leamon declined to comment. "As a matter of policy, we do not discuss customer relationships," she told DeSmog in an email.Environmentalists hoped that this was a chance for U.S. Bank to end its dealings with ETP. <a href="http://stopetp.org/blog/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">StopETP.org</a>, a coalition of <a href="http://stopetp.org/about/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">national and local environmental and indigenous rights groups</a>, wrote a letter to the bank in November, urging it to use the chance to cut ties with ETP, which was seeking to renew its $4 billion credit line in a deal involving numerous major banks.But U.S. Bank has apparently refused, said <a href="https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Food and Water Watch</a> senior researcher Dr. Hugh MacMillan, "after having scored praise back in May for its new pipeline finance policy."U.S. Bank did not respond when asked about the types of law-breaking that might cross the line and cause a borrower to fail the bank's new due diligence requirements.Illegal ActivitiesThe bank's professed wariness of fossil fuel companies had drawn an angry response from the Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance, which had fired off a <a href="https://www.eeia.org/post/open-letter-to-usbancorp.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">letter</a> to U.S. Bank protesting the new policy. "This creates the presumption that firms and people involved in these areas, including those providing construction, equipment, materials, services or other support to these operations, are more likely than all others to be 'bad actors'," the trade group wrote, "thus requiring a higher level of scrutiny."That additional environmental record review was widely expected to be particularly bad news for Energy Transfer Partners, which has an environmental record that includes more than 300 pipeline incidents in the past decade, causing over $67 million dollars in property damage, according to data from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration."From January 2010 through June 2017, ETP spilled hazardous liquids near water crossings more than twice as frequently as any other pipeline company in the United States this decade [and w]as responsible for almost 20 percent of all hazardous liquid spills near water crossings," a recently published <a href="http://stopetp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/ETP-Violation-History-12-15-17.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">report</a> by the <a href="https://waterkeeper.org/" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">Waterkeeper Alliance</a> noted.In November, one of Energy Transfer Partners' pipeline projects was <a href="http://www.ohioattorneygeneral.gov/Media/News-Releases/November-2017/Ohio-Files-Lawsuit-Against-Rover-Pipeline-for-Envi" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">was sued</a> by Ohio's Environmental Protection Agency over 13 <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/08/21/rover-pipeline-sets-record-environmental-violations" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">violations of the state's environmental laws</a>, including spewing millions of gallons of drilling fluid into the state's wetlands."Among other things, ETP has caused seven industrial spills during the construction of the $4.2 billion natural gas pipeline through Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan," Reps. Frank Pallone, Jr. and Maria Cantwell, ranking members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce and Energy and Natural Resources, respectively, wrote in a <a href="http://stopetp.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Senators-letter-to-FERC-on-Rover.pdf" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">July 27, 2017 letter</a> to federal regulators decrying ETP's track record on complying with environmental laws.The company's spill record has even drawn concern from investors, with The Street <a href="https://www.thestreet.com/story/14178469/1/energy-transfer-has-a-problem-that-keeps-rearing-its-ugly-head-pipeline-spills.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">reporting</a>, "'Energy Transfer seems to have an approach where they stick to the minimum requirements instead of exceeding them,' Genscape natural gas analyst Colette Breshears said."Sunoco Logistics, which merged into ETP last year, had the worst oil spill record of any company in the industry, a 2016 Reuters <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-pipeline-nativeamericans-safety-i/sunoco-behind-protested-dakota-pipeline-tops-u-s-crude-spill-charts-idUSKCN11T1UW" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">investigative report</a> found.Reposted with permission from our media associate <a href="https://www.desmogblog.com/2017/12/20/us-bank-oil-gas-pipeline-4-billion-loan-energy-transfer-partners-dakota-access" target="blank" style="text-decoration-line: none;">DeSmogBlog</a>.
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</div><div>=</div><div><a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/05/15/us-bank-stop-funding-pipelines-divestment-movement-expands-worldwide">https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/05/15/us-bank-stop-funding-pipelines-divestment-movement-expands-worldwide</a></div><div>
</div><div>As a nearly ten-days-long <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/05/05/face-government-apathy-activists-launch-wave-global-divestment-actions" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">global mobilization </a>calling for divestment from fossil fuels comes to an end, climate campaigners are celebrating a major victory stateside: U.S. Bank has announced that it will no longer finance fossil fuel pipeline construction.The announcement came during the company's April shareholder meeting, <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/05/15/us-bank-stop-financing-pipeline-construction" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">reported</a> MN350, a state arm of international climate justice group 350.org, on Monday.As a result of the new policy, MN350 observes that the bank will no longer provide "project financing for the construction of oil or natural gas pipelines," and will also apply "enhanced due diligence processes" to oil and gas industry clients."U.S. Bank's new policy is an important step in protecting the environment and moving towards a fossil free future," <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/newswire/2017/05/15/us-bank-stop-financing-pipeline-construction" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">said</a> Wichahpi Otto, a MN350 volunteer, who attended the shareholder meeting in Nashville. "We applaud them for responding to the community and contributing to worldwide efforts to address climate change."The group writes:<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box;">This move comes after ongoing pressure on U.S. Bank locally from MN350 and from the Minnesotans for a Fair Economy coalition, and on banks nationally from indigenous groups including <a href="http://www.honorearth.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Honor the Earth</a>, the <a href="http://www.ienearth.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Indigenous Environmental Network</a>, and the Dakota Access resistance movement.Beginning in 2015, a regional partnership of climate, labor, and indigenous rights advocates has urged that U.S. Bank divest from fossil fuels, in particular from Enbridge Energy, and move its financing into the clean energy economy. <a href="http://www.mn350.org/corporate-accountability/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Local actions</a> have included letter-writing, <a href="https://campaigns.350.org/petitions/us-bank-fund-solutions-not-pollution" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">account closures</a>, and social media campaigns. In response, in May 2016 the bank made changes to their Environmental Policy restricting lending to coal.</blockquote>"We applaud this progressive decision from U.S. Bank," said Tara Houska, National Campaigns Director of Honor the Earth. "A strong message is being sent to the fossil fuel industry: we are consumers, we have agency and the right to know how our money is being invested. Move to a green economy and a future that does not profit off the destruction of Mother Earth and our communities."Meanwhile, 260 events in 45 countries saw people worldwide campaign for banks to divest from fossil fuel projects. The <a href="https://globaldivestmentmobilisation.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">Global Divestment Mobilization</a> (GDM) ran from May 5 to May 13, and included events in Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, and South America."Divestment is a powerful act of solidarity and justice for the world's most vulnerable people, a defense of nature and our planet," said Lidy Nacpil of the Asian Peoples Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD) in a statement."We urgently need a transformation in the global energy system, away from the fossil fuel dependence that drives climate change, and challenge fossil fuel corporations that oppose progress in climate action and prioritize profits over people and planet," Nacpil continued. "Divestment has proven to be one of the most effective ways to push for this much needed transformation."
"During the GDM citizens and respected institutions across the world were able to enact an immediate and a much needed transformational form of climate leadership," wrote 350.org. "This included the announcement from nine Catholic organizations from around the world about their decision to divest their portfolios from fossil fuels in the largest joint Catholic divestment to date. A total of <a href="http://catholicclimatemovement.global/divest-and-reinvest/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">27 Catholic institutions</a> have now divested. Meanwhile in Brazil over 3000 people participated in prayers in a vigil outside the Umuarama Cathedral, to voice their hopes for a fossil fuel free future."The organization went on to describe the varied actions in far-flung locations around the world:<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box;">Across Europe, the links between municipalities and fossil fuel companies came under scrutiny. Over 1,000 people marched in Munich, Germany and demonstrations took place across the UK including rallies at 14 Town Halls across London demanding divestment. Campaigners also put pressure on universities pension funds, faith, health and cultural institutions such as the Louvre in Paris, the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam and the British Museum.The battle to safeguard people and planet is linked worldwide, the money in one part of the world is linked to infrastructure projects being built elsewhere. Hundreds gathered in Jakarta to listen to community representatives from Indramayu recount the struggles they encounter living in the shadow of a coal power plant. During an event in Japan case studies of Japanese banks financing coal power plants in Indonesia and oil pipelines in the United States were highlighted to put pressure on Japanese banks to pull out of fossil fuels.In New Zealand and Australia campaigners targeted Australian coal-giant Adani by calling on the banks that invest in it, including CommBank to stop its funding. Australia's Great Barrier Reef has suffered a large bleaching for the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/apr/10/great-barrier-reef-terminal-stage-australia-scientists-despair-latest-coral-bleaching-data" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">second year in a row</a>. Any mining expansion would jeopardise it even further.Meanwhile in New York <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/09/trump-tower-rally-fossil-fuel-divestment-paris-climate-deal" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">150 activists rallied inside Trump Tower</a>, to call on New York City officials to cut their ties with the dirty oil and gas companies that control the White House. In the face of federal government climate denial and the possibility of the U.S. leaving the Paris Agreement, demonstrating that local leaders can show impactful climate leadership, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/05/04/weather/missouri-flooding-images/" style="box-sizing: border-box; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none;">while other parts of the country are suffering from severe flooding</a>.</blockquote>"There is no question we are currently in a state of emergency on climate change. Day in day out people are dying from the effects of climate change," said author and 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben in a statement. "There are many ways to confront this emergency and divestment allows us to get in the way of the money financing the fossil fuel projects behind this crisis. The fact that the fossil fuel divestment movement has grown exponentially in the last few years is the best news ever.""From the Pacific Islands to South Africa, from the United States to Germany, people are standing up and challenging the power of the fossil fuel industry," McKibben added.</div><div>==</div></div></div></div>