West Virginia Treasurer Riley Moore put six leading financial institutions on notice that they may no longer be eligible to provide banking services to the state because they "appear to be engaged" in boycotts of fossil fuel companies.

Moore sent letters to the companies June 10, the same day a new West Virginia law went into effect authorizing the treasurer to investigate and refuse to enter into banking contracts with financial institutions that are moving away from fossil fuel investments. The letters' six targets were BlackRock Inc., The Goldman Sachs Group Inc., JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley, U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co.

Texas passed a similar law in 2021, and Idaho has legislation going into effect July 1. More Republican-led states are expected to follow suit.

In November 2021, Moore formed a 15-state coalition of state financial officers from states willing to curtail any business with banks that "adopt corporate policies to cut off financing for the coal, oil and natural gas industries."

West Virginia already told BlackRock in January that it is no longer welcome to do business with the state government after the world's largest asset manager announced it would push its clients toward net-zero carbon goals. At the time, a Moore spokesperson said West Virginia had been using a BlackRock liquidity fund as a sweep account to generate interest when deposits came in late. The fund contained about $21.8 million on Jan. 6.

Such actions will likely pick up speed in West Virginia with the new law on the books.

The GOP states are responding to the trend of financial companies gradually moving away from fossil fuel investments as well as the Biden administration's ambitious climate agenda. The states have also denounced the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's plan to require companies to disclose climate risks as part of their financial filings.

Many of the states, including West Virginia, have large fossil fuel industries they are seeking to protect as investors increasingly look for greener alternatives.

"Earlier this year our office proposed, and the legislature passed, Senate Bill 262 to push back against unfair discrimination against our coal, oil and natural gas industries by the financial sector as part of the so-called 'environmental, social and governance' or 'ESG' investing movement," Moore said in a June 13 statement. "We've now demonstrated we are serious about enforcing this law."

The six banks have 30 days to respond before being placed on West Virginia's new Restricted Financial Institution List.

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