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U.S. Withdraws From Anti-Corruption Oil and Gas Group
Very few people have heard of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative until early November 2017.
The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is a global standard to promote the open and accountable management of oil, gas and mineral resources.
The EITI Standard requires information along the extractive industry value chain from the point of extraction, to how the revenue makes its way through the government, to how it benefits the public.
The EITI seeks to strengthen government and company systems, inform public debate and promote understanding.
While 52 countries have implemented the EITI Standard, the United States is owned by its corporate overlords and has announced its withdrawal.
The U.S. has pulled out of a pledge to conform to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, an international group that was formed to add transparency and accountability to how governments manage natural resources. Trump's administration announced the withdrawal Thursday via a letter [which] said, "...Effectively immediately... the United States must withdraw as an EITI Implementing Country."
This is "Big Oil and Gas" at their most powerful, refusing to meet government requests so our government simply rescinds them!
U.S. adoption of the EITI's standards was supported by Sen. Ben Cardin, a Democrat, and former Sen. Richard Lugar, a Republican. The two issued a joint statement on Thursday calling the move to exit the agreement an example of 'Big Oil and Gas' money and influence' and 'a painful abdication of American leadership on transparency and good governance.'
Bloomberg reported that the withdrawal comes after the American Petroleum Institute, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. lobbied against a similar regulation compelling U.S. energy and mining companies to disclose those payments, which Trump rolled back earlier this year
In response, EITI Chair Fredrik Reinfeldt said via a statement:
"This is a disappointing, backwards step. The EITI is making important gains in global efforts to address corruption and illicit financial flows. Our work supports efforts to combat transnational crime and terrorist financing. It's important that resource-rich countries like the United States lead by example. This decision sends the wrong signal."
China and Russia both comply while the U.S. caves to the demands of corporations who own OUR supposed representatives.
"It's pretty disgraceful for the United States," Jana Morgan, director of a coalition that urges financial transparency in the extractive industry. "Chinese state-owned oil companies and Russian state-owned oil companies" are disclosing payments. So you literally have American companies that are less transparent than Russian and Chinese state-owned enterprises," she said.
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