This weekend, Energy Justice Network, a Philadelphia-based environmental non-profit, took to the streets to protest Bank of America’s investments in coal. Joined by local activists and supported by Rainforest Action Network, Energy Justice Network was one of 50 groups from across the country to organize “No Coal Day of Action” events this weekend.
The group spent Saturday distributing information, collecting petition signatures, and calling the Bank headquarters (phone number 704-386-5666) to persuade Bank of America to stop providing massive loans to coal companies. Bank of America’s loan practices are literally fueling the climate crisis by enabling the construction of expensive new coal plants likely to become even more costly for ratepayers due to a carbon cap-and-auction system under the Obama administration.
Rainforest Action Network’s global finance campaign has revealed that Bank of America, and other major banking institutions such as Citi and JPMorgan Chase, all provide significant financial resources to coal companies – including those that practice mountaintop removal mining. Groups hosting “No Coal’ protests this weekend implored bank customers to reconsider their banking options amid a severe economic downturn, and to support safe alternative financial institutions such as credit unions.
Those that turned out to protest Bank of America in Center City, Philadelphia this Saturday marked the bank a global warming crime scene, insisting that the bank invest in energy efficiency programs, wind, and solar, instead of coal mined in some of the poorest communities in the country. Activists asserted that the country, and coal mining communities and communities hosting coal plants in particular, cannot afford to bank in coal and cannot afford to wait. Among those in attendance were two residents local to the City of Chester, just downwind of the Eddystone coal plant.
In the United States, those living in close proximity to coal plants and coal mining operations are almost always low-income people and people of color. Located adjacent to pollution sources such as coal – the world’s leading point source of greenhouse gas emissions and other toxic chemicals – it is no coincidence that these communities suffer from higher rates of cancer and respiratory illness than other populations in the United States. In the global picture, these same communities, the world’s poorest and those in countries comprised of majority people of color, feel the impacts of climate change first and worst. Therefore, by accelerating climate change and heightening pollution levels, coal acts as the ruinous thread connecting and unraveling America’s most under-served and the world’s worst-off.
This weekend, Energy Justice Network and other groups sought to impress upon bank customers, employees, and owners, that, as a national banking giant financing coal mining and construction of new plants, Bank of America plays an important role in pollution-based economies. Through banners, signs, and conversations, Energy Justice Network sent the message loud and clear – stop investing in coal and fund clean energy and energy efficiency projects instead.
