A group of Democratic legislators is backing a bill that would force the state treasurer to sell off all pension investments in Massey Energy Corp., the coal giant whose safety and environmental record has been under scrutiny since an April mine explosion killed 29 men.
"Massey has been a bad actor, and it has been a bad investment," said Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat who is one of the bill's primary sponsors. "It would probably take only about 5 minutes to divest the state's money from Massey and invest it with a more responsible company."
The state employee pension plan's investment in Massey is about $17.4 million in stock, out of a total plan portfolio of $68.7 billion.
Last month, State Treasurer Janet Cowell joined with pension plan administrators from other states to urge institutional investors to vote against the reelection of current members of the Massey board, which they said had steered the company to put profits over safety and environmental stewardship.
In the past 10 years, 52 Massey miners have died in accidents while the company has raked up massive state and federal fines. The company accrued $12.9 million in fines during 2009, prior to the Big Branch disaster in West Virginia earlier this year.
The company also engages in the widely criticized practice of mountain top removal mining, in which explosives and heavy machinery are used to cut away mountain peaks to get at the coal underneath, filling in the valleys and streams below with the rubble.
Despite the efforts of Cowell and others, the Massey board members were reelected even as the company's stock price has plummeted. Though the state treasurer has the authority to order the sale of Massey stock on her own, the legislators said approval of the proposed bill would send a stronger message.
"If we do this in North Carolina, it'll provide a precedent for other states to do the same thing," said Paul Luebke, a Durham Democrat who helped led a similar effort to divest state funds from Sudan due to the genocide in Darfur.
Comments
Stalin-corpse-man thinks that....
June 8, 2010 - 7:30pm — stalins_zombie_....... what politicleptomaniac means, is Maybe the coal company was not remembering to provide him with bribes, kicksbacks and campaign contributions!
Iz wery important for companies to keep bribing nice politicians with corrupt money so politicians can keep making workers' paradise!
deerhunter, I am sure then
June 8, 2010 - 3:46pm — PhantomLorddeerhunter,
I am sure then that you will demand the state sell all of its shares of Apple (assuming it owns some).
How many people commit suicide at their iPhone manufacturing facility in China?
I don't want my retirement
June 8, 2010 - 3:23pm — deerhunter999I don't want my retirement money to be covered in blood money. Dump Massey now!
Been a bad investment? That
June 8, 2010 - 3:14pm — PhantomLordBeen a bad investment? That is just a flat out lie perpetuated for expressly 100% political purposes.
Masey Energy, in July of 2009 was at $15.85 a share. Its price in April, preceeding the disaster, $54.80!
Bad investment? Hardly. Everyone reading this wishes the stocks in their portfolios performed that well.
And even after the disaster and the hit their stock took following it, it is currently at $28.83. Which in reality, should likely signal a prudent fund manager to BUY!
I wonder what it was purchased at by the pension fund.
Of course, we are lacking that info. Did the pension fund buy it a week before the disaster? If so, then yes, bad investment due to poor timing.
If it was bought a year ago, it has been a great investment.
Hands off my pension
June 8, 2010 - 1:32pm — patmanThis makes me ill. Not because I support Massey, but because the purpose of my pension is to support me in retirement, not provide the collateral on someone's political career. The legislature has no business micromanaging the pension plan. Selling Massey at this point makes no sense.
"Massey ...has been a bad
June 8, 2010 - 1:10pm — john_galt"Massey ...has been a bad investment," said Rep. Pricey Democrat
What a perfect name for an elected criminal.
was it reallllly a bad investment? There is nothing in the whole article saying that. just that they're a big, mean group of big meanies.