{"id":26391,"date":"2011-11-12T09:20:11","date_gmt":"2011-11-12T14:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planetsave.com\/?p=26391"},"modified":"2011-11-12T09:20:11","modified_gmt":"2011-11-12T14:20:11","slug":"bank-of-america-is-back-into-mountaintop-removal-coal-mining","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planetsave.com\/articles\/bank-of-america-is-back-into-mountaintop-removal-coal-mining\/","title":{"rendered":"Bank of America is Back into Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a><\/p>\n Bank of America was once considered an environmental “leader” (at least for one thing), as it announced in 2008 that it would stop investing<\/a> in companies that engage in mountaintop removal coal mining<\/a> — I was surprised! Technically, they committed to “phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal.” Well, let’s look at how this phase out has transitioned.<\/p>\n The phase out meant it was going to stop financing Massey Energy, a company focused on mountaintop removal coal mining. Now, though, Massey Energy has been bought by\u00a0Alpha Natural Resources (Bank of America underwrote the bond, facilitating the acquisition). Under Bank of America’s policy, it can now go back to financing Massey Energy, through Alpha Natural Resources.<\/p>\n In total, “Bank of America underwrites loans to companies that are responsible for 40% of all the mountaintop removal coal that was mined in 2010,<\/strong>” iLoveMountains.org<\/a> writes.<\/p>\n Hardly mountain- or climate-friendly!<\/p>\n Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has an action page<\/a> set up now to help you show your disapproval of Bank of America’s horrible support for mountain removal coal mining. You can take action by committing to close your Bank of America account or by boycotting Bank of America ATMs, or both.<\/p>\n