11 States Sue Three Companies For Intentionally Driving Up Elec Prices
BlackRock Inc., Vanguard Group Inc., and State Street Corp. were sued by a group of states led by Texas for allegedly breaking antitrust law by boosting electricity prices through their investments, in the highest-profile lawsuit yet against the beleaguered ESG industry
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and 10 other states claim the money managers combined their market clout and membership in climate groups to pressure coal producers to cut output.
Shortages have caused Texans and residents of other states to pay higher power bills, according to the lawsuit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Texas.
The Republican-led states, including West Virginia and Montana, are asking the court to bar the three largest US money managers from using their stock in coal companies to vote on shareholder resolutions and take other steps in a way that restrains output and limits market competition.
Spokespeople for BlackRock and Vanguard didn’t have an immediate comment on the lawsuit. State Street didn’t immediately respond to emails seeking comment.
The complaint marks the culmination of a years-long investigation by GOP officials who have taken aim at Wall Street’s efforts to address climate change, the main pillar of the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) strategy.
Pressure has mounted on investment firms since last year when state attorneys general warned them that Americans’ savings shouldn’t be used to “push political goals” during the shareholder voting season.
In response, climate advocates say environmental risks are financial risks and that addressing them is among investors’ fiduciary responsibilities.
Paxton accused the investment firms of working together to cause industrywide reductions in coal production, which has resulted in higher energy prices for American consumers.
He cited a 1914 federal law, the Clayton Antitrust Act, that outlaws buying shares with the result of substantially reducing competition.
The lawsuit alleges that BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street used their shareholdings in coal companies, including Peabody Energy Corp. and Arch Resources Inc., to press management to cut their carbon emissions.
This started in 2021 as part of the investment firms’ membership in groups such as Climate Action 100+ and Net Zero Asset Managers Initiative.
In effect, the firms formed “a syndicate and agreed to use their collective holdings of publicly traded coal companies to induce industrywide output reductions,” according to the suit.
See more here Climate Dispatch
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Tom
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Makes sense to me.
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Shawn Marshall
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As a longtime Vanguard client this is very disturbing if true…. Using my money to engage in illegal and stupid greeniac schemes is a violation of trust
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Seriously
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🤣🤣🤣🤣…really? You had NO idea?!? How do you think the corporate raiders gained their overwhelming control over every industry on this planet? Money is a commodity, just like corn…only it’s an invention of man instead of grown in the earth. And they want everyone’s, in any way they can get it. And these guys, plus a few others, basically own EVERYTHING….and if they don’t have you but want you, hostile takeover anyone?
Nice lawsuit but it’ll come to nothing…seriously, just a ‘show’ so people feel like the government is trying to relieve the pops misery. They have so much money and Power and lawyers and politicians that even 5 States together can’t touch them….and the offchance that it comes to ‘something’? They’ll just raise the rates on every-other-consumable, to make up any losses. Who do you think decides what the consumers are going to pay for EVERYTHING? The only crazy thing is that its only about the electric rates…really, why do you think you’re paying so much more for food, shelter, utilities, electronics, everything since the lovely pandemic? Everyone suffered serious monetary losses due to entire pop’s not being allowed to work, entire industries not being allowed to produce? And yet, you’re now paying double or more for your utilities?…and everything else. Talk about kicking a guy when he’s down…and that’s ALL of us.
It’s been happening across ALL INDUSTRY since the 70’s. Who needs mom & pop, i.e. middle class, grocers, hardware, stores, clothing, shoes, farmers, furniture, water, electronics….etcetera etstera when you can form HUGE conglomerates to capture ALL the money? And then they play global chess with that commodity money, to gain more wealth, power, political clout, to start /end wars, to manipulate the food/energy supplies, for their own objectives…which just appears to be a game of thrones. They would have you believe that the planet could not exist, that trade and supply would fail, if their system were not there. This is a lie…the world existed with humans long before this hostile takeover, which is only a couple hundred years old, but has gained SERIOUS ground since the 70’s. Just as bad actors took over the ORIGINAL concepts of socialism, communism, this is capitalism, hi-jacked…under our very noses. The only and 1st step of a revo is ending all stock markets, the playing field that allows these polluting bastards to exist…to conquer and destroy us all.
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Jerry Krause
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Hi Seriously,
As bilk as it looks it is not over yet. We have to give Trump and his new administration a chance. And the Senate a chance. Maybe they will get so many sitting on the sidelined courage to start making a difference. I wasn’t around in the 1930s but my parents were And we were poor farmers but being farmers we had something to eat. And hay and grain to burn because it worth basically anything. But J. D. Rockefeller spent his money to keep the construction industry of New York City and there was unavoidable trickle down effect for the whole city.
And I see that China is not the China of the past as they help their neighbors need to modernize so there is someone to buy the products their many people make. I don’t know the future but I pray that good people, worldwide, will step up to take a swing at the ball and hit one out of the park.
Have a good day
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