Steve Burns
WMAL.com
ROCKVILLE, Md. – (WMAL) Montgomery County councilmember Roger Berliner is introducing a bill to divest the county’s pension fund from fossil fuels, citing an investment that looks hypocritical next to laws the county has passed encouraging clean energy.
“Our council has passed literally dozens of laws to have clean energy and promote energy efficiency,” Berliner told WMAL. “How could we possibly be invested in the very companies that undermine what we are trying to achieve?”
Berliner said about 1.6 percent of the county’s pension fund, $65 million out of $4 billion, is invested in oil, gas and coal stocks, but any amount would seem to contradict the county’s clean energy mission.
The bill Berliner is introducing would enact a plan for the county to divest from those stocks over a five-year period, with a stipulation that it would invest in other stocks producing the same or better return. It would follow similar actions by other cities, including San Francisco and Seattle, along with numerous universities and charities.
“We are very confident that we can divest and re-invest in other stocks that will produce an equal or better return,” he said.
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