SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce discusses the idea of ’woke’ investing and how BlackRock is backtracking on the GOP on ‘Fox Business Tonight’.
FIRST ON FOX: Kentucky released an official notice Monday morning that it accused of boycotting energy companies and listed 11 banks that will be insolvent within months.
After reviewing energy and climate policies, Kentucky State Treasurer Allison Ball announced that listed banks, including the world’s largest asset manager BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and HSBC, are active. boycotted fossil fuel companies. Kentucky state government may begin divesting the firms if they don’t reverse their boycott, according to a notice first obtained by FOX Business.
“Kentucky is a coal, oil and gas state,” Ball told FOX Business. “Our energy sector helps make America stronger. Kentucky refuses to fund ideological boycotts of our fuel industry with the hard-earned taxes and pensions of Kentuckians.”
Kentucky’s Republican-led legislature has passed a bill that would require the state government to identify and divest from banks determined to boycott energy and fossil fuel companies. Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear signed the bill into law on April 8, 2022, endorsed by both the Kentucky Oil and Gas Association and the Kentucky Coal Association.
REPUBLIC STATES PLAN ALL-OUT ATTACK ON WAKE UP BANKS: ‘WE WILL NOT DO BUSINESS WITH YOU’
Republican Kentucky State Treasurer Allison Ball speaks at the 2022 Fancy Farm picnic and political event in August. (Kentucky Educational Television/Fox News)
The law directs the state treasury to publish an annual list of financial firms engaged in energy boycotts. After that, government agencies should inform the administration if they have direct or indirect ownership of the listed companies and send a notification to the relevant companies within 30 days. If the companies do not end their boycott within 90 days of receiving such notice, the state government can divest them of their holdings.
“When companies boycott fossil fuels, they are deliberately choking the lifeblood of capital to Kentucky’s signature industries,” Ball said in a statement Monday. “Conventional energy sources fuel our Kentucky economy, provide much-needed jobs and heat our homes. Kentucky must not allow our signature industries to be irreparably damaged based on the ideological whims of a select few.”
Dozens of banks and major financial institutions managing trillions of dollars in assets worldwide have made aggressive commitments to divest from fossil fuel companies as part of so-called environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives and redirect those resources to develop green energy companies. movement. Companies are in favor of a rapid transition to renewable energy sources to prevent climate change.
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Over the past year, Republican lawmakers and officials in nearly 20 states have organized a concerted effort to counter the ESG movement, arguing that the oil, gas and coal sectors are vital to jobs and energy production. They have threatened various forms of financial retaliation in response to big banks’ ESG and climate policies.
BlackRock and its CEO Larry Fink have been at the forefront of the ESG movement and have been heavily criticized by Republican lawmakers. (LightRocket via Eric McGregor/Getty Images/Getty Images)
Kentucky is the seventh largest coal-producing state in the United States, generates 71% of its electricity from coal-fired plants, is home to one of the nation’s largest oil refineries, and has about 2% of the nation’s total underground natural gas. Storage capacity, according to the Energy Information Administration. Overall, the energy sector employs 7.8% of Kentuckians.
REPUBLIC STATES TAKE ACTION IN LATEST SALVAGE AGAINST ESG MOVEMENT
Ball said in a statement Monday that Kentucky has the 12th lowest average electricity price of any state. The average price was the second lowest for a state east of the Mississippi River.
“Treasurer Ball is taking another bold step today by warning banks that boycotts of American energy will not be tolerated in order to protect his state’s financial future,” Derek Kreifels, CEO of the Public Finance Officers Foundation, told FOX Business.
“He and other public finance officials across the country are leading a movement to ensure that hard-working American families’ hard-earned money is used in ways that work for them, not against them,” he said.
Jessica Anderson, executive director of Heritage Action for America, shares the mission of the new anti-ESG campaign and criticizes “dangerous” ESG standards.
Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Louisiana, Missouri, South Carolina, Utah and West Virginia have already announced that they will set aside hundreds of millions of dollars from banks involved in energy boycotts. Texas and Oklahoma have taken the same legislative steps as Kentucky, which is likely to lead to a deal soon.
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“Treasurer Allison Ball continues to demonstrate fearless leadership in defending her state’s fiscal interests,” Will Hild, executive director of Consumer Research, told FOX Business. “By notifying financial institutions today, he is making clear that Kentucky will no longer do business with financial institutions whose ideological agendas target one of the state’s signature industries.”
“It’s time for banks and money managers to stop waging war on American energy and the hardworking people who keep the lights on across the country.”
BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and HSBC did not immediately respond to requests for comment.