New Haven Independent

Environmentalist and residents of Appalachia, where this practice is now widespread, have opposed this particular form of surface mining for years. The process involves huge machines literally bite off the tops of mountains to get at the coal seams underneath, dumping the resultant rock and debris in valleys below. The process redesigns the terrain, often burying streams. In December the Bush administration issued regulations allowing the practice to continue.

The protesters have been showing up regularly on Fridays to make their case.

Ethan Drozd (pictured), a student at Southern Connecticut State University, said protesters at first decided to wear business attire in an effort to be taken seriously by the customers. They wanted to communicate a message about getting banks to divest of their financial support for companies conducting mountaintop removal coal mining.

But “everybody just ignored us. We think it’s because they thought we were bank employees passing out more stuff,” he said. “So now we just wear the clothes we wear all the time, and people end up talking to us more, because they understand we don’t work for the bank. So wearing ties was actually an error.”

The national movement declared at least a partial victory in December when Bank of America released a statement that it “will phase out financing of companies whose predominant method of extracting coal is through mountain top removal.” Drozd said the situation with BoA is “complicated,” and it’s not clear-cut what exactly it will and won’t do in this regard.

Nevertheless his (unnamed) group decided to move on to Citi. They flyer reads, “Coal is a Monstro-citi.” It details the bank’s support for companies that have ripped up the land, buried streams, and created huge toxic waste sludge ponds. The other side of the flyer focuses on the complicity of coal in climate change. (Click here to read a brochure for the national campaign put out by Rainforest Action Network, with suggestions for action.)

Local bank officials said they were not allowed to comment on the protest. They referred questionsr to Liz Fogarty, Citi vice president for public affairs at the bank’s main office in New York City, who emailed this response:

“Citi, together with its clients, environmental organizations and other stakeholders, is taking a responsible and strong leadership position on climate change and is on record as supporting comprehensive efforts to move forward on the complicated issue of climate change; moreover, we have targeted $50 billion - more than any other institution — over the next 10 years for climate-positive efforts; we have committed to reducing the carbon emissions of our own operations by 10 percent by 2011 — including acquisitions; and we are investing in renewable energy and clean technology enterprises, and engaging with our clients on their carbon reduction efforts. Recently, Citi was recognized as a leading global bank by the Carbon Disclosure Project, a coalition of global investors with more than $41 trillion in assets.”

Drozd responded to the statement this way: “Corporations have a tendency to give rosy statements that lead everyone to believe things are getting better, [but] they omitted the main point of the campaign against them. I see no reason to trust them or any other bank. We’ll be out in front of Citibank on Friday and for the foreseeable future.”

Click here for a radio interview Melinda Tuhus conducted in 2007 with a leader of Coal River Mountain Watch. Click here for the transcription.