After the bad news about the Wise County Virginia plant being granted it’s permits and beginning construction that very same day - it sure was good to hear that not everyone has drunk the coal kool-aid. Yesterday Fulton County Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore overturned a ruling that allowed the construction of the $2 billion Longleaf Energy Plant, which would become Georgia’s first new coal-fired plant in more than two decades.

The decision marks the first time that a judge has applied a U.S. Supreme Court finding that carbon dioxide is a pollutant to emissions from an industrial source.

I’m guessing that Dynegy’s bankers (Citi and Bank of America to name just two) aren’t feeling particularly proud of their investment decisions today. How many coal plants need to be canceled or stalled before the financial sector wakes up to the fact that investing in coal power is not bad for the climate, but bad for their pocketbooks too?

Environmental activists from six states -Michigan, Nevada, Georgia, Texas, Iowa, and Illinois - converged today to urge the Houston-based Dynegy corporation to halt construction on its six proposed coal plants.

Outside the meeting 100 activists rallied to speak truth to Dynegy’s power.

40 activists from Georgia, Texas and Alabama staged a “die-in” inside the Westin where the meeting was being held. They held space until police and security got them out of the building.

Video here
More pix here

From their press release:

“Coal is a ticking time bomb for investors and the climate. From the destruction of Appalachian mountaintops to the millions of tons of carbon dioxide, mercury and other toxic pollutants emitted from power plants, coal plants are the country’s top source of global warming and mercury pollution. Yet Houston-based Dynegy plans to build six new coal-fired plants—more than any other company in the country.”

For the past year, thousands of activists across the country and organizations including Rainforest Action Network, Rising Tide North America, Coal River Mountain Watch, Appalachian Voices, Mountain Justice Summer, SEAC , Energy Justice Network, Blue Ridge Earth First!, and many more have joined together to pressure Bank of America to stop funding coal. From financing mountain-top removal minining, to investing in new coal-fired power plants, Bank of America is financing the destruction of our climate and communities - and no amount of green PR and marketing will change this fact.

From hundreds of rallies and protests at bank branches; guerilla theater closing ATM’s; shareholder resolutions, confronting bank executives, and direct action at their offices, Bank of America is feeling the pressure to rethink their investment policies! Come join us at Bank of America’s annual shareholder meeting this month - and make sure every one of their executives, board members, and shareholders hear our demands for a just, sustainable future!

Please help promote this call to action, and organize your community to join us in Charlotte April 23rd!

Fore more info, visit www.dirtymoney.org or contact mleonard@ran.org

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Or at least that was the question on the mind of Fortune Magazine’s Marc Gunther, in his “Black, White or Green?” blog post yesterday. On the same day as we awarded Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis the Fossil Fool of the Year award for being a lead financier of new coal-fired powerplants and mountaintop removal, he was in NY to accept an award from NRDC for the Bank’s new “green” skyscraper and their $20 billion commitment to renewable energy. The coincidence compelled Gunther to ask: “So is the Bank of America an environmental hero? A villain? Both? Or neither?”

As corporations and financial institutions begin to respond to the demand for action on climate change, it seems we are always in a state of wondering where a company stands on the green line. How can we tell with Bank of America? Well, just as Bank of America measures their bottom-line with ones and zeros, we’re measuring their environmental impact by where their money is. As of 2006, every $1 Bank of America invested in renewable energy was matched by another $100 spent on dirty energy. To use an appropriate cliché, perhaps its time they put their money where their mouth is.

Check out this video from yesterday’s ‘Billionaires for Dirty Energy’ action. More than 30 people donned their Billionaire best and blockaded the main entrance at Citi’s NYC headquarters. I guess even those more interested in money than climate change feel coal is just too risky.