Kentucky GOP Treasurer threatens 11 banks with divestment in protest of Boycotting Fossil Fuels

Allison Ball, Kentucky Republican State Treasurer, put almost a dozen financial companies on notice that they could be subject to divestment because of their boycott of fossil fuels.

On Tuesday Ball identified 11 financial institutions that will need to decide between managing taxpayer assets effectively or maintaining animosity toward American oil.

“When companies boycott fossil fuels, they intentionally choke off the lifeblood of capital to Kentucky’s signature industries,” Ball stated in a press release. “Traditional energy sources fuel our Kentucky economy, provide much needed jobs, and warm our homes. Kentucky must not allow our signature industries to be irreparably damaged based upon the ideological whims of a select few.”

According to the treasurer’s office, the energy sector is responsible for nearly 8 percent of state employment. The U.S. Energy Department reported last summer that more than 70 percent of the state’s electricity came from coal in 2021, giving Kentucky residents the 12th-lowest prices in the nation.

Ball gave the state agencies thirty days to report any direct and indirect holdings in firms that were refusing to invest in fossil fuels. BlackRock, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase are some of the companies listed.

December: Riley Moore, West Virginia Treasurer called on BlackRock CEO Larry Fink to resign over the firm’s championing of anti-energy environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards to the detriment of shareholders. After a record $10 trillion of assets, the Wall Street giant ended last year with $8 trillion.

“Does that sound like a guy who’s doing something right?” Moore spoke exclusively with The Federalist. “If anything, it’s a cautionary tale to focus on the maximization of your return for your beneficiaries and your shareholders.”

BlackRock however remains focused on ESG standards which demand total decarbonization as the norm on Wall Street. Fink wrote last year to CEOs. celebrated A “tectonic shift in capital” toward BlackRock’s commitment to net-zero carbon emissions as Americans pay record energy prices.

Moore’s call for Fink to step down followed North Carolina GOP Treasurer Dale Folwell’s call for the BlackRock executive’s exit the week prior.

In January last year, Moore became the first state treasurer to take an axe to constituents’ state-sponsored relationship with the Wall Street behemoth, gutting from BlackRock’s management about $8 billion in funds from West Virginia’s Board of Treasury Investments.

The trend was adopted by Republican policymakers across the country. Arkansas, Utah and Texas now have chief financial officers. stripped BlackRock

Tristan Justice, The Federalist’s western correspondent, is Tristan Justice. He also wrote for The Washington Examiner as well as The Daily Signal. His work was also featured in Real Clear Politics, Fox News and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University, where he studied journalism and political science. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at [email protected].