Oklahoma’s state treasurer is raising concerns about legislation he says could open the door further for the controversial practice of “environmental, social and governance” in the deep red state.

Senate Bill 714 would amend the Energy Discrimination Elimination Act of 2022 to take away the treasurer’s “enforcement authority” of the law and give it to the state Attorney General’s office.

The treasurer maintains a list of several banks that cannot do business with the state government of Oklahoma if the institution has publicly expressed opposition to oil and gas companies. 

Critics argue that wording in the legislation would lower the standards necessary for an institution to be on the list and how agencies enforce it.

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“The bill actually removes the treasurer from oversight of the investment behaviors of big financial institutions and proposes to put it under the attorney general’s office,” Oklahoma State Treasurer Todd Russ told Fox News Digital regarding Senate Bill 714. “So, I mean, that alone raises a lot of questions.

“As a constitutional officer in the state treasurer in Oklahoma, why would you want someone that doesn’t have the constitutional commitment and obligation to oversee the financial investments and affairs of the state to be under the treasury and move it to a different constitutional office?” he continued.

The 2022 state law is facing “ongoing” legal challenges, which makes its fate unclear. The law is meant to avoid supporting institutions some leaders see as looking to harm the state’s energy industry.

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“Over the years, those subject matters have become very politicized. I mean, it’s not a financial issue. It’s a social agenda that they’ve woven into the investments,” Russ said of ESG.

“The state of Oklahoma’s not trying to get on the other side of that behavior. We’re trying to take a stand to say, ‘Look, stay out of the political arena with my investments. Our investments.’ We are solely concerned about the financial performance and profits of our investment, and we don’t want outside people using it for political leverage. So, when it comes to environmental issues, oil and gas is very important to Oklahoma. We don’t want them acting against the interests of the oil and gas industry.”

Republican Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon discouraged increased spending as oil and gas revenues and a budget surplus leave the state in optimal financial standing. (AP Photo/J. David Ake, File)

Fox Business reported in 2023 that the list from Russ resulted from inquiries about energy investment practices to numerous banks, and it bars the banks on the list from partaking in key state investments like pension funds.

Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond’s office said, “This bill is only necessary because of the treasurer’s dismal failure to successfully defend the Oklahoma Energy Discrimination Act of 2022. That was the real slap in the face to the oil and gas industry.

“The act prohibits state contracts and pension system investments with financial institutions that discriminate against the oil and gas industry.”

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An oil worker walks toward a drill rig after placing ground monitoring equipment in the vicinity of the underground horizontal drill in Loving County, Texas. (Reuters/Angus Mordant)

Republican state Sen. Dave Rader, the bill’s sponsor, told Fox News Digital in an email he plans on making some amendments to the legislation, including “further clarifying the definition of boycott energy company to include voting on shareholder proposals which penalize or inflict harm, adding legislative intent to make clear that the purpose of the bill is to protect retirement systems, eliminate the word ‘predominantly’ in the definition of ordinary business purpose to make clear that any pro-ESG action is not allowable [and] eliminate the inclusion of transaction costs when determining a loss which presumably could keep delay divestment indefinitely.” 

However, Rader’s suggested amendments in the email have not yet been made official, according to the Oklahoma State Legislature’s website, where the legislative text is shown.

The legislation would need to go to a vote in the full Senate by March 27 before potentially heading to the state House of Representatives. 

With the recent launch of the National Energy Dominance Council to increase energy production and speed infrastructure permitting, the president has an opportunity to turn destructive Biden-era policies into tools of his America First agenda.

What the Democrats created for their purposes, President Donald Trump can use for his.

And that is especially true with President Joe Biden’s clean energy agenda. From EV subsidies and mandates to rejoining the Paris climate agreement and investments in green energy infrastructure, the last administration spent countless hours and cost Americans well over a trillion dollars in an attempt to drive down carbon emissions.

Naturally, Biden’s subsidy and regulatory approach didn’t work. The Democrats fell short of their carbon reduction targets and U.S. debt skyrocketed.

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Yet while the Biden administration failed to accomplish its climate change goals, Trump’s National Energy Dominance Council can repurpose Democratic-built tools to advance an America First energy agenda.  

A prime target for reform would be Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). This bloated bill was replete with waste, unnecessary earmarks and classic Washington grift. But there are also some beneficial policies as well. The IRA provides hundreds of billions of dollars to infrastructure, job creation and technological innovation in the clean energy sector.

“Clean energy sector” may have a left-coded ring to it, but on the ground, these jobs are precisely what we need to revitalize the workforce among the forgotten men and women of America who vaulted Trump to office. In large part because blue jurisdictions are so overburdened by taxes and regulations, 80% of the Biden administration’s clean energy manufacturing investments actually went to Republican districts.

In fact, it’s not a blue state like California that is at the forefront of the U.S. clean energy sector – it’s deep-red Texas.

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The National Energy Dominance Council should lean into these investments and let red states follow Texas’ lead. The clean energy market is already well over $1.2 trillion and growing at over 5% a year. 

The market for clean energy technology alone is expected to balloon to over $2 trillion by the mid-2030s. If current trends hold, China will eat up the lion’s share of this market. We can’t let that happen. 

Ironically, China has relied on its high-polluting economy to become the leading producer of solar panels and other clean tech. We must maintain national investments in this sector to keep clean energy development, manufacturing and production jobs in America rather than China. At the end of the day, we want American citizens and the world to buy our solar panels, batteries, nuclear technology and more.

When that happens, red America will not only benefit with lower energy costs and more manufacturing jobs – it will also give more Americans the freedom to produce and store their own power instead of having a local utility company control their energy destiny.

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However, simply repurposing Biden-era policies in wise ways is not enough. Trump will win where Biden failed because his energy strategy realizes the U.S. can’t attain energy dominance without dominating every energy technology. 

Instead of going all-in on clean energy tech alone, Trump also wholeheartedly embraces America’s legacy of fossil fuel production. To be energy dominant, America must keep oil and gas production high to drive down prices, retain good-paying American jobs, and displace higher-emitting fuels abroad.

By leaning into American oil and gas, Trump will also help the environment – just like he did during his first administration, when historic American LNG production helped cut U.S. carbon emissions to the lowest level in a quarter of a century.

Not every Biden-era green policy is ripe for redemption. Far from it: EV mandates, for example, are not only costly and inefficient but an affront to American freedom. And Biden’s regulatory attack on the oil and gas industry drove up prices while undermining what remains our greatest strategic energy advantage.

But we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. The National Energy Dominance Council should utilize Biden-era energy investments, redirect programs where possible and eliminate what can’t be used. When that happens, President Trump will have the ultimate victory – achieving total and complete energy dominance as fast, and efficiently, as possible.

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The sister of Vanessa Guillén, a U.S. Army soldier murdered and dismembered at what was formerly called Fort Hood in Texas, is floating a potential congressional challenge to Rep. Al Green, D-Texas. 

Mayra Guillén said she was considering running against Green after watching his outbursts during President Donald Trump’s address to Congress last week. 

After watching Green “disrespect” not only the president, “but our district, state and country, I believe it’s time for me to get into the fight like I did for my sister Vanessa Guillen!” Mayra Guillén wrote on X on March 6. “It’s time to end the propaganda displayed by these politicians, and time to help support [Trump] and his amazing [administration] to Make America Great Again! Al Green I’m coming for your seat.” 

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Local outlets, including the Houston Chronicle, picked up her potential congressional run in reports published Wednesday but said Guillén has yet to file the appropriate paperwork for a campaign. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Guillén for comment Thursday but did not immediately hear back. 

Green has represented his heavily blue Houston congressional district since 2005 and was unopposed in last year’s election. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., ordered the Sergeant at Arms to remove Green from the chamber when he repeatedly shouted over and wagged his cane at Trump during the president’s first congressional address back in office, and Republicans later voted to censure the long-time Democratic congressman. 

In 2021, Mayra Guillén founded the “I am Vanessa Guillén Foundation,” an advocacy group intended to give a voice to survivors of sexual violence in the military. 

People pay respects at a mural of Vanessa Guillen, a soldier murdered at nearby Fort Hood, on July 6, 2020, in Austin, Texas.  (Sergio Flores/Getty Images)

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Vanessa Guillén, a 20-year-old soldier stationed at Fort Hood, was declared missing in April 2020 from the base outside Killeen, Texas, prompting a months-long search. 

Authorities eventually said she was murdered and dismembered in an armory room by a fellow soldier, Army Spc. Aaron Robinson, who died by suicide on July 1, 2020, when authorities were closing in on him a day after Guillén’s remains were found. 

The only person criminally charged in Guillén’s death was Robinson’s girlfriend, Cecily Aguilar, who authorities accused of helping him mutilate and hide the body. Aguilar was sentenced to 30 years in prison in August 2023 for accessory to murder.

Rep. Al Green, D-Texas, shouts as President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, March 4, 2025. (Win McNamee/Pool Photo via AP)

Guillén’s family has said they believe she was sexually harassed during her time at the Texas military base. While Army officials have said they do not believe Robinson harassed Guillén, they admitted in a report a year later that Guillén was harassed by another soldier at the base. 

Then-U.S. Army Secretary Ryan McCarthy said during a visit to the Texas base that it had one of the highest rates of murder, sexual assault and harassment in the Army, later adding that the patterns of violence were a direct result of “leadership failures.” State and federal lawmakers passed legislation in 2021 honoring Guillén that removed some authority from commanders and gave survivors more options to report abuse and harassment. 

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Army officials disciplined 21 commissioned and non-commissioned officers in connection with Guillén’s death. Fort Hood was renamed to Fort Cavazos in May 2023. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.