At
UN,
Ban Defends
Chair of BofA,
Mountaintop
Removal, Orr
Unaware
By
Matthew
Russell Lee
UNITED
NATIONS,
November 1 --
With Bank of
America being
protested not
only
for its
bailout and
corporate
welfare but
specifically
as the largest
funder
of mountaintop
removal coal
mining,
why did the UN
make BofA
chairman
Charles "Chad"
Holliday the
co-chair of
its "High
Level Group on
Sustainable
Energy for
All"?
Inner
City Press
asked
the UN
spokesman on
October 13,
after
attending a protest
of
Bank of
America on the
topic in lower
Manhattan,
across
Broadway from
the Occupy
Wall Street
encampment
on Liberty
Street.
Spokesman
Martin
Nesirky said
he would check
with Secretary
General Ban
Ki-moon.
Hearing
nothing
back, when Ban
held a press
conference on
November 1
about
sustainable
energy, Inner
City Press sought to
ask Ban the
question
directly.
Nesirky did
not allow the
question
from Inner
City Press.
But in the
hallway
outside, Inner
City Press did
ask Ban. As
transcribed
by the UN:
Inner
City
Press:
[inaudible]
Bank of
America is
considered
number one
taking off the
tops of
mountains to
take out coal,
and has been
protested for
that. So on
October 13th I
asked here,
what do you
think of
taking off the
top of
mountains for
coal, and why
is the guy
[Charles
Holliday]
co-Chairman of
the Group
[High-level
Group on
Sustainable
Energy for
All]?
SG
Ban
Ki-moon: His
record is
quite clear,
in the area of
development,
and
particularly
on energy
issues. He is
the Chairman
of the World
Council for
Sustainable
Development.
He was CEO of
Dupont where
Dupont set an
exemplary
record in
terms of
energy. I have
been, we
have been
working with
him quite a
long time.
That is why he
is
nominated as
Co-Chair of
this group. I
am sure that
he will lead
this
sustainable
energy group
very well.
While
to some being
the CEO of
Dupont is
equally
dubious, Ban
Ki-moon did
not answer on
the question
on mountaintop
removal coal
mining. Inner
City Press
went back into
the briefing
room and asked
Assistant
Secretary
General Robert
Orr what he
and Ban
thought of
mountaintop
removal
mining.
Orr
said that
"Chad Holliday
is a giant in
business
around the
world."
Calling
mountaintop
removal mining
"a specific
question"
that Inner
City Press
should ask
Bank of
America about,
Orr went on
to say "I am
not even aware
of the issue
you are
raising."
Video
here, from
Minute 18:40.
Not
only did
Inner City
Press asked
Ban's (and
Orr's)
spokesman
about the
practice
on October 13
-- any cursory
review of
environmentalist
literature
identifies the
issue. Inner
City Press
sought to ask
a follow up,
if
there was any
civil society
or
environmental
activist input
in the UN
process, but
spokesman
Nesirky cut
in.
(c) MRLee
From
right, Ban,
Orr, TV: Bank
of America,
#OWS and MTR
not shown or
known
Some
wondered why
Nesirky went
to such
lengths not to
allow the
question to be
asked of
Ban Ki-moon.
Did he not
want Ban
mouthing these
answers to
appear on
camera?
Soung-ah Choi
of his (and /
or Ban's)
office tried
to cut
off the
question even
in the hall.
First she
claimed that
Ban inside
"answered all
the
questions."
Then after the
question was
posed, and
before Ban
graciously if
disappointingly
answered, she
said "we'll
get back to
you."
Beyond
claiming to
be unaware of
basic
environmental
issues, the
UN's Ban
Ki-moon team
claims to be
paying
attention to
Occupy Wall
Street. Its
knee-jerk
defense and
praise of Bank
of America and
its
involvement in
mountaintop
removal coal
mining are
telling and
troubling.
Watch this
site.
, 
