Quakers have PNC AFRAID!

How curious that a Big Bank is afraid of Quakers!

A group of Quaker peace activists have one of Wall Street's dirtiest banks running scared.

The Quakers have been leading a campaign to force one of America's Big Five banks, PNC, to pull its billions from one of the most destructive forms of coal mining. The bank is funding big mining corporations to literally blow apart whole mountains to get at the coal buried inside.

And the campaign is working. With tens of thousands of SumOfUs members also calling on the bank to stop its environmental destruction, it's feeling the pressure. Last year, the bank's CEO ended the company's annual shareholder meeting after just 15 minutes to prevent the Quakers from speaking out.

So guess what the bank's CEO just did? He moved this year's shareholder meeting to the other side of the United States, hoping it will keep the Quakers away.

But he didn't count on us. The meeting is just 2 weeks away, but we're teaming up with the Quakers to organize local SumOfUs members to speak out at the meeting. But we also need to make sure that we can get the Quakers to the meeting to tell their story.

Can you chip in $1 to help fly the Quaker peace activists to the meeting to speak out again destructive coal mining?

The mining that PNC is funding is truly horrific. In a desperate rush to squeeze more profit out of dwindling coal seams, coal companies are turning to an extreme form of mining known as mountaintop removal. It’s exactly what it sounds like: Appalachian mountains are being blown to pieces with heavy explosives.

It’s not just wild forests and mountains that are being destroyed. As heavy metals and arsenic leach into water supplies, communities are being poisoned. Children in Appalachian coal mining communities are 42% more likely to be born with birth defects and have a life expectancy that is almost 5 years lower than the national average.

PNC says it’s “a leader in eco-friendly development” but it’s financing some of the worst perpetrators of mountaintop removal and profiting from the destruction.

In 2010, PNC responded to pressure by introducing a policy of not providing funding to individual mountaintop removal projects, or providing credit to coal producers whose primary extraction method is mountaintop removal. And yet, in 2011, PNC provided loans for 4 of the 5 largest coal companies. These 4 companies account for 47% of all mountaintop removal coal mining. The policy amounted to nothing.

But we know that PNC care what the public thinks of it. And we know that the will is there to change. Last April, a quarter of PNC shareholders voted in favour of a proposal calling on PNC to evaluate its financial risk of funding carbon intensive practices such as coal mining. In terms of shareholder activism, that is huge. If we put enough pressure on PNC to divest from mountaintop removal mining projects, we could have a tremendous impact on the communities and landscapes of Appalachia. But to do that, we need to make sure we can get the Quaker peace activists to the shareholder meeting to speak directly to the shareholders who will vote.

Can you chip in $1 to fly the Quakers to the meeting, and organize SumOfUs members to stop mountaintop removal mining?

Thanks for all you do,

Paul, Martin and the rest of us.