Good For Bank of America

Today, Bank of America announced it would begin phasing out financing of mountaintop removal operations in Appalachia. The bank is making the change after activists from Natural Resources Defense Council flew executives over coal mine sites and personally introduced them to local residents affected by mountaintop removal.

From Bank of America’s release:

Bank of America is particularly concerned about surface mining conducted through mountain top removal in locations such as central Appalachia. We therefore 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.