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Dear Editor:
Last Tuesday, Hoosier lawmakers gathered at the Statehouse for Organization Day, the ceremonial start of the 2023 session.
Speaker Todd Huston (R-Fishers) made it clear in his Organization Day remarks that Indiana will prioritize joining 15 states in fighting against environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment policies.
What’s the problem with ESG investing? ESG advocates force companies to take positions in the political arena on issues that may have nothing to do with the company’s actual business activities. This movement is a root cause of dramatically declining coal, oil, and natural gas investments, which leads to unnecessarily high prices for energy.
Less investment = less supply = higher prices
Energy policy should be decided by the men and women elected to represent residents of the Hoosier state, not by unaccountable boards of corporate finance institutions. Access to the capital markets is proving increasingly difficult for fossil fuel and electricity generation companies, which is resulting in continued consumer price increases. As long as Hoosiers expect their lights to turn on and their homes to be warmed in the winter, fossil fuels will be a major contributor to powering our electrical grid. Hoosier families, particularly minorities, suffer the most when forced to pay soaring electricity prices.
Five states (Texas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia, and Kentucky) have already stood up against this movement by passing bills which protect state pensions, investments, and contracts by prohibiting states from contracting with or investing in companies that divest from coal, natural gas, and oil companies.
According to Indiana’s Speaker of the House, Indiana is included in the 11 states (Indiana, Ohio, Florida, Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, Utah, Wyoming, North Dakota, South Dakota) considering passing similar legislation.
The 2023 Indiana Legislative Session is scheduled to officially begin on Monday, Jan. 9, 2023.
Reliable Energy, Inc.