The environmental disaster taking place in Ohio from a Norfolk Southern derailed train should outrage both sides of the political aisle.  After the smoke clears, investigations will take place and most likely will show that there is plenty of blame to be shared, including all levels of government and both political parties. 

But at the moment, the complete lack of any significant response by the Biden administration is appalling and begs the question why an administration that is hostile to the free market and supports extreme measures to fight climate change is missing in action?  Could it be that some of the largest shareholders of the responsible railroad, Norfolk Southern Corporation, are tied to PACs and affiliates that helped fund the 2020 election of the Biden administration?  If true, then isn’t it reasonable to conclude that by such donations, these shareholders, through their PACs and affiliates, support the Biden administration?

According to various sources, top shareholders in Norfolk Southern Corp. are the Vanguard Group, and subsidiaries of BlackRock and JP Morgan.  Specifically, as of this week, CNNMoney.com lists the Vanguard Group, Inc. as the top shareholder with 7.68%.  BlackRock Fund Advisors and JPMorgan Investment Management tie at 4.54% as other top investors.

As of December 31, 2022 Norfolk Southern’s own website lists Vanguard, BlackRock Institutional Trust Company and JP Morgan Asset Management as top shareholders.

Interestingly, the Vanguard Group, JPMorgan Investment, and BlackRock all gave significant sums of money to the Biden 2020 presidential campaign through their PACs and affiliates. OpenSecrets confirms this statement.

The Vanguard Group, through its affiliates and PAC’s, contributed 62.83% to all federal Democrat candidates during the 2020 election cycle and only 37.17% to all federal Republican candidates. It gave a total of $96,988 to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign and just $7,547 to Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign. 

Under JPMorgan Chase and Co., OpenSecrets reports that its affiliates and PACs contributed a total of $1,038,917 to Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. Donations to President Trump’s 2020 campaign totaled a whopping $236,111.  JPMorgan did contribute to both parties’ with the Democrats reaping the most. Under “all Federal candidates,” JP Morgan and affiliates gave 74.83% to Democrats and only 25.17% to Republicans. Also keep in mind that during the 2022 campaign cycle, JPMorgan refused to fund any Republican congressional candidates who objected to the 2020 electoral votes.

Then there is BlackRock, whose founder and CEO, Larry Fink, is a committed and outspoken Democrat. Several news outlets did expose the close relationship that BlackRock has had with prominent Democrats including Obama and Hillary Clinton and now Biden.

According to OpenSecrets, during the 2020 election cycle, BlackRock, through its PACs and affiliates, gave to all federal Democrat candidates a total of 80.64% and only 19.36% to all federal Republican candidates.  Regarding Biden, it gave $182,768 to the Biden 2020 presidential campaign. Just $6,170 was contributed to Trump’s 2020 presidential campaign.

Following the 2020 election, Biden put Brian Deese, a BlackRock investment executive to serve as his Director of the National Economic Council. Coincidently, it was confirmed on February 2, 2023, one day before the rail accident, that Brian Deese had vacated his position with the Biden administration.

Biden also picked Adewale Adeyemo, chief of staff to BlackRock’s chief executive, to be the Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Department.   Furthermore, Michael Pyle, who was global chief investment strategist at BlackRock, was picked to be Vice President Kamala Harris’ chief economic advisor. According to a Bloomberg article from August 11, 2022, the Biden administration also hired Eric Van Nostrand, a BlackRock managing director of research for sustainable investments and multi asset strategies, to join the Treasury Department as a senior advisor on economic issues related to Russia and Ukraine. But there are also plenty of government officials who have gone to work at BlackRock.  Two noteworthy people include Dalia Blass, who was with the SEC and went to BlackRock’s external affairs, and Thomas Donilon who was a national security advisor to Obama and went on to be chairman of BlackRock’s research business.

Interestingly, on January 31, 2023, it was reported that BlackRock increased its ownership in Montrose Environmental Group through a disclosure to the SEC showing it now owns 7.2% of the company. 

What does Montrose Environmental Group Inc.(MEG)  do?  According to its own website:

From testing to remediation to proactive interventions, Montrose provides comprehensive, environmentally-focused solutions that combine the consistency of a national presence with deep, local expertise and regulatory insight.

So what does that entail?  MEG does testing and lab services, soil and groundwater remediation, water treatment, and regulatory consulting, to name just a few things.  Again, from MEG’s website under soil and groundwater remediation, it states:

Our highly trained and experienced engineers and scientists, environmental and remediation specialists, geologists, hydrogeologists, biologists and environmental compliance specialists work with both public-and private-sector clients, delivering turnkey solutions for large-and small scale investigation and remediation of contaminated sites.

Color me shocked that these will probably be some of the services required by the people affected by this environmental disaster.

Finally, Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, is on record supporting efforts to stop so-called climate change. The New York Times reported that Fink is using his firm’s influence to pressure companies to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Given the toxic chemicals released by this train derailment, are Fink and his company prepared to abide by the same standards that he advocates? Then again, Fink claimed that support for climate change policies was about profits.  Curious that his company purchased more stocks in MEG right before a railroad in which his company is a large stockowner was involved in an environmental disaster of unimaginable proportions.

These facts point toward a cozy relationship Biden has with some of the major shareholders of Norfolk Southern.  Therefore, it’s not a big leap to suppose why the administration has been AWOL.  Apparently, it isn’t just the Chinese that might own Biden.

Image: Norfolk Southern