For Immediate Release

Bank of Coal

Wednesday, May 2

CONTACTS

Kerul Dyer, 415.866.0005

Nell Greenberg, 510.847.9777

Rainforest Action Network Renames Bank of America Stadium – “Bank of Coal”

Four Advocates Unfurl 70-Foot Banner Atop Bank Branded Stadium

CHARLOTTE, NC (5.2.2012)—The much-politicized Bank of America stadium received a facelift today when five people with Rainforest Action Network skillfully unfurled a70-foot by 25-foot banner off the top of the building, rebranding the stadium the “Bank of Coal.” Just days before the bank’s annual shareholder meeting, the act was intended to call attention to the bank’s role as the leading financier of the coal industry, one of the main concerns for bank critics.

The advocates, all trained climbers with safety gear, hung from the outside of the stadium more than 100-feet above the ground.

In the past two years alone, Bank of America has pumped $6.74 billion into the U.S. coal industry according to Bloomberg data. The Bank of America Stadium is where President Obama will accept the Democratic Party’s nomination to a second term in early September, and, to many, symbolizes the cozy relationship between banks and government highlighted throughout the Occupy protests.

“Today, Rainforest Action Network has taken our message to extraordinary heights because the risk that coal poses to our health and our climate is nothing less than extraordinary. It’s past time Bank of America take a leadership role in transitioning our economy away from this dangerous and outdated industry,” said Todd Zimmer, a lifelong Charlotte resident and organizer with Rainforest Action Network.

Today’s action kicks off a week of events leading up to Bank of America’s annual shareholder meeting on May 9 where organizers predict more than 1,000 people plan to protest the company.

Not only is coal burning responsible for one third of U.S. carbon emissions — the maincontributor to climate change — but it is also a major public health risk. In 2012, one in every four children living in Charlotte will develop asthma or other respiratory problems, while 3,000 North Carolinians die prematurely every year, all due to air pollution.

There are four coal plants in the Charlotte area. Duke’s Riverbend plant, which Bank of America finances, is within 12 miles of Uptown Charlotte.

“Bank of America is the ATM for a dirty industry that is bad for health and bad for business,” said Amanda Starbuck, Director of Rainforest Action Network’s Energy and FinanceProgram. “If Bank of America would like to regain the trust of the 99 percent, it must adopt sound economic and environmental policies that reflect the values of its customers. Bank of America can start by getting out of bed with the coal industry, and shifting its funding toward renewable energy sources that will have long term benefits for our environment, our health and our economy.”

Nationally, coal pollution is responsible for 13,000 premature deaths every year, more than $100 billion in annual health costs and more than 200,000 asthma attacks annually. Pollution from coal-fired power plants leads to smog, which can cause chestpain, coughing, and breathing difficulties and can make conditions like bronchitis, emphysema, and asthma worse or even fatal. Today two out of every five U.S. families live in places with unsafe air.

Yesterday, RAN released its third annual Coal Finance Report Card, which ranks the largest financiers of mountaintop removal coal mining and coal-fired power plants. Bank of America received a failing grade for its weak coal policy and considerable exposure to the industry. Bank of America funds every sector of the U.S. coal industry, including companies operating controversial mountaintop removal coal mining and those planning to build out coal exportterminals along the Pacific Northwest coastline.

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Rainforest Action Network runs hard-hitting campaigns to break North America’s fossil fuels addiction, protect endangered forests and Indigenous rights, and stop destructive investments around the world through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action. For more information, please visit: www.ran.org

Bank of America and Charlotte use “extraordinary event” order to suppress May 9 shareholder protest 

Magic markers declared illegal; briefcases and private papers subject to search

(Charlotte, NC) The 99% Power Coalition, which is planning a massive protest at Bank of America’s shareholders’ meeting on May 9, said that the City of Charlotte’s designation of the meeting as an “extraordinary event” would not deter or intimidate people from attending the event.

A new city ordinance lists a series of items that are grounds for arrest at an extraordinary event, some of which are absurd, such as permanent markers. In addition, the extraordinary event designation gives police broad powers to search backpacks, coolers, and briefcases of people going about their business on the street.

“Invoking this draconian law is another example of our democracy being sold to the highest bidder. The City of Charlotte is protecting Bank of America’s bottom line. The Constitution and everyday people be damned,” said Julie Morgan, a local leader with Action NC.

The 99% Power Coalition is coming to BOA to demand the bank keep people in their homes, pay its fair share of taxes, cease its role as the largest funder of dirty coal energy projects in the U.S. and prioritize funding renewable energy projects, and keep corporate money out of the 2012 and future elections. The right to assemble and express these views is protected by the U.S. and North Carolina constitutions.

“The one thing they got right is that this event will be extraordinary — extraordinarily peaceful and powerful,” said Marcella Robinson, a local resident facing foreclosure and Executive Director of Mortgage Fraud North Carolina. “Bank of America does not need to be afraid of our magic markers or our stories.”

An open letter from the Civil Rights Clinic at Charlotte School of Law to the City of Charlotte on January 20, 2012, when the extraordinary event ordinance was under consideration, stated:

Picketing and protesting … are rigorously protected First Amendment rights, and courts examine any restrictions on them with the most stringent level of scrutiny. Any restrictions are only valid provided “they are justified without reference to the content of the regulated speech, that they are narrowly tailored to serve a significant governmental interest, and that they leave open ample alternative channels for communication of the information.” Courts are suspicious of overbroad or vague laws, created under the guise of public safety concerns, which actually target a group of political dissidents.

The announcement of the designation of the BOA shareholders’ meeting as an extraordinary event comes on the eve of May 1, a day when 99 percenters across the country are standing up for human rights and confronting abuses of corporate power. The announcement has created more interest in traveling to Charlotte for BOA’s meeting on May 9, rather than intimidating or scaring people.

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99% Power is a broad coalition that includes workers and retirees, families fighting foreclosure and the unemployed, students, immigrants and environmentalists. For more information, please visit http://www.the99power.org/

For Immediate Release: April 18, 2012
Contact: Rafael Noboa y Rivera, raf@fitzgibbonmedia.com, (202) 455-4673

Movement Targets Shareholder Meetings and Other Actions in Fight for Economic Equality

With actions this week and next, 99% Power is launching a massive national campaign holding corporate America accountable. 99% Power is targeting specific corporations, at their shareholder meetings as well as other events, with the goal to create an economy that works for all.

Over the next few days, 99% Power will be active in San Francisco focusing on WalMart and Wells Fargo and in Detroit for GE, with the 1% squarely in their sights. A campaign of civil action, both large and small, is in motion. Among the actions planned are public rallies where specific corporations will be holding their annual shareholder meetings, as well as highly-directed actions in concert with those rallies and meetings.

“More and more people are acknowledging that the change we need won’t come from Washington, abusive corporations, or bailed out banks,” said Sarita Gupta, Executive Director of Jobs with Justice. “This spring, the 99% is uniting to learn the lessons of history, and confront the people responsible for standing in the way of change.”

“This spring, Americans from all walks of life will come together around a shared vision of a new bottom line that includes the health and well-being of workers, communities and the environment,” said George Goehl, executive director of National People’s Action and co-founder of The New Bottom Line. “Under the broad banner of 99% Power, thousands of people will engage in mobilizations and nonviolent direct action leading up to and at the shareholder meetings of dozens of corporations. There is no road to a fair economy and true democracy that does not include going toe to toe with abusive corporations.”

“The task of our time is to reign in the unchecked corporate power undermining the health of our country and our environment,” said Rainforest Action Network’s executive director Rebecca Tarbotton. “What if our government worked not for the highest corporate bidder but for the highest interests of its people and the planet? That is the promise and potential the 99% Power is fighting for. Our demands for economic and ecological sanity are not only reasonable they are essential and they are popular.”

Among the many things 99% Power seeks to accomplish in their actions are:

• Corporations funding their fair share in taxes;
• Corporations funding the future — not pillaging it;
• Corporations creating, instead of killing, good jobs in our communities;
• Restore our homes to rebuild our communities and resetting the economy;
• Getting corporate money out of our democracy.

Details of the actions planned are below. For more information, contact Rafael Noboa y Rivera at raf@fitzgibbonmedia.com or (202) 455-4673

April 19: Gala for the 99%, Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, 5 PM PST

Members of the 99% will hold a picnic-style “People’s Gala” in contrast to the obscenely opulent 1% Gala taking place inside the Academy of Sciences, featuring members of the Walton family. Speakers will tell the stories of what they’ve “donated” to the Waltons’ wealth.

Meanwhile, across America, people will target the Facebook page of “Govern for California” with similar messaging. “Govern for California” is a political organization dedicated to extending the iron grip of the 1% on our economy and democracy.

April 24: The 99% Take Over the Wells Fargo Shareholder Meeting, San Francisco, CA, 10 AM to 5 PM PST

The 99% takeover of the Wells Fargo meeting will take place in three waves:

1. Outside: the first wave of protestors will participate in non-violent direct action with the goal of preventing the shareholder’s meeting from taking place and demanding that Wells Fargo move their meeting outside for a public “stakeholder’s meeting” to face the families and communities their policies are impacting
2. Democratic Participation: In the event that protestors on the outside are unsuccessful at preventing the meeting from happening, shareholders plan a second wave of participating inside the meeting to demand their voices be heard
3. People’s Stakeholder Meeting: Outside of the meeting, thousand of stakeholder’s will organize a rally where speaker will demand the Wells Fargo cedes to the demands of the 99%

April 25: GE Shareholder meeting, Detroit, MI, 8 AM to 2 PM EST

Members of the 99% will travel from all over the country to the GE shareholder meeting in Detroit, MI, to tell the tax-dodging corporation that it’s time for GE to pay its fair share.

On Wednesday, April 25, thousands will converge on the 10 a.m. meeting at the Renaissance Center. Teachers, secretaries, GE retirees, and unemployed workers will demand an end to GE’s tax-dodging and job-killing.

We’ve already been shining a light on GE’s bad practices in cities across the country. 99% delegations delivered a message of corporate responsibility to GE board members in Chicago, Boston, New York City, Ithaca, and elsewhere.

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99% Power is a coalition that includes workers and retirees, families fighting foreclosure and the unemployed, students, immigrants and environmentalists. You can learn more about the coalition and the mobilizations here: www.the99power.org