Banks are starting to have second thoughts about making loans to corporations that destroy the environment. Mountaintop removal mining is just one of the examples of a business that financial institutions get huge profit funding to, although the company is destructive. Financial institutions are now being held responsible for funding environmental destruction like this because of court decisions and protesting by environmental groups. Banking institutions are trying to keep business by quitting all lending to businesses with environmental risk.
Destruction of the environment is what banks lend to support
It isn’t that hard for an Environment removal mining business to get its money. Credit is a thing banks are thinking about more heavily as to where it will go. This means that climate change and other environmental issues such as water quality standards are making the lending decision for financial institutions harder, says the New York Times. Recently Wells Fargo made a statement about “considerable attention and controversy” related to mountaintop removal mining. The banking behemoth said its financing for mountaintop mining businesses was “limited and declining.” Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citibank have all made the very same decision Wells Fargo is making. All these banks vowed to either reconsider lending to mountaintop mining corporations or to discontinue financing them altogether.
Buy cheap coal with mountaintop removal mining
Appalachian region environmentalists used Monday to try and convince the Obama administration that mountaintop mining should be outlawed. The Associated Press said the group is preparing a rally for September 27. They even had high hopes in inviting the president to come with them. Before getting coal, there is a process. Forests are cleared and Mountaintop removal starts. Then explosives blast apart the rock. Coal is then exposed with a machine, 8 stories high, that scoops 800 feet of mountaintop away. The earth left behind is dumped to the valleys below, covering streams and wildlife habitat. This may be the cheapest way to get coal which gives tens of thousands of jobs to the economy, operators say. The Appalachian coal industry is hoping no to lose many jobs with this. It plans to have a rally in Washington on September 15 to show its support for coal.
Making these loans good for other banks
Since 2007, financial institution funding for mountaintop removal mining corporations has been a target of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). The top mountaintop mining business in West Virginia is called Massey Energy. As a result of the RAN efforts, the top four banks in the country have stopped lending to it. Massey Energy was involved in a mine explosion in April. This was the, Upper Big Branch mine, explosion that killed 29 miners. Seems like like numerous banks are ready for this. Banks want to lend to them. Bloomberg data shows that the lead financers of Mountaintop removal mining are PNC and UBS. PNC finances mining corporations responsible for almost half of all environments removal coal mined in the United States of America.
New York Times
nytimes.com/2010/08/31/business/energy-environment/31coal.html?_r=1 and dbk
Associated Press
google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iRFjIvp7yDpMnistp_aolQIRAj_QD9HTVS4O0
Organic Consumers
organicconsumers.org/articles/article_21396.cfm
