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Thursday, January 31, 2013

City / Enviro / Money Seattle Employees' Pension Fund Is Meeting Today to Consider Divesting from Fossil Fuel (*Update: Also Firearms Companies!)

Posted by Goldy on Thu, Jan 31, 2013 at 11:49 AM

Speaking of the immorality of shipping coal to China, at least some folks around here are putting their money where their mouth is:

A US pension fund with nearly $2 billion in assets is considering selling its holdings in some of the world's biggest oil and gas companies because of the threat posed by climate change.

In what investor advocacy groups say would be the first divestment of its kind, the Seattle City Employees' Retirement System is to discuss on Thursday a request from Mike McGinn, the city's mayor, to sell out of companies including ExxonMobil and Chevron.

The fund currently has about $17.6 million invested in Exxon and Chevron. And while cynics would surely dismiss such a divestment as mere symbolism, leadership's gotta start somewhere.

UPDATE: Renee Hopkins of the Seattle Police Foundation says they're also discussing divesting from firearms companies. Again, leadership!

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Comments (12) RSS

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This will send a statement to the oil companies they will never forget, if by "forget" we mean "notice". It's nice for a city to consider nice policies proposed by the nice mayor who's up for election soon.

Posted by gloomy gus on January 31, 2013 at 12:09 PM

While nice, the GHG impact from the Deep Coal Tunnel we can't afford is much larger than the impact from this.

Kill the Tunnel and people might believe you on this.

However, it's an interesting symbolic approach.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on January 31, 2013 at 12:27 PM

dx5

Posted by tim koch on January 31, 2013 at 12:46 PM

i figured what fuck, im stuck here anyway this afternoon, ill do another 5 now because goldy is being stupid again.

Posted by tim koch on January 31, 2013 at 12:47 PM

The underfunded Seattle retirement fund? In debt by $1.1 Billion? That one? They better invest right because no way taxpayers will bail their asses out.... unless they replenish their coffees from Seattle's bum fund.

Posted by Sugartit on January 31, 2013 at 12:51 PM

Disinvestment is how public sentiment turned against South Africa in the late 80's. And --while that by itself was by no means the entire reason apartheid fell-- the resulting flight of capital did help put extra pressures on the government to finally make its reforms in 1990.

Posted by Timrrr on January 31, 2013 at 1:28 PM

@1:

MAJ. FRANK BURNS (to Nancy Sue Parker): It's nice to be nice... to the nice! [giggles]...

MARGARET "HOT LIPS" HOULIHAN: "Nice to be nice to the nice?"

Posted by rob!

on January 31, 2013 at 2:07 PM

@6 is correct.

But, if you are going to push a non-coal low-GHG lifestyle, you have to reexamine major decisions you made during good times.

Like the tunnel, which just doesn't wash with lower capacity of half the vehicles (given $10 each way tolls and exempted billionaire's non-profit limos etc) at twice the carbon price of either a rebuilt viaduct or a surface highway that has twice the capacity and LOWER tolls.

The revolt of taxpayers is coming, and it's brewing in Seattle now as people see the rich get special subsidies while we pay higher taxes that do the opposite (carbon) of our values.

Posted by Will in Seattle

on January 31, 2013 at 2:15 PM

@7 oh my god

Posted by gloomy gus on January 31, 2013 at 2:29 PM

No, no, it was good. Primo sark.

Posted by rob!

on January 31, 2013 at 3:38 PM

@10 hell yeah!

Posted by gloomy gus on January 31, 2013 at 4:14 PM

@8: No. If you're ever going to effect any sort of climate change, first you have to start laying a foundation for winning the battles ahead, instead of trying to re-litigate long ago lost battles from a previous war.

In other words: Get over it, Will. That energy's better used in a fight that's not already a voted-on, settled & completely lost cause.

Posted by Timrrr on January 31, 2013 at 4:26 PM