Interview: Riley Moore on Fighting ESG, Education Reform, and America’s Energy Future

Riley Moore is the West Virginia State Treasurer and current Republican nominee for West Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District. He previously represented district 67 in his state’s House of Delegates. Moore can be found on X and his campaign website. This interview has been edited for clarity and conciseness.

Ari: Did we win the ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) issue?

Riley: We haven't won, but we’re winning. Some financial institutions reversed course, partly from pressure we applied by cancelling their bank contracts in the state of West Virginia.

There is a multi-state coalition. If you end up on my list, you will likely be on another state's list, including states much bigger than West Virginia, like Texas.

We’re persuading these institutions to focus on their modus operandi instead of activism. Banks should maximize shareholder value instead of trying to drive policy through financial markets.

Promoting political ideology through financial markets is antithetical to fiduciary duty. It's a great scheme — something out of a bad guy novel — and it's been effective. Unfortunately, it has permeated everything.

We pushed back, particularly on the “E” (Environment). That affects our families and the people of West Virginia. We are an extractive industry state for coal, gas, and oil. Coal operators came to me and said, “Riley, we're losing access to capital because we're involved in coal.” I started digging into it.

We fired our first shot across the bow in January 2022 by becoming the first state to divest our tax dollars from BlackRock. Now, about ten states have done so.

Ari: For many states, ideology was the most significant issue. They were affected less by actual policies than your state, which minified incentive to take action.

Riley: These asset managers and financial institutions are deeply embedded in green energy. They are destroying the fossil fuel industry by creating a monopolistic relationship with the American people and with the energy sector by creating less competition.

They too have a financial incentive. I'm pursuing the “E” because of the legal conflict of interest. If tax dollars are handed to a financial institution which diminishes those dollars through ESG activity, there is a conflict of interest.

We were in good legal standing to terminate those contracts. We also passed a law allowing me to create a blocklist of organizations. We have not been challenged in any court order.

Ari: What are your biggest campaign goals, and what do you want to accomplish on a federal level?

Riley: My goals are broader than ESG, or being a state treasurer, or a congressman. My biggest goal is to save the American family. Family is a fundamental building block of any society. Hopefully, the family is anchored in faith. That's what binds communities together.

This country was founded on faith. Separation of church and state is not in the Constitution. Thomas Jefferson wrote letters about keeping government out of the church — not religion out of government. I'm not advocating for theocracy. However, Judeo-Christian values that have been chipped away over the last several decades are fundamental to who we are as a country.

We need to eliminate the Department of Education. We can block-grant those dollars back to the states. Further, I have experience running one of the most expansive Educational Savings Account programs in the country — the Hope Scholarship Program. I fought for it, was sued over it, and won at the state Supreme Court. We need Educational Savings Accounts nationally.

Educational Savings Accounts (ESAs) save federal dollars. The size of education debt and the amount of money it takes to service that debt is astronomical. Beyond the financial benefits of ESAs, many children would be liberated from indoctrination. Many educational approaches and agendas they are exposed to are destructive to our way of life and encourage kids to dislike America.

We also need to stop the globalist agenda that shipped our jobs overseas the past several decades. We need to focus on good-paying jobs here in the United States.

I went to trade school after high school, and I urge people to consider that. We often view trade school as a symptom of a life gone wrong. It's actually a good decision to work on a pipeline and earn $200,000 a year.

We need to respect those jobs and incentivize people to pursue them. They should hold the same level of esteem as a lawyer. We have enough lawyers. We need more welders.

Ari: Parents will resonate with your views on education. About a year ago, we reported how the Biden administration withheld lunch money from schools not teaching LGBT content.

Riley: It's their religion. All humans are drawn to a belief system. Theirs is intrinsically evil and one we have to combat. All humans want purpose. Unfortunately, their purpose is to fight for LGBT equal rights.

The current administration supports a bizarre coalition of issues antithetical to what our country stands for — trans folks reading books in libraries, fighting climate change, and supporting Hamas.

People say “trans rights.” I don't know what that means. The right to do what? Read books to my kids in a library? You don't have a right to do that.

We need a national ban on transgender surgeries for minors. West Virginia did it. The whole country should. It’s about saving the family.

Ari: What message do you have for youth about how to stay strong in their faith in today’s world?

I've not always been as devout a Catholic as I am today, but it has saved my life. Whatever your denomination — Protestant, Catholic, Jewish, or a different faith — it's important to have a moral grounding. It's the foundation of everything in this country, including our laws.

Where do people who freak out over seeing the Ten Commandments in public places think our laws come from? They started with Jewish tradition, then the New Testament and the Gospels.

Faith communities are some of the few remaining places to meet and talk to people in person. Many young people are missing this. As human beings, we need to interact face to face, whether at a church, synagogue, or elsewhere. Young people today need a belief system.

Ari: What are your thoughts on nuclear power?

Riley: I'm fine with nuclear power. However, it’s super expensive to develop. We recently built a new nuclear power plant for the first time in decades. Liberals steered us off that path after Three Mile Island and Jane Fonda. We invented nuclear power, and then every country in the world surpassed us.

Nuclear energy is a worthwhile endeavor, but we're talking about fission energy. Government dollars should be invested in research for fusion energy. Globally we face a terawatt challenge because we’re consuming more power. If we could harness fusion in a controlled manner, we would revolutionize electrical power.

That's one reason Liberals support an anti-human and anti-impact ideology. They know that for wind and solar power to work, there must be fewer humans.

Coal, gas, and oil have a role alongside nuclear energy. To leverage its global position, the United States should be an energy superpower and a net energy exporter. Warships and militaries are not enough. We need to use the natural resources under our feet to leverage our position and protect our interests overseas. If I'm elected to Congress, I will push for this.