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 businesses or to discontinue financing them altogether.
Mountaintop removal mining keeps coal cheap
Mountaintop mining is something the Appalachian region environmentalists do not like. In fact, they used an opportunity with the Obama administration on Monday to try and get it banned. The Associated Press reports the group announced it will hold a rally in Washington Sept. 27 and invited the president to attend. Forests have to be cut before mountaintop removal can begin. Huge rock has to be exploded. Huge machines eight stories high scoop away up to 800 feet of mountaintop to expose coal seams. Streams and wildlife habitats are hurt when the dirt picked up is dumped into valleys. Operators say it is the cheapest way to reach coal for electric power plants and supports tens of thousands of jobs. September 15 you can expect to view a rally in Washington from the Appalachian coal industry that does not choose to lost jobs.
Many banks excited
Since 2007, financial institution financing 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. Because of the RAN efforts, the top four financial institutions within 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. Other banks are excited to fill this void now. PNC and UBS are doing well now. They are the two leaders, according to Bloomberg data, of mountaintop removal mining. Almost half of the Mountaintop removal coal within the United States is financed by PNC.
Additional reading
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
