Carbon Disinvestment by Universities? The API Counter-attacks

API: O&G Stocks Fuel Major Returns for U.S. College Endowments
Rigzone

Investments by U.S. university endowments in U.S. oil and gas company stocks produced the highest returns for endowments for at least the last decade, according to a recent study conducted for the American Petroleum Institute (API).

Oil and gas company stocks outperformed endowment funds and the Standard & Poor's 500, achieving returns of 52.8 percent in fiscal year (FY) 2010-2011, 7.9 percent in the last five-year period (FY2006-2011) and 11.5 percent in the FY 2001-2011 period, the study found.   READ MORE

Link to the study: http://www.api.org/news-and-media/news/newsitems/2013/jan-2013/~/media/Files/News/2012/12-December/API-report-industry-returns-for-college-university-endowments.pdf

Link to API report: http://www.api.org/news-and-media/news/newsitems/2013/jan-2013/oil-and-gas-stocks-are-high-performers-in-college-endowments.aspx.

Coal to China via the NW: Key Battleground on the Climate

Visit the Tiny Town Where Big Coal Will Meet Its Fate

—By Tim McDonnell

| Tue Jan. 22, 2013 3:01 AM PST

Mother Jones

Last week Beijing saw its infamous smog thicken to unprecedented levels, driven largely by emissions from coal-fired power plants across China. In recent years coal from US mines has stoked more and more of these plants, in effect offshoring the health impacts of burning coal. This year, much of the US coal industry's focus will be on pushing an unfolding campaign that seeks to dramatically ramp up the amount of coal we ship overseas.   READ MORE

The New War for Afghanistan's Untapped Oil - The Atlantic

The New War for Afghanistan's Untapped Oil - The Atlantic

Ripe For Retirement: The Case for Closing America's Costliest Coal Plants | Union of Concerned Scientists

Ripe For Retirement: The Case for Closing America's Costliest Coal Plants | Union of Concerned Scientists

In the Coal Fields, A Novel Way to Get Rid Of Pensions Is Born - Working In These Times

These are some really high-minded corporations.

In the Coal Fields, A Novel Way to Get Rid Of Pensions Is Born - Working In These Times
by Mike Elk, In These Times

"In 2007, Peabody Energy spun off a new company, Patriot Coal, which inherited 10 unionized mines in Kentucky and West Virginia. Along with the mines, Patriot took on $557 million in healthcare obligations to UMWA retirees. In 2008, Patriot bought Magnum, which had been similarly spun off from Arch Coal three years earlier. From Magnum, Patriot inherited another $500 million in obligations to retired miners, according to the UMWA.
...
Over breakfast in Morgantown, UMWA President Cecil Roberts describes the founding of Patriot. “It’s like we all are Peabody sitting here, and I am the CEO. This is what happened. 'Well we're going to create a new company boys. You’re gonna be the CEO; you're gonna be the vice president; you're gonna be the treasurer.' All the officers came from the corporate headquarters [of Peabody] in St. Louis. Peabody unilaterally decided what assets Patriot would have. They unilaterally decided what liabilities it would have. They gave Patriot all of its retirees.”