Don't Allow Peabody Coal to Destroy Our Democracy & Environment

Greg Boyce. CEO, Peabody Coal

From the hills and hollers of Appalachia to the streets of St. Louis, the forests of southern Illinois and Big Mountain on the Dine Reservation in the southwest, Peabody Coal has long exploited the earth and those living on it.

This year marks the 40th year of Indigenous resistance by the Diné (Navajo) communities of Big Mountain and Black Mesa, Arizona to forced relocation off of ancestral homelands due to Peabody Coal’s massive strip mining. The effects of the relocation meet all the criteria of the UN’s internationally recognized definition of cultural genocide.

In Rocky Branch, Illinois, the Justice for Rocky Branch campaign is fighting Peabody’s recent attempts to expand a large strip mine and take over Rocky Branch road as a mining road. The Justice for Rocky Branch campaign is using lawsuits, lobbying, and direct action to preserve and protect their rural community. Peabody has used intimidation to push some of the local community off their farmland. From Black Mesa to Rocky Branch, we demand not one more relocation at the hands of Peabody Coal.

In St. Louis, where the company is headquartered, Peabody recently sued to keep the citizen-driven Take Back St. Louis initiative off the local ballot. The initiative would have corrected the city’s policy of giving Peabody tax breaks, like the $61 million of purchases Peabody got tax-free in 2010 that diverted $2 million away from the unaccredited St. Louis Public Schools.

Peabody is also working hard to subvert our democracy through its leadership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a corporate legislative group, that is working aggressively to pass anti-immigrant, anti-democracy, anti-environment and anti-union legislation, as well as laws that target people of color like the infamous ‘Stand Your Ground’ legislation and Voter ID requirements. Even as most corporations drop ALEC due to increased public scrutiny, Peabody is holding strong and showing its true colors.

And of course, as the world’s largest private-sector coal company, a coal company that denies global warming while building exports to China, a company that claims to work to solve “energy poverty” while clearly showing no regard for low-income and marginalized communities, we are fighting Peabody’s role in causing the climate crisis. Peabody is responsible for 0.86% of historical carbon dioxide emissions.

Washington University Students Against Peabody have highlighted calls to action and are currently working to get the CEO of Peabody Greg Boyce removed from their Board of Trustees. Students are also demanding their Chancellor change the change of the Peabody-funded Consortium for “Clean Coal” Utilization and visit our communities, so that he understands how coal can never be “clean.”

It’s now time to unite and escalate our resistance to the world’s largest coal company.

We're calling on Peabody CEO Greg Boyce to stop destroying our communities, democracy and climate.

Tell Greg Boyce, CEO of Peabody Coal: Don't Destroy Our Environment & Democracy!

For more info, check out: http://stoppeabody.wordpress.com/

To: Greg Boyce. CEO, Peabody Coal
From: [Your Name]

Peabody Coal has long exploited, poisoned and destroyed communities from Arizona to Appalachia and beyond. Your mining operations have used intimidation and forcefully removed people from their homes. Your mining operations have wrecked eco-systems and contribute to continued climate disruption.

Peabody Coal undermines our democracy with lawsuits to keep the citizen-driven Take Back St. Louis initiative off a local ballot. The initiative would have corrected the city’s policy of giving your company tax breaks, like the $61 million of purchases Peabody got tax-free in 2010 that diverted $2 million away from the unaccredited St. Louis Public Schools.

Peabody Coal also supports the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a corporate legislative group, that is works aggressively to pass racist, anti-immigrant, anti-democracy, anti-environment and anti-union legislation.

We believe that the time is right and overdue for an escalated campaign to confront Peabody Coal, for its continued disregard for local communities, democracy and our climate.

We're starting by telling you, Greg Boyce, Don't Destroy Our Environment & Democracy!