Mountain State Times

West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore announced that the Board of Treasury Investments, which manages the state's $8 billion in operating funds, will no longer use BlackRock Inc. as part of its banking transactions.

The decision was announced Jan. 17 on the West Virginia State Treasurer's Office website. The determination to drop BlackRock was made after reports that the investment management firm has been urging companies to pursue 'net zero' energy investments and strategies, according to the treasurer's office. Such investments would harm the coal, oil and natural gas industries on which West Virginia relies, the announcement states.

Moore said this action is consistent with his belief that the state should not do business with firms whose corporate policies directly threaten West Virginians’ interests and livelihoods.

"As the state’s chief financial officer and chairman of the Board of Treasury Investments," Moore said in the statement, "I have a duty to ensure that taxpayer dollars are managed in a responsible, financially sound fashion which reflects the best interests of our state and country, and I believe doing business with BlackRock runs contrary to that duty,” 

BlackRock Chairman and CEO Larry Fink acknowledged concerns that businesses which do not plan for a carbon-free future risk being left behind. In "The Power of Capitalism," his 2022 letter to the CEOs of the corporations in which BlackRock clients are shareholders, Fink states the firm "is focused on sustainability not because we’re environmentalists, but because we are capitalists and fiduciaries to our clients."

Fink also said that although BlackRock is focused on helping companies transition to net-zero investments, "[d]ivesting from entire sectors – or simply passing carbon-intensive assets from public markets to private markets – will not get the world to net zero." Fink went on to say that "BlackRock does not pursue divestment from oil and gas companies as a policy."

BlackRock's approach to net-zero climate investments aren't the only reason West Virginia's Moore decided to sever ties with BlackRock, however. In the statement, Moore cited BlackRock's investment in China and Chinese companies as being not in the best interest of the manufacturing industry and job market in West Virginia.

Moore also stated that China's lack of free-market protections, intellectual property rights issues and government interference in markets and business activities pose "significant" financial risks to firms that invest in China.

Moore's concerns over investments in China come after the state's governor, Jim Justice, received a letter from consumer-advocacy group Consumers' Research warning about security concerns raised by BlackRock's business in China. West Virginia was one of 10 states doing business with BlackRock to receive the letter. The others are Washington, South Carolina, Florida, Oklahoma, New York, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Montana, and Nebraska.

"BlackRock has maintained a bullish approach to investing billions in Chinese firms, supporting their economy, and helping fuel the rise of their military, which barely a month ago tested a hypersonic missile," Consumers' Research Executive Director William Hild wrote in the  Dec. 2 letter to the governors.

"Investment in Chinese companies could also make U.S. investors unwitting accomplices in the expansion of the CCP’s surveillance and intelligence gathering apparatus, or worse yet, make them party to human rights abuses like the ongoing genocide against Uyghurs in Xinjiang, China," Hild wrote.

West Virginia comes in at No. 10 in list of the top 10 states with the most money invested with BlackRock, according to the Daily Signal. The total invested from the state is about $2.1 billion. the Daily Signal reports.