Oklahoma enacted the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act in 2022. It allows the State Treasurer to create a list of banks that don’t support the oil and gas industry, and then ban state agencies and pensions from doing business with them.
Treasurer Todd Russ’s blacklist has grown since he started it.
“The third installment of this list shows progress in the state contending with companies targeting Oklahoma industry and ultimately Oklahoma jobs,” Russ said when he added a bank to the list in May.
The list prohibits state entities from working with some of the country’s largest banks:
- BlackRock, Inc.
- Wells Fargo & Co.
- JPMorgan Chase & Co.
- Bank of America, N.A.
- State Street Corp.
- Climate First Bank
- Barclays
The Oklahoma Public Employee Retirement System (OPERS) estimated it would cost retirees nearly $10 million to stop working with blacklisted banks.
The OPERS Board of Trustees decided to exercise an exemption to the law but met pushback from Russ. He said the blacklisted banks would use taxpayer money to “help push a political agenda on energy companies.”
Don Keenan is a state government retiree and former member of the OPERS Board of Trustees. He sued Russ at the end of last year.
“Mr. Keenan does object to his retirement benefits being depleted because the Treasurer believes that making political statements with retiree dollars is more important than taking care of retirees themselves,” reads the lawsuit.
In May, Oklahoma County District Judge Sheila Stinson temporarily blocked enforcement of the law, saying the court would likely rule in Keenan’s favor.
“The Court finds a substantial likelihood that this stated purpose of countering a ‘political agenda’ is contrary to the retirement system's constitutionally stated purpose,” Stinson wrote in the order. “An attempt by the Treasurer or the [OPERS Board of Trustees] to divest or transfer funds for any purpose other than the benefit of the members or beneficiaries is contrary to and a violation of [the Oklahoma Constitution].”
After that preliminary ruling, Attorney General Gentner Drummond took over the suit from Russ’s attorneys. But Stinson’s prediction still came to pass: she permanently blocked enforcement of the bank blacklist on July 19.
“The ruling comes as no surprise given the fact that Treasurer Russ and his hand-picked legal counsel already lost the initial hearing to defend the law,” said Phil Bacharach, a spokesperson for Drummond’s office, in a statement.
Bacharach said Drummond plans to appeal the decision to the Oklahoma Supreme Court.
This report was produced by the Oklahoma Public Media Exchange, a collaboration of public media organizations. Help support collaborative journalism by donating at the link at the top of this webpage.
