Wall Street, Big Green accused of colluding to restrain trade in fossil fuels

 Jason Isaac:

Is a criminal conspiracy going on in plain sight? Major banks and investment firms are conspiring with radical environmentalists to deny lending and investments to fossil fuel companies—jeopardizing our economy, energy future, and the rule of law.

A new white paper from Ambassador C. Boyden Grey for the Texas Public Policy Foundation’s Life:Powered project exposes, for the first time, the legal reasons that environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing isn’t just harmful to our economy and energy industry—it’s likely criminal collusion.

A free market is no longer free when the major financial players are colluding—not behind the scenes but out in the open—to gut politically targeted businesses while forcing dollars into their own “green” investments. That’s exactly what’s happening on Wall Street with the rise of ESG investing. Energy companies that don’t toe the line on progressive pet projects risk losing access to capital and even having existing contracts terminated. It’s happening all over the country, as companies from The North Face to BlackRock are boycotting fossil fuels and as shady shareholder tactics are being used to take over oil companies.

These cartel-like tactics are a flagrant violation of longstanding federal antitrust laws. Corporations are legally barred from engaging in group boycotts. These rules were set into place to protect consumers from conspiracies to manipulate prices, constrain competition, and create politically or socially favored companies that limit consumer choice.

The worst part of all this? Even the most powerful financial mob could never actually succeed at eliminating fossil fuels—only at driving up prices and sending production overseas. It’s a power grab with no net gain.
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I suspect the Biden administration is not going to turn loose the anti-trust division of the DOJ to deal with the conspiracy, because Biden has been opernly supporting it and encouraging the restraint of trade to push his Big Green agenda.  Whether the courts can be persauded to enforce the anti-trust laws may also be an open question.

It is a further way Biden is restricting the supply of oil and gas and thereby driving up the price to consumers.  He should be a defendant in a case brought against those colluding with Big Green.