If you’ve been feeling concerned, even despairing, about the slowness of efforts to reverse the causes of climate change by governments and corporations, there are actions that we as individuals can take to have an impact.

One thing we can do is pay attention to where we bank and invest our money. Wells Fargo Bank is one of the largest fossil fuel investors in the U.S. This corporation is poised to fund the bonding of the Uinta Basin rail project originating in Utah. If approved by the U.S. Department of Transportation, the proposed railway and trains would carry waxy crude oil through a roadless area in the Ashley National Forest, 100 miles along the Colorado River, along the path of Denver’s water source, through hundreds of communities, all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. These trains could be more than a mile long, with five trains running each day. We have seen in East Palestine, Ohio, how damaging train derailments can be to communities and the environment. With this kind of rail traffic through mountainous terrain, it’s not a question of whether a derailment would occur, but when.

Rainforest Action Network research shows that Wells Fargo was the world’s second-worst banker of fossil fuels between 2016 and 2019, and the worst banker of fracking between 2016 and the end of August 2020. Wells Fargo also has the weakest policies on coal among the major U.S. banks. Wells Fargo has a responsibility to stop pushing us further into climate chaos, by immediately ending support for fossil fuel expansion. The publication Bloomberg has stated that, from a profit and loss standpoint, industry executives now have proof they can make money participating in the transition away from fossil fuels. 

On Tuesday, March 21, the organization Third Act will gather people together across the country to demonstrate against the banks that continue to fund fossil fuel development and climate change. Join them in spirit by contacting Wells Fargo corporate headquarters. Let them know you are opposed to their irresponsible investments in fossil fuel development. This is especially effective if you are a Wells Fargo customer — pass the message on to your local banker.

Contact Wells Fargo Bank on Twitter or Facebook. Send an email to boardcommunications@wellsfargo.com or send a letter to Wells Fargo, 420 Montgomery St., San Francisco, CA 94104-1207.

Diane Brower

Steamboat Springs