West Virginia has joined Texas and nine other states in a antitrust lawsuit against three of the world’s largest institutional investment firms for actions regarding the coal market.
The complaint, filed November 27 in federal court, claims BlackRock, State Street Corporation and Vanguard Group have conspired to artificially constrict the market for coal through anticompetitive trade practices. It says the three asset managers have acquired substantial stockholdings in every significant publicly held coal producer in the United States, thereby gaining the power to control the policies of the coal companies.
The coalition says the investors used their combined influence over the coal market to “weaponize their shares to pressure” coal companies to accommodate environmental, social and governance (ESG) and “green energy” goals. To achieve this, the investment companies pushed to reduce coal output by more than half by 2030.
“Again, this is an example of companies pushing their climate agenda, using investments to force other companies and people to abide by their ideology,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said. “These companies should only be maximizing returns for investors, not working to advance their radical climate change agenda by leveraging their holdings and pressuring American energy companies.”