Activists at the Wells Fargo Investment Thought Leadership Forum in New York delivered demands that the banking giant cut ties with the TransCanada, the owner of the Keystone XL pipeline. Two of TransCanada’s bank-led credit facilities, providing $1.5 billion in funding, are set to expire on Dec. 15. Wells Fargo and JPMorgan Chase are among the 19 banks invested in the company. “We are here today to demand a shift in policy from these financial institutions,” said Joye Braun, member of the Cheyenne River Sioux tribe and an organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network. “The health of indigenous communities at the point of tar sands extraction and communities all along the Keystone XL pipeline’s route are under threat, at the hands of these banks,” Braun said. The activists were removed from the building where the forum was being held as they attempted to hand deliver a petition, signed by over 40,000 people, calling on the banks to decline renewal of TransCanada’s credit facility.
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