A Federal Reserve plan that could stop big banks from owning oil pipelines, metals warehouses and other physical-commodity assets is sounding alarm bells hundreds of miles from Wall Street.
Small-town officials from Alabama, Louisiana, North Carolina and other states are warning of unintended consequences from the Fed’s proposal, telling lawmakers and regulators it could prevent municipalities from delivering natural gas to tens of thousands of customers.
In the photograph accompanying the article, Thomasville, Ala. Mayor Sheldon Day is pictured heading into a meeting in Washington with Sen. John McCain’s staff, accompanied by Al Bean, president of Black Belt Energy, and Jim Choukas-Bradley, a partner at law firm McCarter & English.