Local Environmental and Social Justice Groups Ask Smith-Barney, owned by Citibank, to Quit Investing in Dirty Coal Plants

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 13, 2007

Contact: Nancy LaPlaca, Energy Justice
Phone: 303-588-3937
www.energyjustice.net/coal/igcc
www.ran.org

WHO: Energy Justice, Rocky Mountain Peace and Justice, Rainforest Action
Network and others

WHAT: Request Citi-SmithBarney to Quit Investing in Coal

WHY: Because coal plants contribute to 40% of all CO2, and 66% of acid
rain

WHEN: Friday, November 16th at 11 a.m.

WHERE: Smith-Barney, 370 17th Street (corner Tremont and 17th)

Local Environmental and Social Justice Groups Ask Smith-Barney, owned by
Citibank, to Quit Investing in Dirty Coal Plants

A group of local environmental and social justice organizations called on
Smith-Barney representatives in Denver to quit funding new coal plants.
Both Standard & Poor's and Moody's have noted that coal plants are a risky
50-year investment in light of climate change.

Coal-fired power plants contribute 40% of all carbon dioxide (CO2), as well
as 66% of sulfur dioxides, which form acid rain, and 33% of all mercury.
The EPA estimates that at least one in 10 women of child-bearing age are at
risk for mercury poisoning.

Spokesperson Nancy LaPlaca stated that "we need to do more than just
increase renewable energy. We need to quit building coal plants."

"There's no such thing as "clean" coal," she continued, "it's a PR scam that
the coal industry wants people to believe. About a dozen so-called "clean"
coal plants have been cancelled in the U.S. this year, and the reason is
because they are hugely expensive, carbon sequestration is unproven on a
commercial scale, and it's a big risk. Do you want your family to live on
top of hundreds of millions - potentially billions - of tons of liquid CO2
stored underground?:

LaPlaca also pointed out that CO2 is heavier than air and can displace air
in large volumes. For example, in 1986 in Lake Nyos Cameroon, 1800 people
and 1100 head of cattle were instantly suffocated when CO2 erupted from a
volcanic lake. "Here in Colorado, we've already had seismic activity induced
by injected liquid waste from Rocky Mountain Arsenal beneath the Denver
basin."

In the 1960's, the U.S. Army Corps injected 165 million gallons of liquid
waste from Rocky Mountain Arsenal beneath the Denver basin, causing 1,500
seismic events between 1962 and 1967, three above Richter magnitude 5.

Cele Spink from the Indigenous Youth Sovereignty Project pointed out that
Peabody is destroying the water table on Navajo-Hopi lands, drawing down the
aquifer for the past 35 years.

"Apparently we've decided we're going in the wrong direction, and have
decided to respond by speeding up," said Carolyn Bninski from the Rocky
Mountain Peace and Justice Center. Carolyn also pointed out that the
International Energy Agency's chief economist Fatih Birol told TIME this
week "I am sorry to say this, but we are headed toward really bad days."

Public Service Company of Colorado (PSCo), a subsidiary of Xcel Energy, is
currently building a 750 MW pulverized coal plant in Pueblo, CO. "Comanche
3 will emit 6 million tons of CO2 each year, adding to Colorado's current
level of 118 million tons."

LaPlaca pointed out that a healthy economy requires a healthy ecosystem.
"According to the briefs filed by the Aspen Ski Company in the current U.S.
Supreme Court case Massachusetts v. EPA, snowpack declined 15-30% since the
1950s, and has declined by more than 50% in parts of the Cascade mountains."

The utility industry and coal companies have been legally pumping poisons
into the air for the past 30 years, and through a combination of legislative
access and lining the pockets of politicians have succeeded in delaying the
transition to a carbon-free economy. According to the IEA, green house
gases will increase 25% by 2030 if we don't begin to cut emissions now.