Chase them out of Aspen

Chase Bank has a brand spanking new branch at the site of the old Conoco gas station at 232 E. Main St. We can’t believe the Aspen City Council approved this construction proposal. Aspen has eight banks and now only one gas station.

Chase is the leading bank-roller of climate-damaging fossil fuel operations including Gazprom, Russia’s government-owned and largest oil and gas company. Under financial strains caused by the sanctions imposed on them by the free world for their brutal assault on Ukraine, Gazprom is one of the few sources of cash available to pay for Russia’s invasion.

Other banks have cut off business with Gazprom. Not Chase. The U.S. federal government has forbidden U.S. banks from doing business with the state-controlled top four Russian banks except Gazprombank.

We suggest Aspenites who’re not interested in greenwashing the climate crisis, but truly are concerned about the climate and horrified by what Russia is doing to Ukraine, let Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon know you don’t approve of their choices of who to finance. And certainly, if you’re banking with Chase, you should switch banks.

Fred Malo Jr.

350 Roaring Fork/Carbondale