If you’re having trouble getting a bank loan, you have something in common with the US coal mining industry. The Bank of America has announced that it will refuse loans to mining companies that pursue the damaging practice of lopping off mountaintops to extract coal. The hope is that other banks will now do the same.

Mountaintop mining exposes coal deposits by blasting rocks from the surface. The practice, which is common in the Appalachian mountains in the US, destroys ecosystems and pollutes rivers. “It’s the worst form of mining you can do,” says Robert Perks of the Natural …