Blackrock, one of the leading investment firms pushing the climate change agenda and social goals over investment responsibilities, wants to control America’s utilities.
Alaska’s Attorney General Treg Taylor and 16 other state attorneys general filed a motion on Wednesday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, pushing back on Blackrock.
The top state law offices say that Blackrock has adopted environmental, social, and governance policies, also known as ESGs, and the company is not a passive investor.
“Maybe BlackRock was a passive investor 10 years ago, but today it’s an environmental activist,” the motion says. “Indeed, BlackRock’s own public commitments belie its representations to the commission. Pursuant to its membership in several horizontal associations, BlackRock aims to pressure or force utility companies to phase out traditional energy investment.”
Under the Federal Power Act, a public utility holding company seeking to acquire more than $10 million in voting securities in another utility must secure authorization from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Large investment management companies like BlackRock may request advance “blanket authorizations” from the commission. If the commission finds the transaction is consistent with the public interest in light of competition, rates, and regulation, it may approve a blanket authorization.
The attorneys joining Taylor in opposing blanket authorization for BlackRock explain that the company has strong ties with Climate Action 100+ and the Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative, activist groups fighting climate change through investment strategies.
Cofounder of BlackRock, Larry Fink, started focusing on Environmental, Social, Governance investment strategies after a fishing trip to Alaska in 2019. He and friends flew to a wilderness lodge on Lake Iliana, and discovered that the area was filled with smoke due to wildfires on the tundra in Siberia. That’s when he decided to focus on woke investing, where activist shareholders try to force companies to follow some climate goal strategy.
The pushback from the state attorneys general comes at a time when Anchorage residents are facing a takeover of their power company, Chugach Electric Association, by the Alaska Center for the Environment, which has been making moves to take over the boards of directors of Alaska’s independent power companies in order to shut down the use of natural gas.
Last year, and again this year Taylor joined coalitions in filing opposition to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about a proposed rule requiring retirement investment fund managerslack to consider “Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)” factors when making investment decisions.
The proposed rule, called “Enhanced Disclosures by Certain Investment Advisers and Investment Companies about Environmental, Social and Governance Investment Practices,” is an effort by the SEC to transform itself from the federal regulator of securities into a “regulator of social ills,” the coalition said.
This is an action worth taking.
Hope Alaska prevails.
This is exactly why Bettina Chastain, Harold Hollis, and Brad Authier are running for the 3 seats on your Chugach Electric Association Board. They are committed to bringing stable leadership and affordable rates to CEA members. They are taking NO financial endorsements, whatsoever. They are fully committed to representing, YOU, the CEA members! Want to Keep Alaska Center, REAP and SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
off of YOUR CEA Board? Here’s how: Vote Bettina Chastain, Harold Hollis, and Brad Authier! To learn more go to: http://www.votechugachstability.org
To learn who and what Blackrock is and does go to stopworldcontroldotcom/monopoly
Not just Blackrock, start pulling up the major bank websites. They don’t even hide it anymore. Bank of America seems to be leading the charge.
Nothing more hypocritical than a Republican attacking a Corporations First Amendment rights. This will not go any better than DeSantis’s failed attempt to take down Mickey Mouse
GOOD for Treg Taylor! We shouldn’t be allowing ANY investment firm control over our utilities, particularly one with ESG in mind! What a bunch of hoohah. Kick them to the curb.
Frank full of shit rast. Let’s see it was Clinton that dumped most of the FTC controls. Then Obama helped. You should worry black rock is worth in excess of $10 trillion. No company should have ever been allowed to get this large in America. FYI black rock is a democrat woke globalist company. So however you tied a Republican to this is bizarre.
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