On Friday June 1, 2012 the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club closed its account with PNC Bank because its investment and lending practices were inconsistent with our values. 

PNC is one of the largest financers of companies that practice mountaintop removal coal mining in the nation.  By closing our account with PNC Bank, the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club prioritizes our environment, our communities, our public health and our future. 

In Delaware, half of our electricity supply comes from coal.  Mountaintop removal coal mining constitutes a major source of coal for electricity generation in the United States, electricity that we use every day.  Mountaintop removal coal mining is a particularly destructive mining practice that removes the tops of entire mountains to access seams of coal.  In the process, mountaintop removal coal mining displaces communities, destroys ecosystems, contaminates surface and groundwater, and has created a public health crisis in Appalachia.  More than 450 mountains and summits in Appalachia have already been destroyed by mountaintop removal coal mining, primarily in the states of Virginia, West Virginia, Kentucky and Tennessee.

In this initiative to use a company’s environmental record in its decision of where to bank, the Delaware Chapter of the Sierra Club joins other environmental organizations, including the Philadelphia-based Earth Quaker Action Team and the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club, that have also made the pledge to close their accounts with PNC Bank if its leadership fails to adopt a corporate policy that forbids investing in companies that conduct mountaintop removal coal mining.