Students protest Bank of America

By Anne Dreyfuss, contributing writer
Posted on November 19, 2007

Approximately 30 JMU students and local activists demonstrated outside the Bank of America branch in Court Square Friday evening, accusing Bank of America of business practices that support environmentally damaging strip mining.

“Stop Bank of America from funding dirty coal!” chanted the protesters, bundled in scarves and gloves in the late November chill. The bank remained open during the protest.

The protesters, composed mostly of members of EARTH club, held banners with phrases including “coal kills,” and “invest in clean energy instead.”

“We are protesting Bank of America because a lot of their investments are funding coal companies,” said JMU alumnus Justin Dusold. “Bank of America is invested in mountaintop removal in West Virginia and Southwest Virginia. Mountaintop removal is a dirty and devastating practice. ‘’

A Bank of America spokesman, Ernesto Anguilla, countered that the corporation is committed to helping to develop clean energy.

“In 2004 Bank of America set a goal of reducing green house gas emissions among our clients by seven percent by 2008 and we’re on track to meet that goal,” he said. 

Anguilla said Bank of America did not think the environmental activism was productive.

“This challenge requires us all to come together for a solution,” he said.

Anguilla also said more than 50 percent of U.S. electricity comes from coal:  “That is an economic reality.’”        

Mountaintop removal can involve removing 500 feet or more of a summit to get at buried seams of coal.  The earth removed is then dumped in the neighboring valleys.

Dusold and sophomore Melanie Avery took the statement a step further by terminating their account with Bank of America during the protest.

“The manager of the bank was really receptive to the two of us who cancelled our accounts,” Dusold said.

He said the manager kindly accepted letters addressed to Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of America, which explained why they canceled their accounts.

However, Nathan Blackwell, a local engineer, was opposed to the protest, describing it as “just ignorance.’’

“It’s just not knowing how things work,’’ Blackwell said. “If they shut down the coal companies, then the people who live in that area will be forced into unemployment. People will be more impoverished than they are now.’’

The protest was part of a national day of action against coal finance called for by the Rainforest Action Network, an environmental group.