>AMAZON WATCH
>
>For Immediate Release: November 6, 1997
>
>Contacts: Daphne Wysham, (202) 234-9382, x 208
> Atossa Soltani via cellular phone (404)272-0469
>
>Environmentalists Disrupt Trade Conference in Atlanta
>
>US Government: Don't "Fast-Track" Destruction of the Amazon & Our Climate
>
>ATLANTA, November 6 - Demanding an end to "fast-track" destruction of the
>Amazon and the Earth's climate, environmentalists today disrupted a US
>government sponsored conference designed to promote US investment in Latin
>America. In protest of Clinton's request for "fast-track" authority,
>activists unfurled a banner and sounded off alarm bells inside the
>conference room this morning at the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel. The vote
>on fast-track is scheduled for Friday, November 7.
>
>The US Trade and Development Agency-sponsored conference "Infrastructure
>Opportunities in South America" held at the Westin Peachtree Hotel in
>Atlanta November 5-7, is promoting $6.4 billion in new gas production and
>$8.4 billion in new oil production for Latin American countries. Among the
>projects being showcased in Atlanta are at least five with serious impacts
>on the Amazon rainforest including the Camisea gas fields and pipeline
>(Peru); the Bolivia-Brazil gas pipeline (Brazil and Bolivia); the
>Petrozuata heavy crude facility (Venezuela's Orinoco River Basin); the
>Lajeado Dam (Brazil); and the Tocantins-Araguaia Waterway (Brazil).
>
>With "fast-track" authority, corporations cutting deals at the Atlanta
>conference will have even more government backing to drill new oil and gas
>reserves, dredge and dam rivers, and destroy the Amazon with no meaningful
>environmental safeguards. "Clinton's "fast-track" leads to Amazon
>destruction and accelerates climate change. What we need to fast-track is
>the transition to clean renewable energy and the protection of carbon sinks
>such as the Amazon," said Atossa Soltani, director of Amazon Watch, one of
>the participants in today's protest.
>
>The Amazon is the largest rainforest on the planet and acts as a vital
>"sink" for greenhouse gases, slowing the pace of climate change.
>Deforestation and unbridled exploitation of fossil fuels are two of the
>leading causes of climate change. Clinton has called climate change one of
>the most important challenges of his presidency while a unanimous
>resolution passed by the Senate calls on developing countries to also
>reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
>
>"If President Clinton really cares about climate change--and wants
>developing countries to reduce their emissions--then why is he greasing the
>skids for more oil and gas drilling in Latin America? Why is he condoning,
>with US taxpayer dollars, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest?" asked
>Daphne Wysham of the Washington-based Institute for Policy Studies.
>
>The directors of the Inter-American Development Bank, the US Export-Import
>Bank, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation will be attending the
>Atlanta conference; as providers of government-backed financing. "This
>conference reveals who the real winners will be if Clinton gets 'fast
>track' authority: the oil companies, and other wealthy corporations" said
>Soltani. "The Amazon rainforest, US taxpayers, and future generations will
>be the biggest losers in a dangerously warmer world."
>
>Amazon Watch, the Institute for Policy Studies, Project Underground, and
>the Rainforest Action Network are jointly calling on the US Government to
>stop subsidizing the fossil fuel industry and instead support forest
>protection initiatives and the transition to clean energy.
>
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>Attachment converted: Jenny n Rick:PRESS RELEASE MAC (W6BN/MSWD) (0001CE2E)
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>_____________________
>ATOSSA SOLTANI
>AMAZON WATCH
>20110 ROCKPORT WAY
>MALIBU, CA 90265
>EMAIL: asoltani@igc.apc.org
>TEL: (310)456-1340
>FAX: (310)456-0388
>
_________________________________________________ Rick Spencer, Programs Director EarthCulture PO Box 4674 Greensboro, NC 27404 Phone & Fax: 910-854-2957 e-mail: earthcul@nr.infi.net
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