"Free-Market" GOP Senators Now Openly Threatening Banks For Not Loaning For ANWR Drilling
Congressional Republicans are planning to launch a counter pressure campaign against the country’s largest banks after several of them ruled out financial support for oil drilling projects in the Arctic, two Senate Republicans told POLITICO. Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) says a group of House and Senate Republicans will send a letter to the banks, warning them that ruling out specific fossil fuel projects, such as oil drilling in the newly opened Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, comes with risks.
“You think this is a cost-free action? Let’s see about that,” Sullivan said in an interview Thursday. “The federal government fully supports these guys across the board in so many ways, including a bailout 15 years ago. Now they get to pick and choose who’s favored and who’s not favored in the U.S. economy based on what? Political pressure that they get at cocktail parties in Manhattan?”
Restrictions on drilling in an ANWR were lifted in 2017, although the Bureau of Land management has not finalized its plans to offer leases to companies to explore for oil in part of the region that is the largest protected wilderness in the U.S. Estimates vary widely, but as much as 16 billion barrels of oil and gas liquids is believed to be recoverable in the region. Amid growing pressure to address climate change and protect sensitive lands, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup have all ruled out Arctic drilling projects in recent months, leaving Bank of America as the sole major holdout.
"A lot of these banks start out opposing the Arctic, which I think is the easy one, and it gets a little more dicey after that," Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) told POLITICO. "Some of this is political within [the banks]. Some of it's political with regard to their shareholders. Some of it's being the cool guy at the country club or the mens' club in Manhattan." At a recent White House event, President Donald Trump, alongside Sullivan, said he favored launching a probe into the banks' behavior. "They're afraid of the radical left. You shouldn't be afraid of the radical left,” Trump said. “You cannot be discriminating against these great energy companies.”
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https://www.politico.com/news/2020/05/05/gop-lawmakers-target-banks-refusal-to-fund-fossil-fuel-projects-236597
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