1. Some banks may be re-investing in coal after promising not to do so, as @nytimes reported this week, but that doesn't mean #coal is coming back - not by a long shot. This THREAD explains why:
2. This new @nytimes report by @flitteronfraud shows that some banks are dragging their feet on moving #BeyondCoal even as the industry’s last legs continue to wobble: nyti.ms/2LDELkP
3. More than half of the coal plants in America have retired or committed to retire and, despite the Trump administrations ridiculous ploys, utilities are abandoning coal at roughly the same rate under this administration as they were under Obama: sierraclub.org/press-releases…
4. So why put money into such a bad investment, even as the clean energy industry is creating jobs and growing? Simple: what's really happening is that metallurgical coal -- the small fraction of coal used in steelmaking, just 8% of US coal mined -- is having a periodic upswing.
5. Thermal coal, which is used in power plants and accounts for over 90% of US #coal consumption, is still declining. Numbers don’t lie - 2018 is on track to be the second biggest year for coal retirements since 2010. 
6. Just this week, @EIAgov reported that #coal consumption by the US electric power sector reached its lowest level since 1982, and overall fossil fuel consumption in the electric sector is at its lowest level since 1994: eia.gov/todayinenergy/…
7. What banks are trying to do is squeeze the last drops of value out of coal mining companies that recently emerged from bankruptcy to focus more on metallurgical coal - taking the last of the profits back to investors and cruelly leaving coal impacted communities in limbo.
8. Banks should be focusing on further developing the clean energy industry and helping transition coal impacted communities to new economic opportunities. The reality is this: #wind and #solar now employ hundreds of thousands of Americans, more than all #fossilfuels combined.
9. You can see the real stories of the emerging #cleanenergy revolution in @SierraClub’s new film @ReinventingPowr when it comes out next week. Suffice it to say: #wind and #solar are safer, cleaner, & cheaper than coal.
10. The tea leaves aren't hard to read. Thanks to determined advocacy and cheap renewable power, this country will move @BeyondCoal. Every day we delay means dirtier skies and waters for our communities, more lives cut short by pollution, and greater peril for our #climate.
11. As for big banks, they need to live up to their commitments and not leave coal impacted communities in the lurch. If they're serious about smart investments that help families, ensure #cleanair and #cleanwater, and fight #climatechange, they need to move #BeyondCoal. / END
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