From Newsgroup: rec.aviation.military

Some highlights: - the great numbers provided by avoiding the liberal demonstrators:
Over 25 years, the WSIBrCOs Commingled Trust Fund has generated a net
return of 8.1%, surpassing its peer group median of 6.9% rCo
translating to approximately $32.5 billion in excess net returns.
According to the CEM benchmarking analysis cited by the original authors,
the WSIB has returned 9.1% annually over the past decade against a peer average of 7.4%, producing an additional $17.2 billion in the past five
years alone.
Last yearrCOs return was 9.6%, and the fund has grown from $137 billion in 2021 to $166 billion in 2025,



The full and complete story is here:

Divestment and pension plans donrCOt add up There is a better way to
protect the environment and honor financial promises to WashingtonrCOs
public servants

(Getty Images)
By Reuven Carlyle and Mark Mullet Special to The Seattle Times

A few weeks ago, Jeff Johnson and Greg Devereux urged the Washington
State Investment Board to divest from fossil fuel companies, arguing it
would improve pension returns and help fight climate change. (rCLWA
pension plans should divest from fossil fuel companies,rCY July 10)

The authors are deeply respected civic leaders. We share their
commitment to climate action. But on this question, the evidence cuts decisively the other way rCo and the stakes for WashingtonrCOs 900,000
public employees, teachers, firefighters and police officers deserve a thoughtful response in the public square.

We write from hard-earned experience on both sides of this ledger. One
of us (Reuven) spent 14 years in the Legislature, authoring and leading passage of the two most consequential climate laws in Washington history
rCo the Clean Energy Transformation Act of 2019 and the Climate Commitment
Act of 2021. The other (Mark) spent 13 years in the state Senate, served
eight years on the Washington State Investment Board and helped lead negotiations on a comprehensive transportation and climate funding
package requiring coalitions across labor, industry and government. We
are both deeply committed to fighting climate change. We are both
opposed to inserting political criteria into the independent system our
state depends on to fund pension promises to police, firefighters,
teachers and thousands of other public servants.

Two institutions, two missions

Watch what President Donald Trump has done to the Federal Reserve:
meddling in monetary policy, pressuring an independent institution and undermining the credibility that makes it function. It is a cautionary
tale and not an isolated one. When New York CityrCOs pension funds were
pushed to divest from Israeli-linked holdings under BDS pressure rCo
Boycott, Divest, Sanctions rCo their fiduciaries spent months defending
the legal principle that pension assets exist for beneficiaries, not
politics. When several state legislatures tried to mandate ESG rCo Environmental, Social, and Governance rCo exclusions, banning funds from even considering climate and water risk, courts and investment officers
pushed back on identical grounds. Political mandates imposed on
independent investment boards, from the left or the right, corrode the
same foundational principle: these assets belong to retirees, managed by professionals with fiduciary obligation, not by whoever holds power this election cycle.

The Washington State Investment Board was built with precisely this insulation. Its sole legal mandate is fiduciary: protect and grow assets
for pension beneficiaries, reducing risk for taxpayers who would
otherwise be obligated to make up the difference. That independence is
not a technicality. It is the structural guarantee that retirement
security is managed on investment merit, not prevailing political sentiment.

The Legislature has its lane and has used it boldly. The cap-and-invest program, created in 2021 and sustained by 62% of voters in 2024, is
deploying $4.7 billion across 2,700 projects in virtually every
community in the state by 2027. We should not conflate the two
institutions or ask either to do the otherrCOs job.

Extraordinary record, worth protecting

Over 25 years, the WSIBrCOs Commingled Trust Fund has generated a net
return of 8.1%, surpassing its peer group median of 6.9% rCo translating
to approximately $32.5 billion in excess net returns. According to the
CEM benchmarking analysis cited by the original authors, the WSIB has
returned 9.1% annually over the past decade against a peer average of
7.4%, producing an additional $17.2 billion in the past five years
alone. Last yearrCOs return was 9.6%, and the fund has grown from $137
billion in 2021 to $166 billion in 2025, ranked among the top-performing pension funds in the country over both 10- and 20-year periods.

This performance is not an accident. It is the product of disciplined, diversified investing unconstrained by political mandates. That freedom
is what allows Washington to be among the best-funded state pension
systems in the nation, meaning lower required contributions from
employers and employees alike. If political mandates degrade that outperformance rCo even ones we may be philosophically aligned with rCo only three options remain: cut pension benefits and break promises to our
public workforce; reduce state services like healthcare and K-12
education; or raise taxes. There is no fourth option.

The California lesson

CalSTRSrCOs own chief investment officer stated publicly that full fossil
fuel divestment could result in a $20 billion loss to that pension fund. CalSTRS divested from tobacco in 2001, a decision that translated to approximately $4.3 billion in lost returns over the following two
decades. Studies of fossil-free portfolios over long time horizons show
they would not have rCLsignificantly underperformedrCY rCo but compounded across decades over a fund the size of the WSIBrCOs, even modest underperformance produces staggering consequences.

The research is unambiguous

The case for divestment rests on the theory that pulling capital from
fossil fuel companies raises their cost of capital, constrains their operations and ultimately reduces emissions. Professors Jonathan Berk of Stanford and Jules van Binsbergen of the Wharton School studied this
mechanism rigorously and found that the impact on the cost of capital is
too small to meaningfully affect real investment decisions. When a
pension fund sells its shares, another buyer rCo with no climate
commitments rCo purchases them at essentially the same price. Berk and van Binsbergen found no detectable effect on the cost of capital when firms
were added or removed from leading socially conscious indices, and
concluded that to have real impact, socially conscious investors should
stay invested and exercise their rights of control to change corporate
policy.

The WSIB exerts pressure

As a major shareholder, the WSIB votes at thousands of annual meetings
each year, using proxy rights to push companies toward long-term sustainability. It coleads campaigns within Climate Action 100+,
engaging Washington-based companies on emissions targets and climate disclosure. ShellrCOs 2021 annual general meeting marked the energy
sectorrCOs first-ever shareholder advisory vote on a companyrCOs energy transition strategy rCo a direct result of sustained investor engagement through Climate Action 100+, which represents investors with $54
trillion in assets. The resolution received nearly 89% of shareholder
votes. The WSIB was part of the coalition that made it possible. If
Shell retreats from those commitments, institutional shareholders will
push back. That leverage disappears the moment you sell the shares.

Divestment generates a news release. Engagement moves corporate policy.
One requires a seat at the table; the other surrenders it.

Serving both missions

Washington has built world-class institutions in both climate policy and pension management. The right answer is not to choose between them rCo it
is to exercise both responsibilities through the institutions designed
for each.

Our teachers, firefighters, and police officers have earned their
retirement. They depend on the WSIBrCOs independence to deliver on that promise. We should not ask it to sacrifice returns for a strategy that
the best available research shows will not reduce a single ton of emissions.

Lead on climate through the Legislature. Lead on pension management
through the WSIB. Washington can do both.

Reuven Carlyle is founder of Earth Finance. He served in the Legislature
from 2009-2023, where he was author and sponsor of the Clean Energy Transformation and Climate Commitment acts.

Mark Mullet is mayor of Issaquah and formerly represented the 5th
Legislative District in the state Senate.
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