350 Milwaukee, Casa Maria Catholic Worker: Climate protests held ... - WisPolitics.com

350 Milwaukee, Casa Maria Catholic Worker: Climate protests held in three banks in Wisconsin - WisPolitics

Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, October 14 – On Saturday, October 14, climate activists held peaceful sit-ins at three Chase banks in Wisconsin – two in Madison and one in Milwaukee. Ranging in age from 22 to 82 years old, ten activists occupied branches of Chase Bank in downtown Madison and on Madison’s west side. Others were outside the banks, calling on JP Morgan Chase to stop financing pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure projects. At the same time, activists from 350 Milwaukee and Casa Maria Catholic Worker gathered inside and outside the Chase Bank on West Morgan Avenue in Milwaukee, demanding an end to Chase funding of climate chaos. Police removed the activists in all three branches, issuing formal citations to 5 activists in Madison and 1 activist in Milwaukee.

The extreme weather events occurring in so many places this summer motivated people to join the actions inside and outside the banks. “Burning fossil fuels is a major cause of this emerging climate chaos,” said the activists in a letter delivered to Chase Bank management, “Therefore, we call on JP Morgan Chase to phase out support of the fossil fuel industry and stop funding the expansion of fossil fuel infrastructure projects.”

“We are especially outraged by Chase’s loans to Enbridge,” added Chuck Schobert, a leader of the sit-in of the downtown Chase Bank. “With its Line 5 pipeline, Enbridge is trespassing on the Bad River Reservation and threatening the waters of Bad River and Lake Superior, as well as the Straits of Mackinac, Lake Michigan and Lake Huron.”

U.S. District Judge Conley recently ruled that Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge has been illegally trespassing on the Bad River Reservation of Lake Superior Chippewa in northern Wisconsin. The company operates 12 miles of oil pipeline on the Reservation despite the pipeline easement expiring in 2013. JP Morgan Chase, the number one funder of fossil fuel projects and infrastructure, continues loaning money to Enbridge, providing financing of $899 million in 2022.

Five people entered Chase bank at 22 East Mifflin Street at 10:30 am, offering prayer, poems, and concerns about Chase’s financing of Enbridge’s Line 5 and the rapidly warming planet. Another five people entered Chase Bank at 602 North High Point road in Madison at the same time. Bank managers closed both banks to customers and called in the Madison police minutes after the sit-in began. The two Madison banks were closed for an hour each, with police citations issued to five of the ten sit-in participants. A third sit-in occurred at the same time in Milwaukee. That branch remained open during the sit-in, and 1 nonviolent activist was taken to the police station before being released with a formal citation.

Outside all three banks, supporters held rallies calling for an end to JP Morgan Chase’s funding of fossil fuel infrastructure projects and the climate crisis. The rally held outside Madison’s downtown branch, opposite during the Dane County Farmers Market, had colorful banners and a large leaking “pipeline” to draw attention to how the 70-year-old Line 5 pipeline threatens to contaminate the Great Lakes. The protestors called on Chase to phase out support of the fossil fuel industry and stop funding pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure projects.

JP Morgan Chase has provided $434.1 billion in financing to the fossil fuel industry from 2016 through 2022, making the bank the largest funder of fossil fuel projects globally. Chase provides financing for the controversial Mountain Valley Pipeline, which, if completed, would add the equivalent in annual greenhouse emissions of 23 coal-fired plants or 19 million vehicles.

Of particular concern to Wisconsinites is the bank’s lending to Canadian pipeline company Enbridge; JP Morgan Chase has provided more than $4.1 billion in financing to Enbridge, which is recklessly expanding pipelines and other fossil fuel infrastructure in the midwest. Enbridge relies on financing from JP Morgan Chase and other major banks to continue expanding its pipelines.

Enbridge’s controversial Line 5 passes through northern Wisconsin and is opposed by tribal leaders and environmental advocates. Tribal leaders, including leaders from the Indigenous Women’s Treaty Alliance have called for decommissioning the Line 5 pipeline because of the grave threat the old pipeline poses to the Bad River and the Great Lakes. Activists at all three banks demanded that Chase stop lending funds to Enbridge and other fossil fuel companies that are recklessly endangering the waters and atmosphere of our planet.

“It makes no sense to invest in new fossil-fuel projects that have a 30-year payback, when we need to shift rapidly away from fossil fuels,” said Julia Isaacs, a lead coordinator of the three actions. “With the heatwave in so many parts of the country and the world, it is time for Wall Street banks to move money away from oil and into renewables.”