Choosing The Dirtiest Us Bank

Published by MAC on 2007-08-14
Source: Rainforest Action Network

Choosing the dirtiest US bank

Rainforest Action Network, Weekly Panther

14th August 2007

RAN is about to pick a new corporate target, and we want your input!

Our Global Finance Campaign is set to launch a new campaign to get U.S. banks to stop funding coal -- the single biggest cause of global warming.

We want to know which bank you think is America's dirtiest!

Not surprisingly, the nation's three biggest banks are tops in the running; :

- Bank of America: http://ga3.org/campaign/target_bofa/ws8xdu649ii3n7n?
- Citi (formerly Citibank): http://ga3.org/campaign/target_citi/ws8xdu649ii3n7n?
- JPMorgan Chase: http://ga3.org/campaign/target_jpmc/ws8xdu649ii3n7n?

Be it for coal extraction or processing, the coal industry depends on funding from these three banks. And by investing in coal, Bank of America, Citi and JPMorgan Chase are knowingly financing catastrophic climate change.

Here's how they do it:

Bank of America, http://ga3.org/campaign/target_bofa/ws8xdu649ii3n7n?

::Responsible for a $175 million loan to the "poster child" of mountaintop removal coal mining: Massey Energy.

::Major funder of Peabody Energy, the largest mining company in the world. Peabody was recently implicated in the contamination of Navajo and Hopi water sources in the Black Mesa area that extends through northern Utah and Arizona. Furthermore, Bank of America financing is allowing Peabody to build three new coal-fired power plants in Illinois, Kentucky and New Mexico.

Citi, http://ga3.org/campaign/target_citi/ws8xdu649ii3n7n?

::Financial backer of the largest greenhouse gas emitter in the nation: American Electric Power (AEP). AEP is heavily involved in the U.S. coal rush, building five new coal plants around the Mid-West and South. AEP will also manage up to nine coal-fired power plants within 10 miles of Meigs County, Ohio -- a community already ravaged by health and environmental impacts associated with coal development.

::Funds destructive strip mining and mountaintop removal from the American Southwest to Appalachia.

::Co-owner of Texas-based utility TXU, which just got permits to build three outdated and dirty pulverized coal-fired power plants in north and central Texas.

JPMorgan Chase, http://ga3.org/campaign/target_jpmc/ws8xdu649ii3n7n?

::Funds Dynegy, which is sponsoring the building of 12 new coal-fired power plants -- the largest coal build-out in the country.

::Helped Mid-American Energy secure $350 million in financing for construction of a new coal-fired plant in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Mid-American Energy operates dozens of power plants across the U.S. and England.