In light of the crappy news from the EPA, which seems ready to make mountaintop removal coal mining easier by loosening restrictions on burying Appalachian streams with mining rubble (when’s the “protection” part of this agency going to speak up?), there’s this bit of hope in NRDC’s blog about Bank of America, which just revised its “coal policy” [PDF] after some execs visited the region and did some flights over the affected areas.
The policy says in part that it will "phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal. While we acknowledge that surface mining is economically efficient and creates jobs, it can be conducted in a way that minimizes environmental impacts in certain geographies."
That NRDC seems to take an inordinate amount of credit for this is not too surprising, as it’s in their blog, and they do acknowledge Rainforest Action Network, but the author ignores the enormous groundswell of grassroots energy that has done just as much to force BofA’s hand, including Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition, which has been sending people to BofA shareholder meetings and was part of the BofA visits, Coal River Mountain Watch, Mountain Justice Summer, Christians for the Mountains, Appalachian Voices, and dozens of others. Well done, all. Another tiny nail in the coffin of MTR …
