Banks are starting to have second thoughts about making loans to corporations that destroy the environment. . Environmental groups and court decisions have worked together to make that change. Financial institutions are held to the funding they do for environment destruction companies for instance this. Banking institutions want to do every little thing they can to please and keep customers. This is why numerous banking companies have decided to stop lending to any corporations that have risk of environmental damage.
Environmental destruction for banks to lend
It isn’t that hard for a Mountaintop removal mining business to get its cash. Credit is one thing financial institutions are thinking about more seriously as to where it will go. This means that climate change and other environmental problems for instance water quality standards are making the lending decision for banking companies harder, says the New York Times. Wells Fargo even is considering different changes. This is because “considerable attention and controversy” is being given to mountaintop removal mining recently. ”Limited and declining,” is the phrase it used to talk about mountaintop mining corporations getting financing. They’re likely to be denied. The decision by Wells Fargo emulates similar policy shifts by Credit Suisse, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan Chase, Financial institution of America and Citibank. Most of the banking institutions have decided to stop lending to mountaintop mining companies. If they didn’t choose that, they decided to reconsider whether or not to lend.
Mountaintop removal mining keeps coal cheap
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. Then explosives blast apart the rock. Next you have to have a special machine to scoop up 800 feet of mountaintop, but the machine has to be 8 stories high. Coal could be shown then. The earth left behind is dumped into the valleys below, covering streams and wildlife habitat. Operators argue it is a good thing for the economy. Electric power plants employ tens of thousands of jobs, and it is the best way to get coal. The Appalachian coal industry will have a Washington rally of its own on Sept. 15 to protest federal regulations it says remove mining jobs.
Other banks eager to fill the void
Since 2007, financial institution funding for mountaintop removal mining corporations has been a target of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). Organicconsumers.org reports that the group’s efforts have helped persuade the top four financial institutions in the country to back from Massey Energy, a leading mountaintop mining company based in West Virginia. In April, 29 miners were killed in an Upper Big Branch mine explosion that involved Massey Energy. Other banks are excited to fill this void now. Bloomberg data shows that the lead financers of Mountaintop removal mining are PNC and UBS. PNC finances mining companies responsible for almost half of all environments removal coal mined within the United States of America.
Further 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
