Banks are starting to have second thoughts about making loans to businesses that destroy the environment. Mountaintop removal mining is a destructive business just like this. Banking companies used to end up with a good profit after financing these companies. However, pressure by environmentalists and court decisions holding banks accountable for financing environmental destruction are mounting. Banking companies want to do anything they can to please and keep customers. This is why many financial institutions have decided to stop lending to any corporations that have risk of environmental damage. Resource for this article – Big banks backing away from financing mountaintop removal mining by Personal Money Store.
Banks lend to environmental destruction
It is not that hard for an Environment removal mining company to get its cash. As outlined by the New York Times, bank industry analysts think that climate change debates, standards for water quality and environmental issues are making it so lenders are more concerned where credit is given. Recently Wells Fargo made a statement about “considerable attention and controversy” related to mountaintop removal mining. ”Limited and declining,” is the phrase it used to talk about mountaintop mining businesses getting financing. They are likely to be denied. The decision by Wells Fargo emulates comparable policy shifts by Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America and Citibank. The banking institutions have all decided mountaintop mining businesses aren’t places to lend to, or may have special consideration.
Purchase 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 planning 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. Huge rock has to be exploded. Next you’ve to have a special machine to scoop up 800 feet of mountaintop, but the machine has to be 8 stories high. Coal will be shown then. Streams and wildlife habitats are hurt when the dirt picked up is dumped into valleys. 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 will have a Washington rally of its own on Sept. 15 to protest federal regulations it says remove mining jobs.
Numerous banks excited
2007 was when the Rainforest Action Network, or RAN, began its work. It wanted to stop banks from giving any financing to mountaintop removal mining companies. As outlined by organicconsumers.org, the top four financial institutions within the country have stopped lending to the leading mountaintop mining business in West Virginia, Massey Energy, because of these efforts. Massey Energy was involved within the Upper Big Branch mine explosion that killed 29 miners in April. Seems like like numerous banks are ready for this. Banks want to lend to them. According to Bloomberg data, PNC and UBS are presently the lead financiers of mountaintop removal mining. PNC is responsible for a ton of coal getting used within the United States In fact, half of coal from mountaintop mining is financed by PNC.
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
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