At six am this morning (EDT) four intrepid RAN-ites scaled a crane outside Bank of America’s headquarters in Charlotte North Carolina and dropped a banner announcing: “Bank of America: Funding Coal, Killing Communities”.
In full view of all their employees, the banner sent a powerful message to America’s largest bank that being one of the top financiers of coal and climate change is unacceptable business. Charlotte hasn’t seen civil disobedience since the Vietnam war, so the event shut down the city center for a while – but the disruption was nothing compared to what residents of the coalfields are experiencing every day. This action happened on the same day as a public hearing for Duke Energy in Raleigh is expected to draw serious opposition to a planned coal-fired power plant and just days before hearings for the Stream Buffer Zone rule in Kentucky, West Virginia and Tennessee. Big Coal is having a rough week, and it’s our job to make sure that the money behind them feels the pressure too. We think we succeeded. More info here.
UPDATE: check out the video after the break.
Twitter Updates
You people are a bunch of nutjobs. I hope your group and these “activists” are sued for the loss of business in disrupting Charlotte.
You guys are really smart! Keep traffic tied up for 2 hours – hmmmmm, now that doesn’t cause pollution, does it? Keep it up, morons! Pretty soon NO ONE will give a damn about the cause!
Since you deleted my last post, I’ll add another. Long and short of it, I live in Charlotte and am a former 3rd generation coal miner. Your arguements carry no merit. Coming from some one who knows the business of coal mining and reclaimation laws, you are just making people angry. Laura and Didier are both right. I am directly effected by the jobsite you trespassed on. Because a bunch of hippies think coal mining is bad doesn’t mean you have to interrupt an entire city. Some people have too much to say. If you think you will recieve a positive response from this, you are all crazy.
Way to go RAN. Didier, Laura, and Jeremy – sorry you were inconvenienced but the fact of the matter is that business can no longer go on as usual – particularly when it comes to coal. The fact is that Al Gore and James Hansen have been calling for civil disobedience on this issue for a while – and its great to see RAN stepping up. What about the “inconvenience” caused by Katrina, the Southern California drought and wildfires, or rapidly disappearing sea ice in the Arctic?
PS – Good luck with Testaverde at QB. You guys even having fossils playing on your team!
I’d just like to respond to Didier, Laura and Jeremy that as someone at the action this morning that I am really sorry your morning commute and worksite were impacted by our action, but my friends in the coalfields of Appalachia and in native communities in the southwest are directly “inconvenience” by the policies of Bank of America and the coal companies they fund. They deal with poisoned groundwater, flooding and destruction of their homes by these coal companies. Children sleep in their clothes in case their homes are flooded in the middle of the night. Activists challenging and winning struggles against big coal are threatened and terrorized by big coal’s supporters. They’ve had their homes burned and the pets killed by companies supported by Bank of America (and I am sure some of them will comment soon).
It’s a shame that instead of looking at the reasons our activists put their lives on the line this morning, you instead name call and ignore why we were there.
I live in the Coal River Valley, WV, directly below a mountain top removal site. My family has lived on this property since the mid 1800′s. My father was a coal miner. My grandfathers were coal miners. Most all my Uncles were coal miners and to this day I have a lot of cousins who are coal miners. Mountain top removal is not “coal mining”. In southern WV alone nearly 4 million pounds of explosives are used daily to destroy our mountains, our water, our property, and our communities. We are being terrorized. So I am sorry if anyone in Charlotte was inconvenienced today, but we, living this nightmare are inconvenienced everyday.
Everyone in the mid-atlantic and southeast should be concerned about this illegal form of mining. These are the headwater source streams that are being poisoned with heavy metals and toxins from this absurd form of coal extraction. These are the headwater source of your drinking water.
Thanks RAN, please keep it up. This injustice has gone on far too long.
Link to youtube for those that care about themselves and their families. Not for the weak of mind who have been dumbed down by greed and the Bush Administration.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mFtA9268yg
Way to go guys! I live in Logan WV and have seen the destruction of mountain top removal first hand. There is nothing more tragic. It has taken away so many union jobs and it is permanently destroying the beauty, ecology, and culture of Appalachia. These greedy coal barons and their financiers must be stopped.
Thank You!!!!
Dear Didier, Laura and Jeremy.
In the immortal words of Don West to Dr. Smith on Lost in Space as the Jupiter three hurtled towards the sun.
“The best thing about this Smith, will be watching you fry!”
How F-ing stupid are you going to look in three years when the effects of Coal-burnings contribution to global warming has become fully realized.
On second thought as I turn on the NIghtly news on any channel and watch california burning you’re looking pretty stupid already. And lest you argue that such flames have more to do with years of forest fire mismanagement (yes, partly) consider this article from the weekends NYTimes:
The Future is drying up!
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/magazine/21water-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
If the link doesn’t work then simply Google “Atlanta water supply”
Sleep tight ,
You morons
Give me a break. I’ve been to Logan also. Most of what you see now is the corridor work coming through and I don’t hear anyone compaining about how easy it is to get to Charleston. BofA had nothing to do with Katrina or any other natural disaster. You people just need something to complain about. If it isn’t the coal mines, it’s the war or something. If you want to be productive, quit complaining and find a new means to energy. And Brad, your town was founded on coal mines. Mines have strong stipulations now on how things are run. If they aren’t followed, I agree there should be fines. It’s not up to BofA to police them. Do your homework.
As far as Vinny goes, well, he’ll do in a pinch I guess.
Wow…you are really proud of yourselves. Pat yourself on the back. The Center City was shut down for a while only to get you dorks off of the crane. It was shut down because anyone cared about what you were doing. And what a powerful message…no one can tell me what the banner said without looking at your pictures. Now all of the people performing their jobs at BOA who have no decision making ability about how BOA invests money got a chance to see your monkeys swinging from the crane. You should be mighty proud. And you changed so much.
Oh – Kretzamn…have you seen Gore’s house in TN? Might want to burn some coal to keep that thing heated and cooled.
I hope that these guys have to pay the City of Charlotte for the firefighters and police manhours that were totally wasted. If you care so much about the environment, figure out something better than coal. I bet each of you turned the lights on this morning, took a hot bath and probably ate a hot meal today. Without coal today that would not have happened. I am sure there are solutions for the future, however this today. So… thanks for the coal WV.
Steve Kretzmann Says:
October 23rd, 2007 at 3:59 pm
“Way to go RAN. Didier, Laura, and Jeremy – sorry you were inconvenienced but the fact of the matter is that business can no longer go on as usual – particularly when it comes to coal.”
I guess it’s ok to trespass on other’s property, tie up traffic (which creates more pollution as Laura aptly states), use fire and police resources (also a source of pollution with those big firetrucks)and create a safety hazard for your “activists” and others trying to get them safe, all that just to make a point.
I had never heard of this nutcase group, but they remind me of ELF. When are you guys going to burn some Hummers?
Steve, if you don’t want business as usual then go elect some liberal politicians with some nads to change the laws. Looks like the present Democratic congress is too focused on the utterances of Rush Limbaugh and events that occurred in Turkey 95 years ago to worry about pollution from coal plants.
This silly yet dangerous stunt will do ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to advance the cause of this wacko group. In fact, it will be seen with more disdain.
Good point Brian, if the law allows I hope the City of Charlotte will sue these wackos and their sponsor for the costs incurred by these idiots.
Let me just add that I work for a General Contractor in Charlotte and have worked first hand on Bank of America construction projects. BofA does ALOT to conserve energy and to reuse materials. Ever heard of LEED? Why don’t you look into that and see the efforts BofA makes to preserve our environment.
This has nothing to do with a morning commute that was interrupted; I don’t commute through Uptown. This has to do with the absolute absurdity of elevating air pollution to hang a banner off a crane. Nobody says that you don’t have a point – it’s your methods that turn people off. Civil disobedience? What is civil about hanging from a banner and refusing to come down because you know you will be arrested? Civil is discussing the issue at hand. Civil is healthy debate.
I agree with Brian – you should have to contribute money or volunteer yor time to the firefighters and policemen who could have spent their time more wisely. Thanks for wasting our tax dollars RAN. You make me ashamed to say admit I was once a member.
“Activists challenging and winning struggles against big coal are threatened and terrorized by big coal’s supporters. They’ve had their homes burned and the pets killed by companies supported by Bank of America (and I am sure some of them will comment soon).”
Comments are fine Scott, but I’d like to see proof. Would you or some of our buddies who will comment soon please link police reports citing terrorism, arson, and animal cruelty perpetrated by “big coal supporters”?
Finally, do you think breaking the law, obstructing commerce, and using important resources like fire and police protection is an effective means of making a statement?
Ok Brian, here’s a direct response to your post. We already have something better than coal. It is in the form of solar power, wind power, and even better, eco-friendly buildings. Your comment “Without coal today that would not have happened,” is remarkably false. Who says that you need to turn the lights on in the morning, and who is to say that came from coal? Have you ever heard of solar heated water? Have you every heard of cold meals, or even meals heated with fire from wood not coal! OMG!!! Look, I just gave you some other options.
Oh and Bob, did you happen to notice all of the press on this topic? So what if people were too far away to see what the banner said, they sure did show it up close on the news!!
I hope you all realize that even though businesses were inconvineced for a while this morning, they will survive. Also, if traffic was stopped, what you do is turn off your engine, step out of the car, and enjoy the fresh(er) air. Oh and when you do that, you save money!!! OMG! IT’S AMAZING!!!
You say that workers at BofA have no say in what the company invests in, and while you may not have a direct say, you ALWAYS have a voice. We’re letting the voice be heard of those in Appalachia. The problem that those who posted negatively on this article don’t realize, is that this nation is apathetic to issues that don’t affect them directly. People are dying, people are having their lively hoods destroyed, but you don’t care because it’s not you.
OWN UP TO YOUR ACTIONS AND MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Peace… (Please?)
hi folks… i’m the crane operator who got there at 6:20 this morning and thought somebody had hung theirself (suicide type) from my crane… thanx for the early morning rush… had you a worthy cause (say, unjust war, predatory mortgages, even irs) or something along those lines i may have even helped pull your crap up there… but if your small minds can’t come up with a better one than that, enjoy you stay in Char/Meck’s finest downtown bars (at the jail) rick
To the Charlotte residents who express such disdain for the demonstrators, a history lesson: “You deplore the demonstrations taking place … But your statement, I am sorry to say, fails to express a similar concern for the conditions that brought about the demonstrations. I am sure that none of you would want to rest content with the superficial kind of social analysis that deals merely with effects and does not grapple with underlying causes. It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place … but it is even more unfortunate that the … power structure left the … community with no alternative.” — From Martin Luther King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, 1963
Cente – let me get this straight – you are speaking on behalf of the RAINFOREST ACTION NETWORK and suggest people use WOOD as a heat source to prepare their meals?
Joe – Who from the Charlotte community was hanging from a banner? Oh, that’s right – NO ONE.
Admittedly not from Charlotte, America’s coal belt still effects me – its nitric and sulfuric emissions bathe our forests and acid rain and bleach our lakes free off fish. Sure, coal kills communities, I have friends from the region who’ve seen it firsthand. But its also bigger than that, and we have to step outside our regional microcosm.
Should’ve mentioned, I’m from the Northeast (Upstate NY and Rhode Island) – we receive the brunt of the rest of the country’s air pollution.
Joe, for you to compare the civil rights struggle and quotes by MLK Jr. to the investment decisions of a bank in the production of electricity is a slap in the face to the civil rights struggle. Use a better analogy please.
Here is my question again: do you think breaking the law, obstructing commerce, and using important resources like fire and police protection is an effective means of making a statement?
Cente, I have used solar heated water in Africa. It works in the late afternoon and early evening. Do you suggest we adopt a water heating method whereby hot water is only available at this time? Don’t know about you, but I like AM showers.
I’ve eaten cold meals, but I prefer my steak cooked thank you.
Laura — If you understood the conditions in the coal fields, you wouldn’t make a joking reference to lynching. There are great injustices going on right now. That is why protests are taking place. Cant you show some sympathy with the people who suffer, whose tapwater runs black, whose children are hit by boulders, who work in grotesque conditions risking their lives?
Stephanie, I believe that this is an issue. My problem is the methods being used to raise public awareness. I would much rather see some type of forum held by the ‘experts’ on how the everyday average American family can make inexpensive and realistic changes that would protect the environment. Sure, solar panels on every home would be great, but how realistic is that? I know I can’t afford to do it and most likely neither can most American families. If I can – let me know how! Just keep in mind that I have a family to feed – and food on the table for my children comes before major renovations made to my home. Unfortunately, a lot of people see the protest as a ‘left-wing liberal stunt’ and it won’t cause them to delve deeper into the issue.
Joe – where is the reference to lynching? Fact: people were SUSPENDED (also known as hanging) from the crane.
“It is unfortunate that demonstrations are taking place … but it is even more unfortunate that the … power structure left the … community with no alternative.”
My point was that no one in the Charlotte community felt they had no other alternative in raising awareness about this issue than to suspend themselves 70+ feet in the air. Even more to the point, MLK never would have suspended himself from anything to get his point across. He traveled and he spoke with people. He did not resort to this type of behavior and I seriously doubt he would condone it. There is nothing wrong with protesting. I encourage everyone to question authority and to speak out on their beliefs – especially when they feel an injustice is being brought upon others.
Lynching? You need to calm down a bit.
Agenda- 10/23/07
1. Raise awareness of BofA’s investments. Check.
2. Raise awareness of RAN. Check.
3. Piss off crotchety Charlotteans. Check.
If these guys are so crazy, why are you on their website? Mike Hayden is probably tracking you now. Don’t let the folks at the club find out.
Favorite quote: “Charlotte hasn’t seen civil disobedience since the Vietnam war”
PS, drove down College St. at 8am, looked fine to me.
Check that:
Favorite quote: “Even more to the point, MLK never would have suspended himself from anything to get his point across”
Ha.
so honestly, i love this action i think it was brilliant. and to those other guys who think that we are just a bunch of hippies who arent in the coal feilds, im sorry but i have been there, and even for those of us who havent been there, we all drink water and breathe air, there for we are all directly effected by this. and to say that some people have too much to say, well i may be one of those people, but what about the ones who have nothing to say? what about the ones who call protesters morons for fighting for what they belive in. im sorrry that your silly little daily commute to the office, or star bucks, or to little sally’s ballet lesson was postponed, but honestly was it that important?
Arguments like this always seem to follow actions that people don’t understand. Perhaps it is partially the activists who need to convey their message more clearly, but it also requires the folks who complain about the action to think about the true intentions rather than the negative implications. Of course every action has the potential to create negatives, but but you have to look at the bigger picture. This action was intended to stir things up at a busy time of day with a risky banner drop. RAN wanted people who can’t see that far up to talk about it all day and find out what the banner said from the media and from their friends. They wanted people to be in awe of the extent to which people will go to get the word out that there is a problem is Appalachia.
Also, it is very important to recognize that actions like this are not meant to be quick solutions. They are tactics for escalation of important issues that are being worked from other angles in the meantime. In fact, there’s a whole range of different uses for an action like this that can help pick up where other tactics let off.
Regardless of how these people spend their energy fighting king coal, the real question you have to ask yourself is: do you even care? Is there something you could do to help too? Clearly, help is needed and there’s no use in people bickering over strategy especially after the action is over.
“Arguments like this always seem to follow actions that people don’t understand.”
Agreed, I don’t understand why these four feel justified in breaking the law, using city fire and police resources, and tying up traffic, thereby causing more pollution. Actions by groups like this normally have unintended consequences like that.
Save Darfur, join a Facebook group.
Kudos to those brave folks who have taken a stand for the people of Appalachia, and whether you know it or not for you too! I live in the coalfields, and I know first hand the devastation caused by Mountain Top Mining. For those of you who are too ignorant to understand the situation, that is your problem for not being informed. You complain of a little inconvenience for one day, but we live with it everyday, from behemoth coal trucks hogging the roads, to the flooding from a couple of inches of rain. Our lives have totally been disrupted everyday so you folks can have “cheap” dirty energy. You would be better off letting the banking industry know that it is more wise to invest in clean alternatives than funding this devastating form of mining. Whether you know it or not, you are suffering from burning fossil fuels too, and your children will suffer even more in the years to come. Wake up and get your head out of the sand. The climate is changing, and it is past time to start looking to cleaner more efficient forms of energy. By the way, so sorry your morning was disrupted, our lives are disrupted every single everyday.
Ok yeah I said to burn wood. What was in my mind at the time is dead wood from trees that have shed their branches and/or died for some reason or another. There are so many different ways to heat food. Oh and I’ve never heard of steak being a breakfast food?
As for everyone who is complaining about the tie up in business and traffic, LOOK AT THE MESSAGE NOT THE ACTION! You’re complaining about the people and while it was inconvient, SO WHAT!?! People are dying, people are haveing their homes destroyed, the land is being destroyed beyond recognition, and you’re upset that four people tied up traffic, had fire fighters take them down, and got arrested. If I didn’t know better, I’d think you all just want something to complain about. If that’s the case, complain about MTR, and the injustices that are happening to the people of Appalachia.
Oh and on the comment about the price of solar, when you invest in a technology, and it becomes easier to produce, the prices usually go down ove time!
Also, didn’t MLK have people hating him for what he was doing too?
We’re not expecting this to be an immediate change, we’re trying to build a sustainable future by resolving the problems of today.
Look at the big picture and stop complaining about your “inconvience” and “loss of business.”
Peace
Hooray,
Strong messages do inconvenience people. Otherwise who will pay attention to the destruction of our mountains and communities here in Appalachia?
If folks were not inconvenienced they would not stop to pay attention.
The destruction and rape of our mountains is more important than a days worth of business. Complaining about being incovenienced only shows a lack of awareness.
You should thank the people of Appalachia every time you turn on the light or start your car!
Why would one think folks would take such a drastic measure and risk their safey to put up a banner like this? Think about it!
I live in a community where the coal companies are poisoning us, blasting us, trespassing on our property and destroying our property. A million thanks to RAN for standing up for us and for our children’s future. People have to sacrifice now to save our children’s lives. The people stuck in traffic should have got out of their cars and cheered and supported RAN. Charlotte is using the coal that has our blood on it, The people of Charlotte’s children is being poisoned with mercury and air pollution from coal fired power plants. Get with it people, we have to act now and stop this. If you don’t want to be held up again, then help us stop the destruction. You people have rights and freedom because people like RAN stood up for you. THE ONLY THING STANDING BETWEEN YOU AND POISON AIR AND WATER IS ORGANIZATIONS LIKE RAN.
To Laura @ October 23rd, 2007 at 6:23 pm: It is naïve and incorrect to assume that BoA makes efficiency decisions based on altruistic motives. It quite simply comes down to return on investment. BoA’s motives are the acquisition of wealth, the protection of that wealth and leveraging that wealth to generate additional wealth – regardless of how the costs of obtaining that wealth are externalized onto the rest of us.
Spinning voracious greed to make it appear as anything else is the job of their marketing and PR departments and politicians. The job of those who have taken a step back from the minutia of daily tasks to understand the externalized costs of BoA’s profits is to expose the leaders of global financial institutions such as BoA and Citibank for what they are – mentally ill from greed, knowingly and willfully destroying communities throughout Appalachia for profit and actively pushing the climate beyond its ability to recover. If you don’t understand the severity and urgency of what we are facing globally and regionally, then you have not looked at the scientific data or heard the stories coming out of the coalfields. Before you superficially judge the actions of people who have the courage to stand up and put their life and freedom on the line for you (for us all), take the time to educate yourself on the reality beyond your morning commute.
Laura, have you not heard of using biomass as a fuel? There are many options out there instead of using fossil fuels. Yes my dear, you can fry your eggs and bacon from energy other than from coal fired plants. Get some education and stop living in the dark ages
Thanks guys. My heart swelled one size bigger when I saw that banner!
For the people who feel that their lives were “disrupted” for the short time that the banner was being placed, try living here where the fuel for your blow dryers and microwaves and big flat screen televisions is being extracted. You don’t have any idea what “disruption” even means. I live in the middle of the area that makes it possible for you to have the luxuries that you so enjoy in your life and believe me it is not pleasant. The bank that was being protested is a heavy financier of this horrendous mining practice. We live with poisoned water and air. Our homes are being destroyed and our dead can’t even rest in peace, cemeteries have been bulldozed and desecrated. So spare me with your pitiful whining about the little inconvenience on your part for one day. Good on those folks who were brave enough to do this. It seems like something like what they did is the only thing that will get your nose out of your own selfish life and realize that other people exist but you. We used to travel through Charlotte from time to time, but that city will never see another red cent from my family. If everyone who cares about the environment would stop travelling through your city, maybe you would get the message.
Laura, you complained about being held up in traffic for two hours and the fuel that was wasted. Well I want you to know something, now put this in your little book so your little mind won’t forget it, just one piece of large equipment on an MTR site uses 80 gallons of fuel and HOUR! That is 24 hours a day 7 days a week, so spare me your concern about the fuel used in a two hour traffic jam!
I would like to address the comments made about the protesters breaking the law and how they should pay. I live in Tn. near one of the largest mountaintop removal mines in the state and have turned in citizens complaints for violations by the coal company operating on Zeb mtn. Several of the violations resulted in fines for the coal company. To this day most of the violations have been appealed and the fines not paid or the coal company refused to admit that there was a violation at all and thumbed their nose at the state regulatory agency. There are violations that are years old that have never been remediated because the coal company appears to be above the law. Try living with your well water turning black and orange, watching the school bus compete with coal trucks for room on narrow winding mountain roads and knowing your complaints and fears are falling on the deaf ears of the state and federal agencies that are supposed to protect your life and property. while the coal company is getting away with violation after violation. Thanks to RAN for drawing attention to the plight of the coalfields.
Wow! All y’all naysayers sure do have a lot of time on your hands to spend so much of it commenting here. I wish I had more time but while taking care of four children and their grandmother I work my hind end in to the ground to ensure there will be a future in these mountains for those children, who, by the way, go to school in the shadow of a coal silo and at the base of a 385 foot earthen dam plum full with toxic coal waste that was cited multiple times by MSHA for improper construction.
I am sorry that you may have been inconvenienced and I do mean that, but please, put yourself in our shoes for just one moment and realize that no person in this nation should have to live the way we do so that others can live in relative comfort. Not when alternative technologies DO exist. I, for one and grateful that the brave folks at Rainforest Action Network would be willing to go to such great lengths to send such a strong message to Bank of America that coal does kill communities and that the time is here to invest in sustainable (and some might say sane) solutions!!!
I forgot to mention that the mountaintop removal and coal processing site located behind the school the girls go to every day is owned and operated by Massey Energy which is heavily funded by none other than Bank of America.
Your arguments are the same when Rosa Parks committed civil disobediance.
“Ms. Parks–sure this bus thing is bad–but you tied up police resources doing this, and some peoples trip to work was interrupted.”
These people are AMERICANS in the truest since of the word. I get the feeling some of yall would of screamed about the Boston Tea Party if you had been around.
“That was private tea! and that corporation did nothing to deserve that treatment.”
There is nothing more american that demonstrations and actions against corporations. The American revolution was a war against colonialism which was set up on a corporate basis–the first states where British corporations.
Dissent is American. Sure a sheeple or two was distraught that there are still people with backbones in the tradition of Franklin, Jefferson and the rest–but I am proud that people willing to put their lives on the line for what they believe still exist. If we had more Americans like this we wouldn’t be caught in a sucking bloodbath guerilla war in Iraq right now.
We need more Americans like this, and less sheeple who bah cause it hurts there necks to see people expressing there first amendment rights against corporate power in a way that the architects of the constitution would recognize and salute.
My husband was born and raised in Logan and still has family that lives there. Believe me building that highway is nothing compared to the devastation of MTR. We still live in the coalfields and my husband is a disabled miner, so there is NOTHING you naysayers can say about mining that we don’t know about, and nothing you say about RAN that can sway my support for them and their cause.
I bet that Didier, Laura and Jeremy and rest of the naysayers all are people who run and hide under their beds at the very word terrist (Bush speak), and have stocked up on duct tape and plastic sheeting, but they are totally ignoring the huge horrible monster at their very door. The huge energy conglomerates and the banks that fund them with our government’s blessing. What good is duct tape and plastic going to do when all the water is gone or is so polluted that you can’t drink or bathe in it? What good is it when the air is poisoned by the good old USA corporations instead of the terrists as Bush calls them. You had better look around. Your worst enemies are the ones who you think are your friends. They are the ones putting a knife in your back, not the ones trying to save the planet.
THANK YOU RAN!!!!!!!
Thank you RAN. Where I live in WV, the coal companies that Bank of America funds routinely violate environmental and safety regulations, sometimes get caught, and then negotiate a settlement for a fraction of the fine years later. It’s all just the cost of doing business, a cost that BofA is financing as part of their investments. In effect, BofA is making money from illegal activity. Isn’t that organized crime or racketeering? The people who should have been arrested were the ones wearing suits in comfortable offices at BofA and not the ones bringing BofA’s crimes out into the open. These are real crimes with real victims–children breathing coal dust in class at Marsh Fork Elementary School, people drowned in floods, retired folks whose homes they’ve worked for their whole lives rendered worthless by blankets of coal dust, etc. Thanks RAN for holding these criminals accountable, because our government agencies only seem interested in enabling more mountaintop removal and climate crisis.
Thanks RAN, for taking the time to shake up Charlotte and helping the people in the coalfields. We all appreciate your efforts more than you can ever know.
Congratulations RAN! Thank you for harmlessly disrupting the day-to-day bustle to get people to THINK about something besides where to park. This includes y’all, Didier, Laura, & friends!
Appalachia appreciates each and every one of these actions.
I am one of the climbers from Tuesday’s action at Bank of America on Tuesday and I would like to contribute one of my personal reasons for participating in this campaign. One of my close friends is named Kerry “Chad” Albright. I had the distinct pleasure of working with Chad for a few years in New York City. Chad was born in Buffalo Creek, WV, a tiny, Appalachian mining “town” which is probably more of a network of country shacks sparsely strewn throughout what was once a pristine mountain valley. When Chad was just 9 months old a dam containing coal sludge (yes, it’s technically called “sludge”) from the nearby mines burst releasing a sludge flood through the valley. Chad’s mother was home with his older, 5 year old sister while his father was deep below the earth in a nearby coal mine. The flood was so huge and severe that Chad’s mom grabbed he and his sister before it consumed their home. She was running for higher ground up the valley with Chad in one arm and his sister by the hand when the flood reached them. His mother knew that she and his sister would not make it so as the sludge enveloped them she threw baby Chad by the leg as far as she could up the valley wall. When officials later surveyed the sludge lake that was once the valley they heard what they thought was a cat’s cry coming from what looked like the leg of a baby doll protruding from the black waste. When they hauled the leg from the muck it turned out to be baby Chad’s nearly severed leg hanging by sinew and a few ligaments. They cleared the mostly dead baby’s air passages of sludge and took him to a nearby shack farther up the valley wall to await it’s impending death.
Officials summoned Chad’s father from the mine to inform his him wife and daughter were dead and his only son would soon join them. The baby wasn’t breathing when his father stepped through the door and breathed his son’s name, “Kerry?”
At the sound of his father’s voice, Chad began to cry, the first noise he had made since the “cat’s cry”. Chad was taken to the closest hospital miles away where his leg was amazingly reattached. Chad’s survival earned him the local celebrity of the “Buffalo Creek Disaster Miracle Baby” which is still celebrated annually to this day. Chad’s father retired from the mine to raise the only surviving member of his family alone, never remarrying in the wake of his grief. It goes without saying that “Mr. Mom” is no small miracle in itself for a back country mountain coal miner from West Virginia. Chad eventually grew up to become a professional dancer follow his dream all the way to New York City where we met. He is probably dancing in a Broadway show bringing joy to untold masses even as I write this.
So you see, I have deeply personal, very real reasons for behavior which may seem to some as “extreme”. So I ask, what is more extreme: hanging a piece of cloth from a crane, or the above story and the myriad other detriments that come from coal, the techniques used to mine it, and institutions like Bank of America who continue to fund such physically and emotionally devastating ecocide?
When I was on that crane, about to go over the edge in the soft morning light, I said a prayer for safety and justice. “This is for Chad”, I prayed. “This is for Chad’s mom and big sister whom he never had the joy to know.” But most of all it truly was for every current resident of these communities and the victims who continue to suffer at the behest of greed and industry, for, sadly, stories like Chad’s are not uncommon. His is just one of millions that persist to this day. SO for anyone who still doesn’t understand why we engage these campaigns, I implore you to seek more truth and separate the facts from the fiction. Oh, and sorry about the delay on your way to work…
Jeremy: As a 3rd generation miner you should have a better understanding that coal towns were not built by coal, or even coal companies, but by the blood and sweat of miners. The vast majority of the wealth created in the process was removed from the communities entirely to corporate financial centers and coal barons and executives wallets. Currently around 80% of land in coal producing counties in WV is owned by individuals and corporations form outside the area. There is broad consensus among academics,journalists, and laypeople that mining regulation efforts have failed to prevent widespread degradation of environmental quality and human health in Appalachia (this also includes deep miners as seen by new Black Lung stats released by the NIH). Any “fines” incurred (which are rare and more than 3/4 of fines are reduced upon appeal) are insufficient to decontaminate local water, heal the sickend, or restore the economic potential of tourism, forestry (this is Bill Maxey form head of WV forestry argument and why he resigned in protest), and wind power could produce forever on those ridges.
Dieder and Laura: If you think that civil rights, women’s suffrage, or any social progress has occurred without trespassing, breaking laws, or inconveniencing people you don’t know history. Liberal politicians have never brought change of their own initiative (Kennedy opposed the march and rally at which MLK gave his most famous speech), it has always been people the people in the streets. Marches and protests also close streets, occupy public servants, and disrupt normal business patterns. Panels of experts do not communicate to the public, and are not generally a driving force of change by themselves.
It is not the people of Charlette who are affected by policies and investments of BoA in question here but the poor communities in Appalachia, and it is they who do not have to power to plead their case. BoA’s responsible investments do not excuse their immoral ones. I do not believe RAN intended to target the workers at BoA or has any hostility toward them. It is the executives and the clients of BoA who have the decision making influence. Although BoA undoubtably faces market pressures, renewable clean energy is another investment opportunity for that money. The question we must ask ourselves is whether our desire for cheap power, conveniences, or our own needs to provide for ourselves and our families justifies practices which deny health and security to others.
The relative expense of renewable clean energy is distorted by the external nature of many of the costs of coal and the unequal distribution of who pays those external costs in life and limb. http://www.mountainjusticesummer.org provides links to reports of violence. The nature of coalfield communities does not lend itself to formal documentation of all crimes (see extensive work by sociologist John Gaventa and others. Evidence also indicates the lower priced coal produced by environmental destructive mining methods places market pressures on underground mines to cut corner on health and safety in favor of competitive production.
It is a FACT that mountaintop removal cannot take place without extensive loans and financing. Therefore those who make the loans are materially involved and bear responsibility. BoA is under no obligation to continue funding coal, Wells Fargo dropped Massey Energy and so can they.