Amid
Energy Talk at
UN, Qs of
Kosovo Coal,
BofA Coal
Mining, Solar
Sahel
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
June 5 -- When
US Ambassador
for
International
Energy
Affairs Carlos
Pasqual appeared
at the UN
on June 5, he
promoted the
Obama
administration's
decision to
not fund or
vote for new
coal
projects
outside of the
US, with
certain
exceptions.
Inner
City Press
asked Pascual
about the
Kosovo lignite
coal project
pending at the
World Bank
Pascual
said
there is “no
conclusion yet
on Kosovo,”
and so did not
address it.
To
his
co-panelist
Adnan Amin of
IRENA, Inner
City Press
asked of UN
Sahel envoy
Romano Prodi's
proposal that
the Sahelian
desert should
be turned into
a solar energy
farm. Amin
acknowledged
there is not
enough
inter-connectivity
or
transmission
lines, and he
said that
demand in
Europe is not
growing.
In
another Sustainable
Energy for All
press
conference
earlier on
June
5, Inner City
Press asked
Andris
Piebalgs,
European Union
Commissioner
for
Development
International
Energy
Affairs, about
funding the
Grand Inga dam
in the
Democratic
Republic of
the Congo --
what is the
benefit to
average
Congolese?
He spoke of
environmental
review and
compensatory
measures. His
co-panelist Kandeh
Yumkella
of #SE4ALL
said energy
for mines in
South Africa
is
important too.
Yumkella, like
most of the
material
passed out at
the SE4ALL
events,
promoted Bank
of America.
But that
company is
protest for
funding
mountain-top
removal coal
mining. What
does
Ambassador
Pascual think
of that?
Footnote:
Questions were
limited due
to the UN
Correspondents
Association
representative
- not
president
Pamela
Falk, who
didn't come to
any of these
events, to the
stated
displeasure
of her
replacement --
insisting on
getting the
first
question,
whether or not
they will
report
anything about
these
meetings. The
same UNCA
representative
earlier on
June 5 asked
about “UN
peacekeepers”
in Burundi
when there are
none. Why the
first
question on
this basis?
The Free UN
Coalition for
Access opposes
this. Watch
this site.
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