An environmental group is challenging the Trump administration’s $4.7 billion loan to French energy giant TotalEnergies to help build a liquefied natural gas project in Mozambique.
The Trump administration touted the loan as supporting U.S. manufacturers who will supply the project. But environmental group Friends of the Earth argues that loan was approved by an unlawfully appointed acting board that skipped over public input and downplayed both environmental and regional security concerns, the group argues.
Background: The Export-Import Bank loan was first approved during Trump’s first term but required additional approval because the project was put on hold in 2021 following insurgent attacks in the area that killed hundreds of residents, including some contractors. POLITICO reported last year on separate human rights abuses by Mozambican security forces operating out of the existing facility.
The project is still on hold, FOE said. Total CEO Patrick Pouyanné said last month that he expects work to resume sometime “this summer.”
