Concerns about the impact on a Peruvian rain forest and coastal reserve forced the Inter-American Development Bank yesterday to postpone for a week a vote to finance a controversial $ 1.6 billion natural gas project that involves two Texas energy companies with close ties to the White House.
Members of Congress, worldwide environmental groups and some U.S. officials had been urging the Bush dministration to oppose the Camisea natural gas system because it does not meet U.S. standards for environmental protections on overseas projects.
IDB President Enrique Iglesias delayed the vote until Wednesday to allow members of the bank’s board to decide how they will vote, a bank spokesman said. Bush dministration officials have not decided if they will support the project, a Treasury official said.
Hunt Oil Co., whose chairman, Ray L. Hunt, is a Bush fundraiser, has a major stake in the project with partner Pluspetrol of Argentina. Halliburton Co.’s Kellogg Brown & Root unit is a top candidate to build a $ 1 billion liquefied natural gas plant on the Peruvian coast if Hunt
Oil moves forward on plans to export Camisea gas to the United States.
Vice President Cheney was CEO of Halliburton.
IDB and U.S. government officials said Treasury had notified the IDB they were considering abstaining from the vote because of a federal law that requires environmental assessments to be completed 120 days before the United States votes on a multilateral development bank loan. The
U.S. Agency for International Development told Treasury that the Camisea project did not meet that standard, according to a U.S. AID analysis.
The IDB staff proposes providing $ 75 million in direct financing and as much as $ 100 million in indirect financing for the project. Approval was expected to pave the way for at least $ 200 million in additional low-interest private and public financing. Separately, the Export-Import Bank of the United States is considering about $ 215 million in financing.
