Great story in today's New York Times about financial institutions moving away from financing mountaintop removal coal mining. NRDC is proud of the progress we've made -- along with our allies -- in persuading Bank of America to stop lending money to mining companies most responsible for the destruction of Appalachia. Ditto convincing Citi that mountaintop mining is a bad investment. Kudos also to Rainforest Action Network for rallying citizens across the country to pressure other banks, including Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase, to dump rapacious mining companies from their client list.
As the NYT article explains, "After years of legal entanglements arising from environmental messes and increased scrutiny of banks that finance the dirtiest industries, several large commercial lenders are taking a stand on industry practices that they regard as risky to their reputations and bottom lines."
Evironmentalists and Appalachian activists clearly are winning on the financial front -- and the momentum continues to build in favor of abolishing mountaintop removal once and for all.