Sierra Club Confronts Peabody

Sierra Club Confronts Peabody
by John Blair and Wallace McMullen

In early May, the Sierra Club, Valley Watch of Indiana, and the American Bottom Conservancy joined forces in St. Louis to challenge Peabody Energy at the corporation’s annual shareholder meeting at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel. Representatives from Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia gathered to demand accountability from the world’s largest coal company, particularly concerning the giant Prairie State coal plant that Peabody wants to build in southern Illinois.

Our multi-part strategy included a public forum of “stakeholders” (everybody who is affected by Peabody’s corporate practices, from pollution to property rights to workers’ rights), a rally alongside Mineworkers and other labor representatives, and questioning Peabody’s Board of Directors and CEO inside the corporate shareholder meeting itself, where some formally presented a shareholder resolution.

The night before the corporate shareholder meeting, the groups presented a “Stakeholders’ Report” to regional environmentalists and the St. Louis media. Illinois farm families who live near the Prairie State site, the wife of an injured West Virginia coal miner, and advocates from Indiana, Kentucky and Missouri all presented compelling testimony about how Peabody is a bad corporate neighbor:

Kathy Andria of the American Bottom Conservancy, based in East St. Louis, coordinated the Stakeholders’ event. She, along with Verena Owen, clean air committee chair for the Illinois Sierra Club Chapter, described the numerous air, water, combustion waste, and other permit battles that have taken place over the past few years concerning the Prairie State proposal.
Mike and Sharon Sabo, who have a farm just a couple of miles from the proposed Prairie State site near Marissa, Illinois, described their worries for the health of their four children from pollution and impacts on their way of life.
John Blair of Valley Watch spoke about the dubious financial picture that the various municipal utilities may face if they go through with their purchase of portions of the power plant. Peabody has persuaded municipal utilities in several states, including Columbia Missouri, to invest in 47 percent of the Prairie State project.
Patty Sebok, the wife of a coal miner who was injured on the job in West Virginia, fought tears describing how Peabody has refused to pay her husband’s medical bills and workers’ compensation, leaving him in pain and unable to work.
Joan Lindop, a Sierra Club leader from Kentucky, described their long, drawn-out battle to prevent the building of Peabody’s Thoroughbred coal plant. The 1500 Megawatt proposal is a sister project of the Prairie State proposal in Illinois.

On Friday May 5, before the corporate shareholder meeting at the Ritz, citizens and environmental groups joined the UMWA and the AFL-CIO in a rally against Peabody and their policies against the environment and workers.

After the rally, a handful of Sierra Club representatives attended the Peabody annual shareholder meeting. Although the group collectively held proxies for more than 100,000 shares, Peabody allowed just one person to represent individual stockholders.

The Sierra Club resolution pertaining to the company’s abuse of clean water in Illinois and Arizona was defeated, but received 10 percent of the shareholder votes cast—a strong showing for a first-time effort. Sierra Club representatives questioned the Corporation’s CEO about its policies affecting global warming, mercury emissions, and its cash-laden lobbying for weaker regulations during the meeting.

If Peabody builds and operates all the coal burning power plants they have proposed, they can be expected to emit over 80 million tons a year of CO2, a greenhouse gas. When the CEO was questioned about the impact public distress about global warming might have on the company’s profits, he characterized that concern as obstructionism.