Texas Puts Pressure on Firms that Boycott Oil and Gas Companies

A Russian state flag flies on the top of a diesel plant in the Yarakta Oil Field, owned by Irkutsk Oil Company (INK), in Irkutsk Region, Russia, on March 10, 2019. Vasily Fedosenko/Reuters

Texas state agencies may no longer invest funds in companies that boycott oil and gas companies, Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar said on March 21.

As of March 16, Hegar had written to 19 major international investment firms like JP Morgan, Credit Suisse, and Blackrock, asking them to clarify their policies on fossil fuel investments. Companies have 60 days to clarify their position on fossil fuel companies. Any company that fails to reply will be assumed to be boycotting oil and gas companies and added to a final list.

While “climate issues are very important,” Hegar told NTD that “we need to have companies be more accountable” and have them acknowledge that “petroleum based fossil fuels is still an important part of this economy” and will be “for a long time.”

Being the “ninth largest economy in the world as a state alone” Hegar believes that Texas’s stance on fossil fuels “will be able to influence behavior, and companies will continue to invest and realize that at least energy production in Texas is an extremely important part, [in] not just the state economy, the national economy, but the global economy.”

In a March 16 statement Hegar said that while these companies “push net-zero and other environmental, social and governance (ESG) policies” they also tell Texas and other energy states that “they’re committed to the fossil fuel sector.”

“It is time for these companies to come clean, stop the big lie and realize they can’t have it both ways,” he stated.

Another round of letters will soon follow to more than 100 other publicly traded investment companies identified to be boycotting the fossil fuel sector.

The inquiries came after the passing of Senate Bill 13 which prohibits Texas from investing in or signing contracts with companies that boycott energy companies.

The bill passed the Senate in April 2021 and came into effect in September 2021.

At a March 8 press briefing in which President Joe Biden announced a ban on Russian oil, liquefied natural gas and coal, Biden said the aim is to “make America a world leader [in] manufacturing and exporting clean energy technologies of the future to countries all around the world.”

The goal is to “become energy independent” by accelerating “the transition to clean energy,” Biden stated.

He added that “loosening environmental regulations or pulling back clean energy investment” will “not lower energy prices for families.”

“But transforming our economy to run on electric vehicles powered by clean energy with tax credits to help American families winterize their homes and use less energy, that will help,” he added.

However Hegar said that “artificial efforts to curb domestic energy production” not only “threatens the Texas economy and jobs, but also undermines national security.”

“The Ukraine crisis has only highlighted the importance of protecting our domestic oil and gas sector,” Hegar stated, adding that “Texas oil and natural gas should be playing a key role in supporting the American economy and providing security for our allies abroad.”