The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that Wells Fargo, a West Coast bank, has joined the ranks of several other big firms that have decided to limit or stop funding mountaintop removal coal mining projects.  It says pressure on the bank came from an unlikely source, the Rain Forest Action Network, which lobbied the bank for years.  JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America have also published policies that say they’re reducing ties with MTR projects, or submitting them to more scrutiny.

Pittsburgh-based PNC bank, as well as the Swiss firm UBS, have not made any such announcements, and still finance related projects.

It’s not yet clear what effect this drying up of funding will have on the mining industry.

- by Kristin Espeland Gourlay