Monday, June 27, 2011

EPA Spent $100M on Foreign Grants in Last Decade to protect Global environment

From Fox News:
The Environmental Protection Agency has doled out nearly $100 million in grants to foreign groups and governments over the past decade, according to a new congressional report.

The report from Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee shows the pace of foreign grants has quickened under the Obama administration, with $27 million in EPA funds going abroad since early 2009 -- not counting projects in Canada and Mexico...

EPA defended the projects, noting that pollution is a global problem and describing the foreign initiatives as in the United States' interest.

"Pollution doesn't stop at international borders, and neither can our environmental and health protections; the local and national environmental issues of the past are now global challenges," EPA spokesman Brendan Gilfillan said in a statement.

According to the list, since 2009, $718,000 went toward "air pollution" efforts in China; $191,638 went toward "clean cooking technology" in Ethiopia; $299,468 went toward "methane recovery" in Ecuador; and $170,000 went toward "liquefied gas extraction" in Poland. A $7.6 million grant went toward "technical assistance" in Russia. Several million dollars went toward international groups like the United Nations...

Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., is calling on the EPA to produce more information about the grants, including original proposals for specific grants, a list of all grants to China for "coal mine methane," and documents pertaining to any investigations of foreign recipients.

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