Oklahoma officials who targeted BlackRock a few years ago with the creation and adoption of the Oklahoma Energy Discrimination Elimination Act might consider revisiting the 2022 law, also known as House Bill 3034.
On the other hand, the creators of the act might also be slapping themselves on the back, taking credit for applying pressure on the giant financial firm.
That’s because BlackRock, the world’s largest financial asset manager, is reported to be thinking of dumping the “so-called “Net Zero” coalition of top corporations who pledge to reach zero-carbon emissions by 2050, reported the New York Post on Tuesday.
If so, BlackRock’s position as one of the highest targeted companies on Oklahoma’s black list of firms that discriminated against the oil and gas industry would possibly be revisited.
Presently, State Treasurer Todd Russ is enjoined by a judge’s ruling from enforcing the act following the filing of a lawsuit in 2023 by a state pensioner who argued the Act was unconstitutional.
Prior to the court ruling, BlackRock was in the sights of the enforcement of the Act. Its actions, launched in 2021, also played a large role in the efforts of legislators to create the law. Reporter Charles Gasparino of the Post and Fox Business News reported BlackRock declined comment.
If BlackRock bails from the coalition, it would come after it was sued in November by Republican attorneys general in 11 states. Oklahoma was not among the states that filed the joint lawsuit against BlackRock, Vanguard and State Street, claiming the organizations’ efforts to pressure coal companies to lower carbon emissions and respond to climate change amount to anti-competitive business practices.
“For the past four years, America’s coal producers have been responding not to the price signals of the free market, but to the commands of Larry Fink, BlackRock’s chairman and CEO, and his fellow asset managers,” stated the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court of Eastern Texas.
The case was filed by the states of Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, West Virginia and Wyoming.
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