August 1, 2022 - West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore has announced the state will no longer do business with major financial institutions that refuse to promote fossil fuel projects.

5 Major banks are cut off from working with the state.

West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore named the banks this restricts, such as BlackRock, Goldman Sachs Group, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo.

State Treasurer Riley Moore has determined the banks are involved in boycotting fossil fuel companies, which he says would harm one of the top industries in the state: Coal.    

“Any financial institution that has broad sweeping policies that will harm our economy, tax base, and energy jobs, has a clear conflict of interest in handling our tax dollars.”

TREASURER RILEY MOORE, (R) WEST VIRGINIA

If those banks neglect to do business with fossil fuel companies, that could also affect the 33,000 people the industry employs… not to mention the hundreds of millions of dollars in coal and fossil fuel severance taxes that comes with it every year.  

“It’s a huge part of the revenue of the state. I think the total revenue last year was around $759 million that coal companies had brought in to the state.”

JASON HASWELL, FINANCIAL ADVISOR

And without those banks, the state will have to find banks to take their place. That will likely involve pro-coal institutions.