2 Federal Agencies Settle Global Warming Suit, Must Consider CO2

The federal government on Friday settled a six year old lawsuit that accused two U.S. agencies of financing energy projects overseas without considering their impacts on global warming as they were required to do under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). The plaintiffs, including Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace and four cities, accused the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Overseas Private Investment Corp. of illegally providing more than $32 billion in financing and insurance to fossil fuel projects over 10 years without environmental evaluation. Under the settlement agreed to Friday, the Export-Import Bank will now take into account carbon dioxide emissions when evaluating fossil fuel projects and the Overseas Private Investment Corp. has established the goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions associated with projects by 20% over the next ten years. Both agencies will also commit to increasing financing for renewable energy. Read more at AP