Montana ranks among the top 10 states for the most state pension funds invested through BlackRock, but now states like Texas have called for a boycott of the company based on its energy views.
Texas Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick wrote a letter to the state's comptroller, Glenn Hegar, asking him to include BlackRock on the company's boycott list for violating Texas's Oil & Gas Investment Protection Act.
"As I have stated before, if Wall Street turns their back on Texas and our thriving oil and gas industry, then Texas will not do business with Wall Street," Patrick said in the letter.
He went on to point out several instances where he believed BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink directly discriminated against the oil and gas industry, concluding that "these statements indicate that BlackRock is capriciously discriminating against the oil and gas industry by exiting vestments sold because companies do not subscribe to a 'net zero' policy beyond what is required by law."
Montana has invested approximately $3.5 billion through BlackRock, which places the state ninth among the states that have invested the most money through the firm, according to Big Sky Times.
2019 data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) broke down Montana's end-use consumption by source as follows: 1.1% from coal. 25.9% from natural gas, 51.9% from petroleum, 5.6% from renewable energy, and 15.6% from electricity. The state's electric power sector consumption source is dominated by coal and renewable energy. The state also has the largest recoverable coal reserves in the nation.
Montana was one of 10 states warned about BlackRock through a letter from Consumers' Research, Montana Business Daily reported.
Will Hild, Consumers' Research executive director, noted in an interview published on YouTube that BlackRock CEO Fink is taking actions that "are betraying the American consumer." Hild also responded to BlackRock's attempt to push Americans to green energy and said, "He's not doing anything like that to the Chinese Communist Party. They're invested in PetroChina there and don't mess with any of their assets."
West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore announced earlier this year that the Board of Treasury Investments, which manages the state's $8 billion in operating funds, would no longer use BlackRock. Mountain State Times reported the decision was also based on the company's stance on energy.
In a letter to clients earlier this year, Fink said businesses not willing to adapt to a carbon-free future risked being left behind and that BlackRock's focus was to help lead the shift towards net-zero energy.