{"id":652092,"date":"2026-05-19T09:29:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:29:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/652092\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T09:29:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T09:29:11","slug":"texans-accuse-japan-of-doing-deal-with-the-devil-by-funding-us-fossil-fuel-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/652092\/","title":{"rendered":"Texans accuse Japan of doing \u2018deal with the devil\u2019 by funding US fossil fuel projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Residents from US Gulf coast communities in Texas who say <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/japan?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Japanese<\/a>-backed fossil fuel projects tied to tariff negotiations with US President Donald Trump threaten their health and safety have taken their fight to Tokyo.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Members of community groups from Texas\u2019 Freeport area met officials from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), government-run Nippon Export and Investment Insurance (Nexi), as well as the ministries of finance and economy, trade and industry on Monday.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">They urged the institutions to halt support for a planned crude oil export facility in Freeport and an expansion of liquefied natural gas (LNG) infrastructure, saying the projects would increase pollution, raise safety risks and lock in fossil fuel dependence.<\/p>\n<p>Officials from the Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho Bank and Sumitomo Mitsui Bank declined to meet the group. The three are the largest financiers of LNG projects in the <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/united-states?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">US<\/a>, while JBIC and Nexi are negotiating loans, equity and guarantees that lower risk for Japanese banks and trading houses.<img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Campaigners from Freeport Haven Project march against fossil fuel funding. Photo: Freeport Haven Project\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/e9ba4da0-01e3-41ab-9064-1d1717560774_301ae4e2.jpg\" title=\"Campaigners from Freeport Haven Project march against fossil fuel funding. Photo: Freeport Haven Project\"\/>Campaigners from Freeport Haven Project march against fossil fuel funding. Photo: Freeport Haven Project<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The response from officials did little to reassure the visitors, said Hiroki Osada, a Friends of the Earth Japan campaigner who attended the meetings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents from US Gulf coast communities in Texas who say Japanese-backed fossil fuel projects tied to tariff negotiations&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652093,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[281243,281244,281247,12,192,75549,281246,281249,281241,681,281245,281248,281251,6454,79,281242,17205,281250],"class_list":["post-652092","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-bank-of-tokyo-mitsubishi-ufj","tag-better-brazoria-clean-air-and-water","tag-climate-conversation-brazoria-county","tag-donald-trump","tag-environment","tag-freeport","tag-freeport-haven-project","tag-freeport-lng","tag-friends-of-the-earth-japan","tag-georgia","tag-japan-bank-for-international-cooperation","tag-mizuho-bank","tag-nippon-export-and-investment-insurance","tag-ohio","tag-science","tag-sumitomo-mitsui-bank","tag-tokyo","tag-us-gulf"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652092","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=652092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}