Banking institutions do not like the thought of loaning money to companies that are just hurting the environment. Mountaintop removal mining is a destructive business just like this. Banking institutions used to end up with a great profit after financing these companies. Environmental groups and court decisions have worked together for making that change. Financial institutions are held to the funding they do for environment destruction businesses such as this. Banks try to keep business by quitting all lending to corporations with environmental risk.
Banks lend to environmental destruction
Getting money is not that hard. Mountaintop removal mining companies will find a way to get it. Credit is something banking institutions are thinking about more intensely as to where it will go. This means that climate change and other environmental difficulties such as water quality standards are making the lending decision for financial institutions harder, says the New York Times. Wells Fargo even is thinking about 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 funding. They are likely to be denied. The Wells Fargo decision is s! omething other banking companies are doing as well. These consist of J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, Citibank, Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley. The banking institutions have all decided mountaintop mining corporations aren’t places to lend to, or may have special consideration.
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 reports the group announced it will hold a rally in Washington Sept. 27 and invited the president to attend. Before getting coal, there is a process. Forests are cleared and Mountaintop removal starts. They have to use explosives then. This is to break huge rock. Huge machines eight stories high scoop away up to 800 feet of mountaintop to expose coal seams. The valleys are in for a surprise when all the additional dirt is dumped in them. This hurts the wildlife and covers up fresh streams. This may be the cheapest way to get coal which gives tens of thousands of jobs to the economy, operators say. September 15 you can expect to determine a rally in Washington from the Appalachian coal industry that doesn’t choose to lost jobs.
Making these loans good for other banks
Since 2007, bank funding for mountaintop removal mining businesses has been a target of the Rainforest Action Network (RAN). Organicconsumers.org reports the group’s efforts have helped persuade the top four banks within the country to back away from Massey Energy, a leading mountaintop mining company based in West Virginia. In April, 29 miners were killed in an Upper Large Branch mine explosion that involved Massey Energy. Other banks are excited to fill this void now. According to Bloomberg data, PNC and UBS are presently the lead financiers of mountaintop removal mining. Almost half of the Mountaintop removal coal within the United States of America is financed by PNC.
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
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