THE MORNING RANT: The Hartford Insurance is Canceling Coverage to the American Energy Institute Because It Promotes Carbon-Based Energy

The Hartford Insurance Company just notified the American Energy Institute that its insurance coverage is being cancelled because it’s the stated policy of The Hartford that it discriminates against carbon-energy advocates. This is in service to The Hartford’s radical Net Zero / DEI agenda.

I’m not engaging in hyperbole. The non-renewal notice from The Hartford to the American Energy Institute explicitly stated that, ”The reason for non-renewal is we have learned from your Facebook page that your operations include Trade association involved in promoting social / political causes related to energy production. This is not an acceptable exposure under The Hartford’s Small Commercial business segment guidelines.”

Jason Isaac is the CEO and Founder of the American Energy Institute. In the tweet below, he notes that, “Insurance companies are financial companies, and the [Texas Comptroller] should add Hartford to the boycott list. Furthermore, [the Texas legislature] should pass legislation instructing our [Department of Insurance] commissioner to revoke their license to operate in Texas. Discriminating against industries vital to Texas' prosperity shouldn't be tolerated.”

Mr. Isaac also notes that the top three shareholder of The Hartford are Vanguard, BlackRock, and State Street. Go figure.

It doesn’t take much digging to discover that Christopher Swift, CEO of The Hartford, comes across as a left-wing zealot who has embraced radical wokeism. The very first sentence in The Hartford’s 2023 Sustainability Report shows that CEO Christopher Swift’s allegiance is to “stakeholders,” not its shareholders. In other words, his loyalty is to the woke political cult, not to investors and customers of the company.

The Hartford continues to prioritize sustainable business practices, creating value for our stakeholders and leveraging our strengths to do well while doing good.

Mr. Swift’s fanatical devotion to the left’s agenda is further revealed in that same report:

The Hartford’s Chairman and CEO, Christopher Swift, is a long-time DEI advocate and is the foremost champion of The Hartford’s DEI initiatives.

As for The Hartford’s radical anti-carbon agenda that is being imposed by CEO Christopher Swift, it was only seven months ago that the company released its 2024 Task Force Climate Related Financial Disclosures in which The Hartford explicitly discusses its commitment to not only going “net zero” as a company, but also being a participant in eradicating the carbon-energy industry and related businesses altogether.

In April 2022, we announced an ambition to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions for our full range of businesses and operations by 2050, in alignment with the Paris Climate Accord. Achieving our net zero ambition will depend on multiple external variables, including aggregate reporting of and adherence to measurement protocols that remain under development. Despite this uncertainty, we are committed to seeking an approach that reflects a balanced transition to a green economy – our priorities must serve both our net zero ambition and our commitment to a just, equitable and achievable energy transition…

Carbon-based energy is the fuel that propels freedom and prosperity, which Christopher Swift and The Hartford have made clear they seek to eradicate. There needs to be legal and financial consequences for this malicious behavior by Mr. Swift and The Hartford.

Any communications promoting this discriminatory agenda among BlackRock, Vanguard, and State Street with The Hartford, as well as between The Hartford and other insurance companies, would possibly be grounds for a racketeering investigation by Pam Bondi and state attorney generals. It might also be easy to find other criminal violations including anti-trust, collusion, fiduciary negligence, and denial of civil rights.

The good news is that Texas is already pushing back against The Hartford. State Senator Bryan Hughes (R) heads the “Committee on State Affairs” and he fired off a letter last week to CEO Christopher Swift regarding The Hartford’s admitted policy of viewpoint discrimination. Senator Bryan has demanded a significant amount of documentation by the end of this week, including proof that The Hartford is consistent and similarly discriminates against anti-carbon advocates and against those promoting green energy. Here is some of what was in Sen. Hughes’ letter. The entire letter is pasted further below.

We are very concerned that an insurance company that does business in Texas would behave with such an antagonistic view towards energy production. In an effort to understand the extent of your discrimination, please provide the committee with the following information:

• The Hartford’s Small Business segment’s guidelines;
• All other guidelines, rules, policies, or procedures relating to the rejection of any customer or potential customer based upon any viewpoint;
• All documents applying the above guidelines to reject any potential customer or to decline to renew the policy of any existing customer, including all internal communications;
• All information evaluating the relative insurable risk of companies involved in, “promoting social/political causes related to energy production” as compared to other companies;
• A list of any potential or existing customer who has had a policy declined or non-renewed based upon the guidelines referenced above;
• A list of all existing customers that are involved in social or political causes related to energy production including customers that promote “green energy” or advocate against oil and gas production and all documents related to the decision to continue to offer The Hartford products to them; and
• The identity of any employee of The Hartford and any of its companies who has any input into the decision to accept or reject a customer based upon the customer’s viewpoint.

It won’t be sufficient for The Hartford to say “Oops” and simply un-cancel the American Energy Institute’s coverage while continuing to go on discriminating against other energy-related customers.

This is an excellent opportunity for red states to make a statement. If The Hartford faces licensing cancellation across much of the United States, and if Christopher Swift finds himself having to lawyer up to defend against The Hartford’s discriminatory business practices, executives across corporate America might start to re-think their desire to be obedient apparatchiks in service to Klaus Schwab and Larry Fink.

The full letter from the State of Texas’s Committee on State Affairs is immediately below.

[buck.throckmorton at protonmail dot com]

posted by Buck Throckmorton at 11:00 AM

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