Vanguard Settles With Texas in ESG Antitrust Case

Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday that his office has reached a settlement with investment giant Vanguard, resolving part of Texas’ multistate lawsuit accusing major asset managers of manipulating the coal market through environmental investment strategies.

The agreement marks the first settlement in the case Paxton filed in 2024 against BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street, in which he alleged the firms conspired to suppress coal production in pursuit of environmental goals—actions he argued drove up electricity costs for consumers.

Under the deal, Vanguard will pay $29.5 million to the participating states and adopt new restrictions on how it uses its shareholder influence. Paxton’s office said Vanguard agreed not to pressure companies to adopt environmental, social, or governance (ESG) policies that could reduce profitability, and pledged not to direct corporate strategy or threaten to divest holdings to force policy changes.

The firm will also expand proxy voting access, allowing investors in funds representing at least half of Vanguard’s U.S. equity assets to vote on shareholder matters—something Paxton called a first for the industry.

“I am glad to see that Vanguard has chosen to protect investors and become the industry leader when it comes to empowering investors with proxy voting choice,” Paxton said in a statement. “Coal is an essential industry to support America’s ever-growing energy demands, and my office will continue to uproot any attempt by investment giants to push a woke agenda that puts American energy at risk.”

Paxton’s office claims the agreement is a landmark enforcement action against what it described as coordinated ESG-driven market manipulation.

The broader lawsuit remains ongoing against BlackRock and State Street, which Paxton accused of continuing to engage in anticompetitive conduct tied to environmental investing strategies. The U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission have filed a statement of interest supporting the case.

When the lawsuit was filed in November 2024, Paxton argued the firms had leveraged their holdings in coal companies to push “green energy” policies that artificially constrained supply and raised power costs nationwide. Houston attorney Tony Buzbee was retained as outside counsel in the case.

While Paxton characterized the agreement as a major enforcement victory, Vanguard portrayed the settlement as a pragmatic move to avoid prolonged litigation. “At Vanguard we are focused on helping our more than 50 million investors and their families achieve their financial goals,” the firm said, adding that settling would allow it to “put this distraction behind us” and focus on investment performance.

Paxton argued the firms had leveraged their holdings in coal companies to push “green energy” policies that artificially constrained supply and raised power costs nationwide.

Texans are going to miss Attorney General Paxton as he runs for U.S. Senate to replace RINO John Cornyn.

It is good to see pushback against these investment giants using their power to promote ESG goals to the detriment of the investors they claim to serve.

Investment ESG ratings are nothing but a Dim butt-kissing score.

Exhibit A is how far Tesla's ESG rating dropped as soon as the CEO, Musk, said he'd quit supporting Dims. Tesla still made EV's, which supposedly is why Tesla had a high ESG score to begin with. But Musk proved that the ESG ratings were nothing but ratings on how much the company supported The Party

Yep.

I noticed a Tesla with a bumper sticker stating that "the owner had purchased the Tesla BEFORE Musk began supporting freedom-loving candidates."

Basically a plea to "please do not destroy, burn my Tesla since I am still a woke fool.

My wife and I have owned an EV (not Tesla) for almost 4 years. Put 86K miles on it (the gas savings and oil change savings is real, but IMHO financially an EV isn't worth it unless you drive tons of miles). And almost all of our long trips are conducive to EV's, therefore we don't take our gas pickup. I'm talking about warm climate (we drive up north only in the summer anyway) and tons of fast chargers.

So the end result is I meet other EV owners during the 10-15 minute fast charges of a long trip. I wish I had a dollar for every time I was thanked for saving the world. LOL I sometimes show them the graph below and explain that I'm happy to live in the Modern Warm Period. But since Musk quit being a Dim, the Tesla owners often look at my Hyundai and say they're now embarrassed to drive a Tesla. Sometimes at that point we talk about big decisions being impacted by emotions. I tell them the one thing you can always count on being faithful is Jesus. Make big decisions based on Him, not on how your social media tells you to react to whatever the latest issue is supposed to be.

To: Tell It Right

I’m glad you have that temperature history graph handy. For years, I worked with far too many Leftists. Without any talk of politics or politicians, I would just let them know that The Great Cold would absolutely return, and last a long time. Eventually, some of them became more curious and we actually communicated.

If an EV works for you, congratulations. As long as some Big Government apparatchik is not limiting and mandating our choices, I believe the free market and free thinkers making informed decisions should spend their money the way they desire.

For many, many moons I have been reading about how to best treat EV batteries. For years, the recommendations were to ONLY charge to 80%, and NOT LET them discharge below 20%. Fast charging was also problematic.

So, I recently used a few Large Language Models (LLM) search engines* to explore present-day thinking on this.

I used this phraseology for the search:

“Is it still good to only charge lithium batteries to 80 percent?”

Here are some of the average answers:

“”Yes, charging lithium-ion batteries to 80% is still a recommended practice for maximizing long-term battery health, especially for daily use. Charging to 100% regularly increases chemical stress on the battery cells due to high voltage, accelerating degradation and reducing overall lifespan. Staying within the 20% to 80% range—particularly the 40% to 80% window—minimizes voltage extremes, reduces heat, and significantly extends battery life.””

“”For EVs specifically: Many manufacturers still recommend daily charging to 80% for NMC-based packs to minimize degradation, with data from large fleets (e.g., thousands of vehicles).

Fast charging can accelerate lithium battery degradation, but the extent depends on several factors. While modern devices use battery management systems (BMS) to mitigate risks, frequent fast charging generates more heat and chemical stress than slow charging, which can lead to lithium plating on the anode—causing permanent capacity loss and increasing safety risks like short circuits.””

“”Key Factors Influencing Damage:
Heat: High temperatures during fast charging significantly accelerate aging. Avoid charging in hot environments or while using the device.
State of Charge (SoC): Charging to 100% or keeping the battery at full charge for long periods increases stress. Maintaining charge between 20% and 80% is ideal for longevity.””

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