Bartlesville banker Trevor Dorsey says it’s time Oklahoma followed Texas’ lead in removing BlackRock Investment from being blacklisted through use of a challenged anti-ESG law.
In an opinion piece, Dorsey, who is not only a Senior Vice President at Prosperity Bank but also Vice-Mayor of Bartlesville, said the implementation of Oklahoma’s Energy Discrimination Elimination Act turned out to be expensive for taxpayers.
“It’s time to drop the political fight and allow free market principles that limit government intervention and expand competition to reign so our economy can grow and taxpayers aren’t burdened by higher costs,” wrote Dorsey.
The Act was challenged by a retired state employee in 2024 and 13 months ago, Oklahoma County District Judge Sheila Stinson issued a temporary injunction blocking enforcement of the law. The case is now in the hands of the state supreme court.
BlackRock was one of several companies “blackballed” for their reported ESG discrimination of oil and gas companies in the state.
The following is Dorsey’s opinion piece regarding the controversial law.
Let markets lead and allow funds to make the most for their beneficiaries
Most recently, Texas took BlackRock off their boycott list calling it a “major victory” and stating that it “validates the leadership Texas has shown on the issue,” allowing the asset manager to resume business in state pension and public finance.
It’s time for Oklahoma to do the same thing and let markets lead themselves.
In his announcement, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar highlighted that BlackRock had “dramatically reduced the number of fund offerings that prohibit investment in oil and gas, and it shifted away from blanket policies that ignore the critical need for fossil fuel-based energy generation now and long into the future.”
This should be noticed by our state leadership given we followed Texas’ lead in an effort to protect our oil and gas energy from investment advisers who seemed to be putting a “green” climate-change agenda ahead of their fiduciary responsibilities.
Oklahoma lawmakers suspected environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors were playing a bigger part than sound investment factors. In Texas, and then in Oklahoma and other states, legislators created blacklists of firms they would no longer do business with – firms they insisted were spurning good investments in oil and gas concerns (and in some states, firearms, and other industries), putting politics ahead of financial responsibility.
There’s a good idea in all of that: Those handling public money should be solely focused on financial stewardship rather than opportune politics. But this effort unintentionally inserts politics by picking and choosing who can do business in the state. For instance, they were blacklisting financial firms with multi-billion investments in oil and gas, pointing out that those firms were also part of climate organizations that advocated for a shift away from fossil-fuels.
At the end of the day, this crusade against the perception of ESG influencing state investments turned out to be very expensive – for taxpayers. In Texas, the Texas Association of Business Chambers of Commerce Foundation commissioned an economic analysis of the state’s anti-ESG law and found that it resulted in $668.7 million in lost economic activity, $37.1 million in lost state and local tax revenue, and more than 3,000 full-time jobs lost.
Some will argue these anti-ESG efforts are worth the cost since energy is such a critical part of our state and national economy. But it’s more than evident that Oklahoma didn’t just grab the attention of decision-makers at the country’s largest financial institutions, but we made them listen. Texas recognized the shift, and it’s time Oklahoma and others do so as well.
It’s time to drop the political fight and allow free market principles that limit government intervention and expand competition to reign so our economy can grow and taxpayers aren’t burdened by higher costs. Unnecessarily restricting the market doesn’t benefit anyone.
Let’s get back to the business of letting markets lead the way and ensuring financial security in our state’s public finance. Oklahoma should follow the lead of Texas and reevaluate their mission – for the betterment of our state economy, public finances, and the pensioners who depend on it.
Trevor Dorsey is the Vice-Mayor of Bartlesville and a banking executive
