Bank policies on financing coal

As controversy over coal mining has grown, major banks have faced increased scrutiny for their role in financing coal mines and power stations.

Banks financing Mountaintop Removal mining
In August 2010, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) announced that pressure by activist groups had led to changes in lending policies by major financial institutions which had funded Mountaintop Removal in the United States. RAN noted that "Bank of America, Citi, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo along with Credit Suisse and Morgan Stanley have successively passed public policies limiting their financial relationships with coal operators that practice mountaintop removal (MTR) coal mining. These banks were the lead financiers of the practice prior to their policy shifts." RAN also noted that since January 2005 JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wells Fargo had all severed their financial ties with Massey Energy "Based on Bloomberg data, Bank of America, which was one of the 'syndication agents' on a $175 million revolver loan to Massey in March 2008, is no longer on the deal or any others with the company. JPMorgan, similarly, underwrote $180 million in debt securities in 2008 to Massey and was also the lead manager on a $233 million share deal (joint with UBS) that same year. JPMorgan no longer has any financial ties to the company, RAN stated in a media release.

RAN also noted that as some of the major banks moved away from financing MTR, PNC and UBS have become the "lead financiers of the practice". PNC, RAN states, "finances mining companies responsible for almost half of all mountaintop removal coal mined in the US."

Related SourceWatch articles

 * Bank of America and Coal

US Bank's policies on Mountaintop Removal mining

 * Bank of America http://environment.bankofamerica.com/assets/pdf/COAL_POLICY.pdf
 * Citi http://citizenship.citigroup.com/citi/citizen/finance/environment/mrcm.htm
 * Credit Suisse http://ran.org/content/correspondence-banks-relating-rans-mtr-report-card
 * Morgan Stanley http://www.msdw.org/global/Environmental_Policy.pdf
 * JPMorgan Chase http://www.jpmorganchase.com/corporate/Corporate-Responsibility/document/cr_full_report_05-14_01_noblurb.pdf
 * Wells Fargo https://www.wellsfargo.com/downloads/pdf/about/csr/reports/environmental_lending_practices.pdf

External articles

 * http://www.forbes.com/feeds/afx/2008/12/04/afx5783500.html
 * http://abcnews.go.com/Business/massey-draws-scorn-wall-street/story?id=10301551
 * http://motherjones.com/politics/2010/03/jpmorgan-mountaintop-removal-mining/2008/12/04/afx5783500.html