AUGUSTA, Maine — Activists say they've been meet with "dismissive action" as they urge leaders at the Maine Public Employees Retirement System to divest assets from the fossil fuel industry by 2026.
"We gave them five years, and it's now year three, and they have made no forward motion on it," Linda Woods said.
Rallying in Augusta on Thursday, a handful of MainePERS beneficiaries and members of Divest Maine held signs and shared messages as to why they believe the removal of ties to the fossil fuel industry must be done soon.
"It's one of those problems that requires change at all kinds of levels of society, and this is one of those changes that has to happen," Scott Budde, who works as an investment analyst, said.
Like many members of Divest Maine, Budde says he's willing to meet with board members at MainePERS to discuss better investments avoiding ties to the fossil fuel industry.
But according to a recent divestment memorandum released in July, leaders at MainePERS outlined their willingness to shift investments to reduce but believe its current "passive" approach is best fit to be financially responsible.
"It's frustrating," said Woods, who worked for about 30 years as a teacher. "MainePERS is our pension fund, and they do all their investing for us. We don't have any say in what they put our money into."
Activists at Thursday's rally were also urging MainePERS to abide by a Maine law signed in 2021 which directs the Treasurer of State and the Board of Trustees of MainePERS to divest assets invested in the fossil fuel industry.
People like Woods, who testified in favor of the law when it was making its way through the Legislature, says she's frustrated she's still advocating years later.
"This climate change is real, and they're not doing anything to curb that by continuing to fund Big Oil," Woods added.
Leaders at MainePERS left NEWS CENTER Maine with a comment on the matter:
"MainePERS has implemented Public Law 2021, c. 231 as reported to the Maine Legislature’s Joint Standing Committee on Labor and Housing in its January 2023 Divestment Report and the December 2023 Divestment Report...In doing so, the Legislature recognized the Board of Trustees’ fiduciary obligations as trustees to administer the trust solely in the best financial interest of the members as pension recipients.
MainePERS expended considerable resources and spent the better part of a year working diligently to explore the financial implications of alternative strategies to avoid fossil fuel investments and then looked to our counsel in the Attorney General’s Office to help us navigate the legal issues guiding the fiduciary duty of the Board of Trustees in implementing the new law."