May 6 Day of Action Against Chase’s Mountaintop Removal Investments

May 6 Day of Action Against Chase’s Mountaintop Removal Investments

Join Rainforest Action Network and allies all over Appalachia and the country in stopping Chase’s investments in mountaintop removal.

WHAT: Chase: Stop Funding MTR; Day of Action against Chase’s Mountaintop Removal Investments
WHERE: Your Town USA
WHEN; May 6, 2010
CONTACT: dirtymoney@ran.org or 1-800-989-RAIN
INFO: www.dirtymoney.org

Did you pledge to end mountaintop removal?  Want to do more than click a link and send an email?  Now’s your chance!

Join Rainforest Action Network, Coal River Mountain Watch, Climate Ground Zero, Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, Waterkeeper Alliance, Reverend Billy and the Church of Life After Shopping, United Mountain Defense, Rising Tide North America, Mountain Justice and people all over the country as we send a message to JP Morgan Chase to stop financing mountaintop removal!

We’re organizing actions on campuses, in the streets and out in front of Chase’s branches and offices around the country.  From the hills and hollers of Appalachia to the great cities of San Francisco, New York and Chicago to the towns and neighborhoods where people are pledging to end mountaintop removal, this campaign will send a loud and clear message to Chase—Stop Funding Mountaintop Removal!

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.  Mountaintop removal involves literally blowing the tops off historic Appalachian Mountains to extract a relatively small amount of dirty 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 largest US financier of mountaintop removal coal mining.   According to Bloomberg, in the last two years Chase has financed some of the top corporate producers of mountaintop removal coal. These companies include Massey Energy – the largest mountaintop removal coal producer in Central Appalachia, and Arch Coal – operators of Spruce Mine in West Virginia. The environmental impacts of the Spruce mine are so severe that the EPA is moving to close it down. Imagine if JPMorgan Chase took this money and invested it in renewable energy alternatives!

If you want to end mountaintop removal than this is your chance to get involved in a campaign to stand in solidarity with the people of Appalachia and end mountaintop removal once and for all.  Sign up for an action by contacting Rainforest Action Network at  dirtymoney@ran.org or 1-800-989-RAIN.

See you in the streets!