A group of Kosovo protesters hold up signs denouncing the new power plant. Photo credit: Nazim Haliti.
Today in Obiliq, Kosovo, residents carried out a protest against a US and World Bank approved coal fired power plant. Despite allegations of corruption from the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, which have already resulted in two other companies pulling out, the US government is backing the project. The Kosovo protest is the last resort carried out by citizens concerned not only for the potentional pollution, but that the coal plant is expected to put the already-poor country $1.3 billion in debt.
Mary Ann Hitt, Director of the Sierra Club Beyond Coal Campaign, and Nezir Sinani, of the Kosovar Institute for Development Policy, wrote an article for the Daily Kos calling the situation the result of “… a broken process, including the failure to make available two key documents – a Poverty Reduction Strategy and a Country Partnership Strategy. These are documents that determine the nature of World Bank investments for any country and are supposed to be developed in consultation with local communities. But apparently, when you have a pre-determined end goal already mapped out (an outdated, dirty, and expensive new coal plant) that becomes a bit of a pesky matter.
“The World Bank has moved quickly to rectify this problem, but has still already announced its intention to fund this project without consultation.”
The Sierra Club has started a Twitter campaign under the hashtag #ourDecision to bring attention to the protest and put pressure on the World Bank to end the project and take into account the country’s environmental and financial needs.