Linda Woods speaks Thursday during a Divest Maine Rally at the MainePERS (Public Employees Retirement System) office at 139 Capitol St. in Augusta. Woods says she receives a state pension after retiring in 2009 from teaching English at Lawrence High School in Fairfield. Woods and other speakers Thursday called on MainePERS to divest from investment in fossil fuels. Joe Phelan/Kennebec Journal

More than 50 Mainers demonstrated against the Maine employee pension plan (MainePERS) in Augusta on July 11, including seven central Mainers who carpooled from Waterville. We held signs, sang, danced and heard speeches.

The staff who manage MainePERS are ignoring climate risk by investing more than a billion dollars in fossil fuel stocks. Fossil fuel corporations are being sued in over 40 lawsuits right now for misleading the American people (telling us climate change is a hoax) and slowing the switch to renewables. As these court cases succeed, fossil fuel stocks will lose value.

Did you lose power or trees during last year’s December storms? Our weather will become more disruptive and we will pay the price. Eventually, this will pressure our government to stop giving massive tax breaks to fossil fuel corporations. Again, this industry’s stocks will lose value.

The fossil fuel industry is constantly borrowing money for major infrastructure projects. They get cheaper loans by concealing the climate risks involved in their investments. The banks are catching on to this deception, so higher interest rates on these loans will decrease industry profits.
When we switch to renewable energy, the fossil fuel industry will be stuck with trillions of dollars in stranded assets, fuel deposits and equipment that will never be used. Their investors will pay the price.

Contributing to this industry is risky business for MainePERS beneficiaries, and it harms our lives and our children’s lives. Tell MainePERS!

Richard Thomas

Waterville