June 11, 2025 - A legal battle between Montana’s attorney general and the largest shareholders of NorthWestern Energy turned up in public polling in the days before a key court hearing this week.

A text poll targeting Montanans the weekend of June 7 asked recipients who was more sympathetic, Attorney General Austin Knudsen or “firms that invested in American coal companies.”

Montana is one of 13 states accusing the investment firms BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street of a coal price-fixing scheme. BlackRock and Vanguard hold a combined 28%, or 17.8 million shares, of NorthWestern Energy, the state’s largest monopoly utility.

NorthWestern CEO Brian Bird has described himself as the only power company executive in the country interested in owning more coal power, specifically the Colstrip power plant, which is being abandoned by utility owners from climate-conscious states.

Knudsen’s Department of Justice says BlackRock and Vanguard have cornered coal market shares for the purpose of driving up fuel costs to make coal power uncompetitive.

“To push their anti-energy agendas, BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street attempted to use anti-competitive practices to halt coal production in Montana and the United States, which would be devastating to the state’s economy and Montanans who need to heat their homes in the winter,” Knudsen spokesperson Chase Scheuer said in an email Monday. 

“Conveniently, as the political and legal winds shifted, the asset managers suddenly changed their tune and abandoned many of their woke, anti-coal policies. Attorney General Knudsen will continue to push back against any banks and/or asset managers that are putting their own agendas before their fiduciary duty to their clients.”

The weekend poll preceded a Monday hearing before a federal judge in eastern Texas where the investment firms argued the lawsuit against them is unfounded and should be dismissed. 

BlackRock, which didn’t respond to questions for this article, told the court the state attorneys general are suing the firm “based on two sentences that appear on the webpages providing high-level information about four of BlackRock’s successful index funds promoted as “not following an ‘ESG investment strategy.’”

ESG is shorthand for environmental, social and governance criteria used to gauge the effect of a company’s business practices on the environment, its workforce, and communities where it does business. Those are fighting letters in the MAGA world.

President Donald Trump in April directed the U.S. Department of Justice to block state enforcement of ESG policies, which are regarded in some conservative circles as “woke capitalism.” Similarly, the Montana Board of Investments in 2023 announced that the state’s $26 billion worth of investments wouldn’t be guided by ESG. In addition, the state investment managers were prohibited from casting proxy votes on ESG decisions.

BlackRock and Vanguard have been major shareholders in NorthWestern Energy throughout the utility’s attempts to acquire a larger ownership stake in Colstrip, one of the West’s largest coal-fired power plants. Oregon and Washington utilities that own parts of the power plant were put on notice nearly a decade ago that environmental laws in those states wouldn’t allow electricity from coal-fired power plants.

Washington utilities Puget Sound Energy, of Bellevue, and Avista Corp., of Spokane, will exit Colstrip at the end of the year to comply with Washington law passed in 2019. Oregon utilities PacifiCorp, of Eugene, and Portland General Electric have until 2030 to quit coal under a state climate law passed in 2016. 

Combined, the four Pacific Northwest utilities own 70% of Colstrip’s generating capacity. Avista Corp. announced in 2023 that it would give its power plant shares to NorthWestern, which currently owns a 15% share in the plant.

A lot has transpired since 2019, when NorthWestern first attempted to buy out Puget Sound Energy for $1. The Montana Supreme Court ruled in 2024 that the public’s right to a “clean and healthful environment” requires state agencies to weigh the costs of climate change when permitting projects.

In April, Trump granted Colstrip a two-year reprieve from emissions standards created in 2024 by then-President Joe Biden.

NorthWestern Energy spokesperson Jo Dee Black said in an email that the utility was unaware of and uninvolved with the poll.