Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Rising Tide Boston to Bank of America: We’re still breaking up with you.

While it's important to celebrate our victories, and keep a positive momentum, we know that the fight is far from over. Bank of America's new "coal policy" is nothing more than a PR ploy, and we must not be distracted.

A message, from the core of Rising Tide Boston:

Rising Tide Boston not fooled by Bank of America's "Coal Policy"; plans to break up with them this Valentine's Day

Contact: info@risingtideboston.org

Rising Tide Boston wishes to announce that the group will continue its part in the widespread campaign to pressure Bank of America to drop its involvement with the coal industry, despite the bank's recent release of a new "Coal Policy". We view this so-called policy as a PR gimmick intended to distract the public from Bank of America's ongoing funding of the coal industry. Bank of America's Coal Policy fails to commit to a timeline or any concrete action to halt their financing of mountain top removal coal mining, and the alternatives the bank pledges to support are not solutions at all.

Bank of America claims that they will "phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal." Without having any sort of schedule, there is no way to know that Bank of America actually intends to follow through on their stated plan. If the bank's intention is a "phase out" over a number of years, what does that mean for places being bombed or covered in toxic sludge every day? If and when Bank of America does drop companies like Massey Energy, we hope they would extend this action to all companies wreaking havoc on ecosystems and coalfield communities through strip mining.

Bank of America says that they will promote technologies that "capture carbon from fossil fuel plants and then sequester that carbon in geologic reservoirs," which is also problematic. At a period in history when climate-related disasters have become a reality for communities around the globe, there is no longer any time for putting our hopes in pie-in-the-sky solutions like carbon capture and storage. CCS technology will not be available to implement on a large scale for years, and with unnatural disasters increasing in frequency and intensity, we need to drastically cut our consumption - not wait for technological quick fixes.

Somebody should let Bank of America know that a completely free and reliable form of carbon capture and storage already exists! It's produced by two powerful forces: biological (capturing carbon in the form of living organisms) and geological (transforming carbon into a very stable form underground and inside of mountains). It's called coal. If Bank of America wants to demonstrate their commitment to carbon storage, we recommend that they promote the practice of leaving fossil fuels inside the Earth where they belong.

Rising Tide Boston also wishes to remind Bank of America that our concerns are not limited to "the environment" and that throwing us a bone like the "Coal Policy" won't distract us from the bank's practice of evicting our neighbors who have been hit hard by predatory lending and the mortgage crisis. Perhaps when we've heard conclusively from coalfield residents that strip-mining has stopped, when people stop being evicted from their homes across the U.S., and when Bank of America stops making a profit off industries that create climate chaos, we'll "phase out" our campaign against them. In the meantime, we'll be promoting February 14, 2009 (Valentine's Day) as a major day of Bank of America account closures. Along with organizations resisting the current wave of evictions, Rising Tide Boston invites anyone who cares about a habitable planet and a livable community to join us in dumping Bank of America this Valentine's Day. For more information about Rising Tide Boston, please visit: www.risingtideboston.org. Stay tuned for updates about February 14th.

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