Destroying Appalachian Mountains for Dirty Energy
You wouldn’t believe this is happening in America. One of the biggest environmental disasters in recent history is happening in our own country, and JP Morgan chase is financing it – to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
JP Morgan Chase is the largest US bank financing mountaintop removal coal mining, which literally involves blowing the tops off historic Appalachian Mountains and poisoning drinking water to extract a relatively small amount of dirty coal.
High Cost of Cheap Coal
Mountaintop removal, which provides a mere 7 percent of the nation’s coal, is done by clear-cutting forests, blowing the tops off of mountains, and then dumping the debris into streambeds. In the process, mountaintop removal poisons essential drinking water supplies and pollutes the air with coal and rock dust – and undeniably catastrophic reality for the people of Appalachia.
Bankrolling an American Tragedy
JP Morgan Chase is the biggest US financier of mountaintop removal coal mining. According to Bloomberg, JP Morgan Chase maintains ongoing financial relationships with 5 of the top 10 corporate producers of mountaintop removal coal. These 5 companies: Massey Energy, International Coal Group, Arch Coal, CONSOL Energy, and TECO Energy were responsible for mountaintop removal mining nearly 38 million tons of coal in 2008 – the most recent year with complete data. Imagine if JP Morgan Chase took this money and invested it in renewable energy alternatives!
