STEYER, Tom

=oops format, capt bak 7192020 candidate, kpfa ad sound bite ~ corps no heart or soul, max profit<div>=</div><div>
</div><div><a href="https://www.timesnews.net/news/local-news/inconvenient-mogul-big-oils-shadow-war-on-billionaire-steyer/article_d868d580-bc36-5273-9a17-aa0464763cb6.html">https://www.timesnews.net/news/local-news/inconvenient-mogul-big-oils-shadow-war-on-billionaire-steyer/article_d868d580-bc36-5273-9a17-aa0464763cb6.html</a></div><div>
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</div><div><div>Inconvenient mogul: Big oil's shadow war on billionaire Steyer</div><div>By James Nash, Bloomberg News (TNS) Aug 18, 2015 Updated Jul 5, 2020 </div><div>Inconvenient mogul: Big oil's shadow war on billionaire Steyer</div><div>
</div><div>Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, right, speaks during a news conference with consumer advocate Jamie Court, left, president of Consumer Watchdog in Santa Monica, Calif. on Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015. (]</div><div>
</div><div>LOS ANGELES — Oil companies that bankrolled a $9.7 million effort in 2014 to block laws against fracking in California now are focusing their sights on Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge- fund founder turned climate-change activist.</div><div>
</div><div>The top individual political donor in the U.S. last year, Steyer has put millions of his $2.7 billion personal fortune into the cause, hired California Gov. Jerry Brown’s former top spokesman and challenged Chevron Corp. Chief Executive Officer John Watson to a public debate on gas prices.</div><div>
</div><div>In its campaign against him, Californians for Energy Independence — whose contributors include Chevron, Occidental Petroleum Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. — has been probing possible conflicts between Steyer’s business interests and legislative advocacy, attacking him in media statements as a “billionaire super-PAC king” and shadowing his public appearances.</div><div>
</div><div>“This is part and parcel of the way politics works right now,” said Bob Biersack, senior fellow at the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, which documents the influence of money in politics. “You have a small number of people who are making their presence felt in a huge way, and they become fair game.”</div><div>Steyer is part of this small but growing cadre of mega- donors whose influence has grown since the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in the 2010 Citizens United case lifted limits on independent campaign spending. Now, non-candidates including Steyer, the Koch brothers and George Soros are subjects of attacks, much like politicians.</div><div>
</div><div>The conservative David and Charles Koch have been the focus of at least three unflattering films and a KochWatch.org website with the tagline “Billionaires Corrupting Democracy.” The liberal Soros was featured in an hour-long Fox News television program, “The Puppet Master,” with conservative host Glenn Beck.</div><div>
</div><div>Steyer — who founded and ran Farallon Capital Management LLC for almost 27 years before leaving at the end of 2012 to focus on climate issues — backs a bill in the California Senate that would cut petroleum use in half, double the energy efficiency of buildings and increase retail sales of renewable electricity to 50 percent by 2030.</div><div>He worked on the bill with Kevin de Leon, its author and the Senate president pro tem, and has lobbied for the legislation. He also criticized oil refiners about California gas prices at a news conference with Jamie Court, president of the Santa Monica-based Consumer Watchdog advocacy group.</div><div>
</div><div>In July, Steyer hired Gil Duran, a former top spokesman for Brown, as a spokesman on California issues. Duran minimized his role, saying in an interview that Steyer had effective media- outreach aides already.</div><div>
</div><div>Last week, in a letter he made public, Steyer challenged Chevron’s Watson to an open debate on why gas prices in California have risen more than in other states. Chevron spokesman Braden Reddall didn’t say how Watson responded to the challenge, but noted in an e-mail that the company already engages in discussions about gas prices with politicians, regulators and the media.</div><div>
</div><div>NextGen Climate Action, Steyer’s super political action committee, has spent $729,000 on lobbying the California government so far this year, compared with about $100,000 in the prior legislative session, according to data from the secretary of State’s office. Oil and gas interests, led by the Western States Petroleum Association trade group and Chevron, have spent $6.8 million — including on lobbying against the bill Steyer supports.</div><div>
</div><div>Californians for Energy Independence says it has evidence that one of Steyer’s businesses, Kilowatt Financial, could make more money if the bill is passed. Steyer is listed as a manager of the limited-liability company in an April 2014 filing with the secretary of State. Kilowatt makes consumer loans for energy-efficient home renovations and is merging with another lender.</div><div>
</div><div>Sabrina Lockhart, spokeswoman for the energy-independence group, said Kilowatt stands to gain from the legislation because the bill mandates the renovations.</div><div>
</div><div>“He’s trying to shape policies and he’s trying to benefit financially,” she said.</div><div>
</div><div>Steyer’s spokeswoman, Suzanne Henkels, says he stepped down from Kilowatt last year and directed all his green-energy investments into a charitable trust, meaning he won’t profit from the company’s operations.</div><div>
</div><div>Steyer also was criticized for his opposition to the Keystone XL oil pipeline between Alberta, Canada and Nebraska. The national Republican Party denounced him in a Web posting for opposing the pipeline after Farallon profited from oil and gas investments, and invested in a company proposing a rival pipeline. Steyer still has vowed to back Democratic lawmakers who face attacks for voting against it.</div><div>
</div><div>Lockhart said Steyer “takes up a good chunk of my time.” She was in the room on June 12 when Steyer called on leaders of the $191.5 billion California State Teachers’ Retirement System to consider divesting from fossil-fuel stocks. On Aug. 11, Lockhart sent reporters an e-mail calling Steyer a “billionaire super-PAC king” and asserting his criticism of higher gas prices is out of sync with his goal of weaning drivers off gasoline.</div><div>
</div><div>Her e-mail also noted that a July 2014 Washington Times article said Steyer used tax havens in the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands and Mauritius while heading Farallon. Steyer declined to comment to The Washington Times, and Duran and Henkels didn’t respond to an e-mailed request for comment from Bloomberg News.</div><div>
</div><div>“They are going to try to dirty him up,” said Court, a Steyer ally. “He is personally committed on a moral level to preventing a 4-degree temperature change that is irreversible, and he has $3 billion to pursue his passion.”</div><div>
</div><div>Last year, Steyer’s NextGen super-PAC tried to influence elections in several states by appealing to voters concerned about climate change. In Florida, it dispatched more than 500 staffers and volunteers to criticize Gov. Rick Scott’s energy policies and used a “Noah’s ark” to show the threat of rising ocean levels. Scott still won re-election.</div><div>
</div><div>Steyer gave $75.4 million to federal candidates and causes in 2014, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, almost triple the contributions of the next-highest individual donor, Michael R. Bloomberg, majority owner of Bloomberg News parent company Bloomberg LP.</div><div>
</div><div>On Aug. 12, Steyer announced he’ll broaden his policy agenda to include “income inequality and middle-class opportunity.” In an interview at the event in Oakland, where he unveiled the “Fair Shake Commission,” he said issues related to inequality are linked to his environmental activism.</div><div>
</div><div>Lockhart of Californians for Energy Independence said before the announcement that Steyer “didn’t become a hedge-fund billionaire without getting a significant return on his investment,” and he could “take the same path in politics.”</div><div>
</div><div>Steyer has denied his efforts are intended to position himself for political office, even while refusing to rule out a bid. He considered running for the U.S. Senate before bowing out in January.</div><div>
</div><div>For now, he says the opposition won’t deter him and he’s focusing on his climate initiatives by giving speeches and meeting with editorial boards and policy makers in Iowa, participating in a panel on clean energy with business leaders and environmentalists in New Hampshire and joining a public clean-energy discussion in Ohio.</div><div>
</div><div>“I’m choosing to take it as a compliment that they’re taking us as a threat,” he said. “They’re making too much money if they’re going to waste it on stuff like that.”</div><div>
</div><div>(Alison Vekshin in San Francisco and Mark Niquette in Columbus contributed.)</div></div><div>
</div><div>=</div>=Steyer and de León: Climate soulmates
BY LAUREL ROSENHALLJULY 18, 2015 UPDATED JUNE 23, 2020One of them grew up in the barrio of San Diego, the son of an immigrant maid who struggled to pay the rent. The other was raised in one of the nation’s most exclusive zip codes, the youngest son of a New York City lawyer.Their lives diverged for decades. The boy who spent his childhood along the Mexican border dropped out of college and went to work advocating for immigrants and teacher unions. The kid from New York’s Upper East Side graduated from Yale and Stanford, and then started an investment firm in San Francisco.Today, one is among California’s most powerful politicians, the other is a billionaire. And they have built a friendship that may shape the future of the state.Kevin de León, leader of the California Senate, and Tom Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, have joined forces around their shared desire to fight global warming. After working together to pass an energy-efficiency ballot measure in 2012, they are teaming up this year to push for legislation that would reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions and shift the economy away from oil and gas.Both men are lifelong Democrats, but came to environmentalism later in life and from different starting points – de León, 48, from a focus on justice, Steyer, 58, from a belief in God.“We share the same goals together,” said de León, D-Los Angeles. “And we continue to be supportive of each other because this is an issue we care deeply about.”Steyer, a major donor to Democrats nationwide, is pouring money into the California Capitol, and de León is introducing bills that echo Steyer’s environmental agenda. This kind of coalescence is common in American politics, where campaign spending gives some advocates an outsized voice, said Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School who sits on the Los Angeles Ethics Commission.“This is the story of politicians and their benefactors,” she said. “It doesn’t mean that it’s nefarious… This is just the way it is. You get meetings and people pay attention because you can write checks that have a lot of zeros.”Steyer has spent more than $39 million on California political campaigns in the last 15 years, the bulk of it on two climate-change related ballot measures. In the last year, however, his spending reveals a greater focus on who gets elected to the statehouse. In 2014, Steyer gave $1.3 million to Democrats’ legislative campaign efforts and gave the maximum allowable donation to Gov. Jerry Brown’s re-election campaign. An ally of organized labor, he donated $150,000 this year to a union-backed committee that tried unsuccessfully to sway a state Senate race.Last year, Steyer’s nonprofit advocacy group, Next Gen Climate Action, registered to lobby in California. The group has run ads supporting de León’s Senate Bill 350, which calls on the state to cut petroleum use in half, increase the use of wind and solar power to create electricity, and boost energy efficiency in buildings. Steyer himself is lobbying for the legislation, too, both in public testimony and in private meetings with lawmakers.He’s also working on other bodies of power. In June, he urged the state teachers’ retirement fund to consider shifting investments away from fossil fuels, and toward clean sources of power. A similar idea is housed in de León’s SB 185, which would require the state’s public retirement systems to divest from coal.“I have talked to Kevin over the years about a bunch of things, but I think he deserves all the credit for coming up with those specific bills,” said Steyer. “We’ve talked about all the topics, but those are really his.”While Steyer’s spending is princely, it is dwarfed by the money his political enemies in the oil industry pour into California politics. The industry’s main advocacy group in Sacramento spent $8.9 million lobbying last year – far more than any other group. And a half-dozen leading oil companies last year poured $13.8 million into political campaigns in the state.The relationship between de León and Steyer began in 2011 when Steyer spoke to a Senate Democrats policy meeting in Sacramento. They exchanged cards, de León said, and “hit it off because we had the same goals: economic growth, job creation, and cleaning up our environment.”Those were major themes in their joint campaign for Proposition 39 in 2012, which Steyer funded with $30 million. The measure made a change to California’s corporate tax formula that de León had been unable to get through the Legislature, and devoted the new money to energy efficiency upgrades in public schools.De León, who finished college at age 36, said he had little interest in climate change early in his political career. He came to the issue after realizing that poor people suffer from “inequities in the environmental space.” His first bill as a legislator allocated bond money to build parks in underserved neighborhoods. Three years ago, de León carried a bill that requires spending 25 percent of the money generated by California’s cap and trade auctions to benefit disadvantaged communities.Sen. Leader Kevin de León promotes state funding of solar panels for homes of lower income families (Carl Costas, CALmatters)This year, in appearances around the state, de León is working to make an issue usually associated with elite coastal communities relevant in working-class and Latino neighborhoods.  At an event highlighting state funding for rooftop solar panels, he talked with Spanish-language media about the health benefits of drawing electricity from “el poder del sol.” And in a speech to Latino community organizers, he said his clean energy proposal would create “real jobs for our community.”A defining moment in de León’s political evolution came in 1994, when he helped organize a massive Los Angeles protest against Proposition 187. The measure – ultimately ruled unconstitutional – blocked undocumented immigrants from public services, including health care and education. De León and his then-girlfriend marched with their baby daughter in a stroller.Steyer, at that time, was running Farallon Capital Management in San Francisco. He and his wife had three children and another one on the way. Steyer says he opposed the anti-immigration ballot measure, but the focus of his attention then was on his business. Over time, he said, his concern about climate change grew with his Christian faith.“I became more religious, and so I started to look at the world from the point of view of, ‘What are we doing in terms of stewarding creation for everyone in the world and for all living creatures?’” said Steyer, who routinely inks the sign of the cross on his hand with a ballpoint pen and has signed a pledge to donate more than half his wealth to charity.The sign of the cross is penned on Tom Steyer’s hand as he participates in a state retirement fund meeting (Carl Costas, CALmatters)The relationship between de León and Steyer is both professional and personal, said former Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez, a lifelong friend of de León’s who carried California’s landmark climate change bill in 2006. But Steyer’s influence on his friend is minimal, Núñez said.“There’s no question in my mind that Kevin would continue to pursue all of the various efforts around improving the environment and climate change,” even without Steyer’s advocacy, Núñez said.“No question.”Steyer’s political combatants in the oil industry see the relationship differently. They say de León’s policies will benefit Steyer financially because of his investments in clean energy companies.“It is a concern that a hedge fund billionaire who made his fortune off fossil fuels is now promoting policies that he can profit from,” said Sabrina Lockhart, spokeswoman for an industry coalition called Californians for Energy Independence.The group formed to oppose Steyer’s effort to levy a tax on oil extraction. Steyer laughed at his opponents’ argument, saying if he was out to make money he would have stayed at the hedge fund he quit to devote himself to climate activism. Besides, Steyer said, in anticipation of such criticism, he set up all his clean energy investments so that the profit can only go to charity.“It can never go back to me or my family,” he said.In recent years Steyer and de León have appeared together at various environmental and political events, where, Steyer says, they enjoy cracking jokes and talking sports. De León has been a guest at the San Francisco home where Steyer and his wife Kathryn Taylor have hosted President Barack Obama and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.“When we go back home today in 2015, we go back home to two very different lives and two very different houses,” said de León, who never married or bought a home.Where de León readily acknowledges differences between the friends, Steyer focuses on what they have in common.“I don’t see this in any way as a strange friendship,” he said. “Kevin knows some stuff that I don’t know, which I’m very happy to understand. I know some stuff Kevin doesn’t know. And so I don’t view it as two different people; I think of it as two people who are worried about the same things, care about the same things, and are willing to work hard.”Which is exactly what they’re doing now.==nyt<header class="css-g9zndl e12qa4dv1" style="margin: 2.8125rem 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color"><div class="css-xt80pu e12qa4dv0" style="margin: 0px auto 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><div class="css-acwcvw epjyd6m0" style="margin: 0px 0px 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><ul class="css-1w5cs23 epjyd6m2" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; display: flex; -webkit-box-pack: justify; justify-content: space-between; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; flex-wrap: wrap;"><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;"><time class="css-rs1psd e16638kd0" datetime="2014-07-04" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125rem; vertical-align: baseline; letter-spacing: 0.02em; width: auto; display: inline-block;">july 4, 2014</time></li><li style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none;">To environmentalists across Australia, it is a baffling anachronism in an era of climate change: the construction of a 4,000-acre mine in New South Wales that will churn out carbon-laden coal for the next 30 years.</li></ul></div></div></header><section name="articleBody" itemprop="articleBody" class="meteredContent css-1i2y565" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit;" times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" background-color="background-color"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 555px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">The mine’s groundbreaking, in a state forest this year, inspired a veteran to stand in front of a bulldozer and a music teacher to chain himself to a piece of excavation equipment.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">But the project had an unlikely financial backer in the United States, whose infusion of cash helped set it in motion: Tom Steyer, the most influential environmentalist in American politics, who has vowed <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/us/politics/financier-plans-big-ad-campaign-on-environment.html?module=inline" title="A Times article about Mr. Steyer’s pledge." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">to spend $100 million</a> this year to defeat candidates who oppose policies to combat climate change.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Mr. Steyer, a billionaire former hedge fund manager, emerged this election season as <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/15/a-foil-for-the-koch-brothers/" title="A Times article about Mr. Steyer and the Koch brothers." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">the green-minded answer</a> to Charles G. and David H. Koch, the patrons of conservative Republican politics, after vowing that he would sell off his investments in companies that generate fossil fuels like coal.</div><aside class="css-o6xoe7" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;"><div class="css-ke163a" data-testid="article-companion-wrapper" style="margin: 25px auto 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; max-width: 1200px;"><div class="css-48vsi0" id="newsletter-module" style="margin: 0px auto 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; overflow: hidden; width: 180px;"><div class="css-1k9ek97" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="css-tjpxhb" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; width: 180px;"><div name="regilite" class="css-sefkcv" method="post" autocomplete="off" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; height: auto; width: 180px;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;" /></div></div></div></div></div></aside></div><div class="css-190ncxp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1571px; height: 1rem;"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 945px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">But an examination of those investments shows that even after his highly public divestment, the coal-related projects his firm bankrolled will generate tens of millions of tons of carbon pollution for years, if not decades, to come.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Over the past 15 years, Mr. Steyer’s fund, Farallon Capital Management, has pumped hundreds of millions of dollars into companies that operate coal mines and coal-fired power plants from Indonesia to China, records and interviews show.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">The expected life span of those facilities, some of which may run through 2030, could cloud Mr. Steyer’s image as an environmental savior and the credibility of his clean-energy message, which has won him access to the highest levels of American government. A few weeks ago, Mr. Steyer, 56, joined President Obama for an intimate group dinner at the White House that ran into the early morning hours, according to people told of the event.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">The New York Times examined the operations of coal-mining companies in which Farallon invested or to which it lent money during Mr. Steyer’s stewardship, which coincided with growing demand and prices for coal. Together, those mines have increased their annual production by about 70 million tons since they received money from the hedge fund, according to corporate records, government data and interviews with industry experts.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">That is more than the amount of coal consumed annually by Britain.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">“I am disappointed, I have to say,” said Dale Jamieson, a professor of environmental studies at New York University, who said he admired Mr. Steyer’s campaign to curb climate change. When it comes to large-scale investments in coal, Professor Jamieson said, “you can’t undo what you’ve done in the past.”</div></div><div class="css-190ncxp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1571px; height: 1rem;"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 1260px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Mr. Steyer <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2012/10/22/farrallons-founder-to-leave-by-year-end/" title="A Times article about Mr. Steyer’s departure." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">sold his ownership stake</a> in Farallon in late 2012, but he has not cut ties with it entirely. He remains a passive investor, his aides said, though they declined to describe the size of his investment. Employees at Farallon screen out any fossil-fuel-related holdings from his portfolio, and he no longer earns a share of the profits from the fund, the aides said.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Farallon is still invested in carbon-generating industries, and the aides declined to say whether Mr. Steyer had asked it to sell those holdings, a request that would presumably hold significant sway given his role as a founder.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">The Australian mine, known as Maules Creek, illustrates the complexities of Mr. Steyer’s efforts to distance himself. Farallon was a major investor in a 2009 deal aimed at developing the mine, lending an Australian entrepreneur hundreds of millions of dollars to buy out the previous owner, according to people involved in the transaction. Eventually, the entrepreneur took the mine public, turning Farallon’s investment into a large profit. An executive involved in the original deal estimated that Farallon earned tens of millions of dollars.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Farallon remains an investor in Maules Creek to this day. Mining at the site, expected to start in 2015, will last up to 30 years, yield as much as 13 million tons of coal a year and generate about 30 million tons of carbon dioxide a year, according to Ian Lowe, the former head of the School of Science at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. (The company that owns the mine, Whitehaven Coal, disputes the carbon dioxide projection.)<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Given Mr. Steyer’s reputation as an active environmentalist, Australian opponents of the mine were startled to learn of his firm’s role as an early investor.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">“It’s gobsmacking,” Philip Spark, president of the Northern Inland Council for the Environment, a nonprofit trying to stop construction of the mine, said in a telephone interview. “It’s amazing that such a person could have been involved in this project.”<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Mark Carnegie, an investment banker in Australia who was involved in the Maules Creek deal, said he could sense even then that Mr. Steyer was struggling to reconcile his motivations as a profit-seeking investor with his growing anxieties about the environment.</div><aside class="css-o6xoe7" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;" /></div><div class="css-190ncxp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1571px; height: 1rem;"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 630px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">But the investment was financially irresistible. “It was a hard thing to turn down,” Mr. Carnegie said. “It was a huge winning bet for Farallon.”<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Asked why Mr. Steyer had allowed Farallon to pursue such investments in recent years, Heather Wong, a spokeswoman for Mr. Steyer’s political organization, <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="https://nextgenclimate.org/" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">NextGen Climate</a>, said, “Given how major global funds are structured, they are by definition invested in every sector of the economy, which is why Tom stepped down in 2012.”<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">When Mr. Steyer founded NextGen Climate in 2013, the environmental movement found what it had long lacked and sorely wanted: a determined political combatant with a willingness to raise and spend campaign money at a level never before seen by traditional environmental groups. An Upper East Side native educated at Yale and Stanford, Mr. Steyer glided through jobs at Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs in the 1980s before plunging into the relatively new world of hedge funds. Since he founded it in 1986, Farallon — named for a set of rocky islands off the California coast — has grown to manage as much as $37 billion, from about $15 million in the beginning.</div><aside class="css-o6xoe7" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;" /></div><div class="css-79elbk" data-testid="photoviewer-wrapper" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative;"><div class="css-z3e15g" data-testid="photoviewer-wrapper-hidden" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: fixed; opacity: 0; inset: 0px; transition: opacity 0.2s ease 0s; pointer-events: none;"><div data-testid="photoviewer-children" class="css-1ek4jvn ehw59r12" height="479.53125px" width="720px" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; top: 0px; left: 426px; height: 479.531px; width: 720px; pointer-events: none;"><div data-testid="photoviewer-overlay" class="css-t972an ehw59r13" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; z-index: 1; inset: 0px; overflow: hidden; transition: top 0.2s ease 0s, right 0.2s ease 0s, bottom 0.2s ease 0s, left 0.2s ease 0s; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><div width="200px" height="740px" data-testid="photoviewer-captionblock" class="css-11j32b8 ehw59r11" style="margin: 0px; padding: 15px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; display: flex; flex-direction: column; -webkit-box-pack: center; justify-content: center; z-index: 1; top: 0px; left: 1340.64px; width: 200px; height: 740px; opacity: 0;"><span class="css-8i9d0s e13ogyst0" style="margin: 0px 7px 0px 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.25rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" color="color" rgb="rgb" display="display" block="block">Mr. Steyer at the NextGen Climate Action office in San Francisco in February.<span itemprop="copyrightHolder" class="css-vuqh7u e1z0qqy90" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.125rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" display="display" block="block" color="color" rgb="rgb" letter-spacing="letter-spacing" em="em"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden; display: block;">Credit<span style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: block;">Jason Henry for The New York Times</div><div width="720px" height="479.53125px" class="css-1ys6qf4 ehw59r14" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: relative; z-index: 1; width: 720px; height: 479.531px; transition: width 0.2s ease 0s, height 0.2s ease 0s, margin 0.2s ease 0s;"><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: hidden; transition: visibility 0s ease 0.5s;"><div class="css-8h527k" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 720px; background-color: rgb(247, 247, 245); animation: 300ms ease-in 0s 1 normal forwards running animation-1m9j9gf;"><div data-testid="lazyimage-container" style="margin: 0px; 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padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 0.3s ease 0.2s;"><figure class="css-jcw7oy e1g7ppur0" aria-label="media" role="group" itemprop="associatedMedia" itemscope="" itemid="https://static01.nyt.com/images/2014/07/05/us/05STEYER1/05STEYER1-articleLarge.jpg?quality=90&auto=webp" itemtype="http://schema.org/ImageObject" style="margin: 2.6875rem auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: auto; max-width: 720px;"><div class="css-1xdhyk6 erfvjey0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;"><span class="css-1ly73wi e1tej78p0" style="margin: -1px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; position: absolute; width: 1px; height: 1px; clip: rect(0px, 0px, 0px, 0px); overflow: hidden;">Image</div></figure></div></div><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 540px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Throughout the early 2000s, the fund offered large, typically high-interest loans to companies seeking to buy undervalued coal mines in Indonesia, which was still rebounding from the Asian financial crisis. The buyouts proved profitable for Farallon, but they also encouraged the new owners of the mines to increase coal production in order to generate revenue to repay the loans, according to executives who participated in the buyouts.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">In 2004, for example, Farallon lent at least $60 million to a group of investors buying an Indonesian coal-mining company called Berau, giving the fund a right to a stake in the company, according to people involved in the deal. Within a few years, Berau’s value had doubled, delivering a hefty return for Farallon. Berau quickly sped up its operations: Its coal production soared to 20 million tons in 2012 from about nine million tons in 2004.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Roger Suyama, a former Merrill Lynch banker who was involved in the Berau buyout, said Farallon was “like an anchor in the Indonesian coal industry.”</div><aside class="css-o6xoe7" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;" /></div><div class="css-190ncxp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1571px; height: 1rem;"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 1155px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">“By drawing money to an overlooked sector,” he said, “they helped expand the coal industry there.”<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">As with those in coal mining, Mr. Steyer’s investments in coal-fired power will reverberate far into the future.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Farallon invested in a subsidiary of Indiabulls, an Indian financial conglomerate, in 2008, just as the subsidiary began expanding into coal-fired power. Two years later, Indiabulls began construction on two massive coal-fired power plants: the 2,700-megawatt Amravati plant in central India and the 1,350-megawatt Nasik plant outside Mumbai. When completed, Amravati is expected to be one of the largest coal-fired power plants in India.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Indiabulls has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with a government-owned electric utility, locking in two decades of carbon pollution. It took a similar approach in China.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">In 2007, Farallon provided funds for the sale of Meiya Power, an electric utility that operates four large coal-fired power plants, which collectively produce about 7,000 megawatts of power. Combined, the completed Indiabulls and Meiya plants will produce about 60 million tons of carbon pollution a year, according to Dallas Burtraw, an analyst at Resources for the Future, a research organization in Washington.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">The Republican candidates Mr. Steyer is targeting in this year’s midterm elections said such investments deeply undermined his cause.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">“It blows a hole in his credibility,” said Representative Cory Gardner, a Senate candidate in Colorado, whose Democratic rival, Senator Mark Udall, has benefited from $100,000 from Mr. Steyer’s political organization. “You can’t claim you are a great environmentalist and invest in the very same technologies you are railing against.”<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Republican leaders and their allies are drawing up plans to cast Mr. Steyer as a hypocrite. In North Carolina, Thom Tillis, a Senate candidate, said he intended to portray his opponent, Senator Kay Hagan, and Mr. Steyer as “people who say one thing and do another.”</div><aside class="css-o6xoe7" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px auto; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; width: 210px; -webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center;" /></div><div class="css-190ncxp" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 1571px; height: 1rem;"><div class="css-1fanzo5 StoryBodyCompanionColumn" style="margin: 0px auto 1rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; display: flex; flex-direction: row; height: 1035px; width: 1200px;"><div class="css-53u6y8" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px calc((100% - 600px) / 2); padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; width: 600px; max-width: 600px;"><p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">At the same time, conservative groups and blogs are scouring Mr. Steyer’s business record. One blog, Power Line, has <a class="css-1g7m0tk" href="http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2014/04/the-epic-hypocrisy-of-tom-steyer.php" title="A Power Line blog post." rel="noopener noreferrer" target="blank" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">written extensively</a> about Farallon’s work in the coal industry.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">In interviews, several prominent environmentalists argued that Mr. Steyer’s unrivaled spending to support climate-change policies outweighed the impact of the carbon pollution unleashed by his past investments.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">“This is precisely what we want people to do: sell investments in fossil fuels and get to work solving the problem of climate change,” said Bill McKibben, a founder of the group 350.org, which pushes financial institutions to divest from fossil fuels.<p class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0" style="margin: 0px 0px 0.9375rem; padding: 0px; border: 0px; text-size-adjust: 100%; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.875rem;" times="times" new="new" roman="roman" serif="serif" vertical-align="vertical-align" baseline="baseline" width="width" px="px" max-width="max-width">Supporters point to the $25 million campaign Mr. Steyer organized four years ago to defeat a California ballot initiative that would have gutted the state’s landmark climate-change law. The law remained in place and is projected to cut about 30 million tons of carbon emissions by 2020. This year, Mr. Steyer plans to spend four times as much in support of Mr. Obama’s plan to reduce emissions from about 600 coal-fired power plants — a plan expected to eliminate 220 million tons of carbon pollution a year.</div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></section>2018 major donor<a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/31/steyer-democrats-millions-midterms-751245">https://www.politico.com/story/2018/07/31/steyer-democrats-millions-midterms-751245</a>.... Steyer plans to spend at least $110 million in 2018, making the billionaire investor the largest single source of campaign cash on the left and placing him on a path to create a parallel party infrastructure with polling, analytics and staffing capabilities that stand to shape and define the issues the party runs on in November.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Steyer is building out an operation that’s bigger than anyone's other than the Koch brothers' — and the billionaire and his aides believe the reservoir of nontraditional voters he’s already activated could become the overriding factor in House and other races across the country.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
Unlike the $80 million being spent by Michael Bloomberg on House Democratic races, Steyer will put his cash toward building out NextGen America and Need to Impeach, his two growing political organizations, as well as funding clean-energy ballot initiatives in Arizona and Nevada. Steyer has already doubled his initial $20 million investment in Need to Impeach to $40 million and has not ruled out adding more.Yet Steyer’s oversize role also stands to position him squarely against Democratic Party leadership, which has shown little appetite for pursuing one of his signature causes: impeachment.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Steyer already dropped over $5 million into his For Our Future PAC, and he is expecting more outlays on behalf of individual candidates — such as the $1 million he put behind Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum — though likely not in any of the remaining primaries.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Between the two organizations, he’ll have close to 1,000 people on staff, in addition to over 2,000 volunteers. The Need to Impeach email list alone has already topped 5.5 million, which its research — anyone who signs up with the effort has their information run through a series of voter files and other databases — shows includes a very exact 697,780 infrequent voters in the 63 most competitive House districts.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">“Our list is bigger than the NRA’s — and we’re going to make sure that it votes that way in 2018,” said Kevin Mack, lead strategist for Need to Impeach.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 344.859px 1em 0px; font-family: Georgia, Times, " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" serif="serif" line-height="line-height" em="em" font-size="font-size" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">...59LATCalifornia Sen. Benjamin Allen (D-Santa Monica) saw the legislation through the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee, of which he is chairman. It passed the Senate 26-12 and the Assembly 51-26.Several grassroots groups, including California Common Cause, Move to Amend and Money Out, Voters In, have pushed to get the measure on the ballot in California and in other states across the country. Organizers say they’re holding meetings, rallies and attending events like county fairs to educate people. There is a proposition campaign kickoff planned at Los Angeles City Hall on Sept. 18.Campaign <a href="http://www.latimes.com/politics/la-pol-ca-money-raised-november-california-propositions-20160811-snap-htmlstory.html" target="blank" style="text-decoration: none;">records show only $10,000 had been raised</a> to drum up support for Proposition 59 before California billionaire Tom Steyer joined the effort in early September and gave $61,000. No one has spent money opposing it.A billionaire environmentalist is spending big money in California to skewer presumptive Republican nominee <a href="https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/06/16/17488/9-things-know-about-donald-trump" style="text-decoration: none;">Donald Trump</a>—the latest volley in a barrage of anti-Trump advertising that has saturated TV airwaves.The billionaire? Tom Steyer, who has so far contributed $24 million to his personal super PAC, NextGen Climate Action Committee. That ranks him among the top contributors to all super PACs so far this election.NextGen Climate Action Committee says it acts “politically to prevent climate disaster and promote prosperity for every American.”But the Spanish-language ad sponsored by NextGen Climate Action Committee depicts Trump calling Mexican immigrants “rapists” and announcing plans for a “deportation force”—a clear departure from the super PAC’s typical environment-focused messaging.The ad then cuts to Steyer himself who, in Spanish, encourages Californians to vote.During the 2014 midterm elections, no person funneled more traceable money into federal elections than Steyer. He spent more than $73 million that year backing Democratic candidates concerned about rising global temperatures — exceeding what individual conservative megadonors spent backing Republicans.Yet, a majority of the candidates Steyer backed lost their races, and Democrats failed to retain control of the U.S. Senate.Steyer appears ready to double down on politics in 2016, despite a low return on his previous investment: NextGen Climate Action will invest <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2016/04/25/tom-steyer-launching-25-million-effort-to-turn-out-young-voters/" style="text-decoration: none;">$25 million in get-out-the-vote efforts</a>, and <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2016/01/tom-steyer-2016-spending-218449" style="text-decoration: none;">Steyer himself said he plans to spend more money on this election cycle</a> than he did the last one.The ad’s sponsorTechnically sponsoring the ad is NextGen California Action Committee, a super PAC operating under the “NextGen” umbrella.NextGen Climate Action first formed in 2013 as two entities: a 501(c)(4) nonprofit and a super PAC, NextGen Climate Action Committee.The super PAC made a splash in 2014 when it raised about $78 million amid hotly contested U.S. Senate races, according to data from the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/" style="text-decoration: none;">Center for Responsive Politics</a>.Some of the money—about $17.6 million directly attacked Republicans. That included spending $100,000 to build a <a href="http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2014-10-17/steyer-deploys-ark-to-display-menace-of-climate-change" style="text-decoration: none;">“Noah’s Ark”</a>—literally, a giant wooden boat on wheels —that traveled throughout Florida, taunting Republican Gov. Rick Scott.<div class="in_content_ad_container ad_13" style="width: 300px; height: 250px; border: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); float: left; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px; line-height: 25px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div id="div-gpt-ad-1420251685282-1" style="width: 300px; height: 250px;"><div id="google_ads_iframe/1010624/New_AlterNet_300x250_STORY_EMBED_2_0container" style="border: 0pt none; display: inline-block; width: 300px; height: 250px;">It also spent some money directly supporting Democrats, such as Iowa politician Bruce Braley, who benefited from about $780,000 in NextGen Climate Action support but still lost to now-U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst.NextGen Climate Action Committee also transferred tens of millions of dollars to other liberal super PACs and politically active nonprofits. They included state-based affiliates of NextGen Climate Action, as well as pro-Democrat groups such as the League of Conservation Voters and Fair Share Action.NextGen Climate Action has offices in states such as New Hampshire, Iowa and California and has begun organizing on college campuses, too. Before elections this November, NextGen Climate Action plans to send organizers to hundreds of campuses in seven states.Who’s behind it?Steyer, mastermind behind the “NextGen” behemoth, once shared the same occupation as several Republican megadonors: hedge fund manager.But in 2012, Steyer sold his stake in hedge fund Farallon Capital, and he became a full-time political and environmental activist. Since then, Steyer has heavily invested in supporting candidates, political parties and ballot initiatives.Steyer is also <a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/politics/la-pol-ca-california-politics-steyer-20160124-story.html" style="text-decoration: none;">rumored to be considering a 2018 run for governor</a> in California to replace Gov. Jerry Brown, which wouldn’t be surprising considering all 2016 NextGen Climate Action Committee ads prominently feature Steyer as if he were himself a political candidate. Few other super PACs, be them liberal or conservative, feature their leaders or top donors in TV ads they produce.Steyer’s super PAC funding exploded in 2014. While most of the $78 million he contributed — about $68.7 million — went to his own super PACs, Steyer also gave $5 million to Senate Majority PAC, a super PAC dedicated to electing Democrats to the U.S. Senate.In 2016, Steyer has yet to help fund any of the main super PACs supporting Democratic frontrunner <a href="https://www.publicintegrity.org/2015/04/12/17107/12-things-know-about-hillary-clinton" style="text-decoration: none;">Hillary Clinton</a>, such as Priorities USA Action, or run NextGen Climate Action Committee ads that overtly praise or promote Clinton.Steyer did, however, donate to Clinton’s presidential campaign and conduct a<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/tom-steyer-hillary-clinton-keystone-117707" style="text-decoration: none;">$2,700-per-person fundraiser for her in May</a>....http://www.alternet.org/election-2016/meet-billionaire-environmentalist-funding-major-ad-push-against-donald-trump
==frack ag water: mojo...
Irrigation water appears to be a major loophole in a food safety

program that otherwise strictly controls what farmers can apply to their

land. Notably, the organics program does prohibit the use of sewage sludge-based fertilizer, a product widely used on nonorganic farms that <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2009/05/sludge-happens" target="_blank">sometimes contains chemicals such as flame retardants and pharmaceuticals</a>.

On Monday, California Assemblyman Mike Gatto, a Democrat from Glendale, introduced <a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520162AB14" target="_blank">a bill</a>

that would require crops irrigated with wastewater from oil and gas

operations to be labeled as such. "No one expects their lettuce to

contain heavy chemicals from fracking wastewater," he <a href="http://asmdc.org/members/a43/news-room/press-releases/mike-gatto-proposes-bill-to-label-food-irrigated-with-contaminated-fracking-water" target="_blank">explained in a press release</a>.

That's especially true if their lettuce is labeled "organic," adds

Adam Scow, the California director of the environmental group Food and

Water Watch: "I think most people's logic would tell them that's not a

practice consistent with organic standards."<h2>AB-14 Food labeling: wastewater from oil and gas field activities. (2015-2016)</h2><a href="http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520162AB14">http://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520162AB14</a>

http://ecowatch.com/2016/02/10/farmers-irrigate-crops-oil-water/===
California billionaire <a href="http://ecowatch.com/author/tom-steyer/">Tom Steyer</a>

has pledged at least $25 million to a campaign aimed at getting

millennials to vote for political candidates who care about climate and

energy issues.

The number of registered Millennials has TRIPLED since 2008. <a href="https://t.co/qEyD7eW8Mh">https://t.co/qEyD7eW8Mh</a> <a href="https://t.co/L2Vo1JQ9e7">pic.twitter.com/L2Vo1JQ9e7</a>

— NextGen Climate (@NextGenClimate) <a href="https://twitter.com/NextGenClimate/status/724712357398601728">April 25, 2016</a></blockquote>

</div>

“Today, over 80 percent of young voters prefer candidates who offer <a href="http://ecowatch.com/business/renewables/">clean energy</a>

solutions, so they can turn their enthusiasm into real, tangible,

political power,” he told reporters. Steyer, along with his political

advocacy group, <a href="https://nextgenclimate.org/" target="_blank">NextGen Climate</a>,

will target at last 203 colleges and universities in battleground

states like Ohio, Nevada, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire.<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2016/04/26/tom-steyer-register-voters/">http://ecowatch.com/2016/04/26/tom-steyer-register-voters/</a>=
Dan Morain<a href="mailto:dmorain@sacbee.com" title="mailto:dmorain@sacbee.com">dmorain@sacbee.com</a>

</div>

In California, Chevron, Tesoro and other oil giants are acting as if the end is near.The

grim reaper, as they see it, comes in the person of Tom Steyer, the

billionaire environmentalist, and his buddy, Senate President Pro Tem

Kevin de León. The instrument of their demise is de León’s Senate Bill

350, which would require Californians to cut gasoline consumption by up

to 50 percent by 2030.De León calls it The Clean Energy and

Pollution Reduction Act of 2015. In television ads and mailers intended

to persuade legislators to vote against SB 350, the oil industry derides

it as The California Gas Restriction Act of 2015.Big Oil has

engaged in political fights before, whenever legislators pushed bills to

require better mileage, higher taxes and cleaner fuel. More often than

not, the industry has won.“SB 350 is something entirely

different,” said Tupper Hull, spokesman for the Western States Petroleum

Association. “It is an attempt to essentially put oil companies out of

business.”Hyperbole is part of the arsenal. But de León’s

legislation does takes direct aim at the oil companies’ fundamental

product in the nation’s largest single market. And what happens in

California does tend to spread.Polls show most California voters

believe climate change is upon us. We also love our wheels. Oil industry

consultants are betting that politicians will think twice about casting

votes that could be tied to price spikes in a few years.The ads

warn of state-mandated gasoline rationing, surcharges on minivans,

penalties on people who consume too much gas, and invasion of motorists’

privacy by tapping into their cars’ on-board computers. None of it is

true, de León says.“The irony is they’re scaring the very same

people who are most harmed by the product, working-class folks. There is

a perverseness to it,” de León told me last week.De León says he

is “not anti-oil” and called Chevron “a very good California company.”

But he also says the state has “to build a new economy; we have to

reduce the harmful carbon emissions.”The goal of ending oil

dependence is noble. But there are basic questions starting with how the

state would attain the reduction, given motorists’ wants and needs. Last

week, Global Automakers, a trade group that includes Ferrari, Maserati,

and Japanese and Korean models, sent de León a letter saying SB 350

fails to provide the “automobile industry with the flexibility needed”

to reduce petroleum use by half by 2030.“Given current and

evolving technologies, the only way to achieve that level of reduction

would be if every new car sold in 2030 and beyond were a Zero Emission

Vehicle. Global Automakers believes that is a laudable but unattainable

goal,” the letter says.Californians account for half the sales

nationally of zero-emission vehicles, 58,546 of the 116,916 sold last

year. But they are a fraction of overall new car sales in California,

3.2 percent last year, and 2.4 percent in the first five months of 2015.De

León had no trouble getting SB 350 out of his house. It passed on a

party-line 24-14 vote. The Assembly will be another story. Gov. Jerry

Brown is helping. He and de León intend to attend a global climate

summit in Paris later this year. They’d have plenty to boast about if SB

350 becomes law.Climate change warriors such as Steyer believe

SB 350 would be an important step toward attaining the goal of reducing

the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere from the current 400

parts per million to below 350 parts per million, essential, they

believe, to maintaining a liveable planet.Steyer, who retired in

2012 from the San Francisco hedge fund that made him rich, was in

Sacramento last week to receive the thanks of California Democratic

Party Chairman John Burton for helping fund the effort to have the new

Democratic Party headquarters certified as environmentally correct.<div class="highline highline-fact" id="highline-fact-1">Environmentalist

Tom Steyer spent $1.6 million on California campaigns in 2013-14. That

isn’t pocket change, except that Chevron, Tesoro, Valero and Occident

Petroleum spent $17.1 million.</div>Steyer, in campaign mode, is

paying to send pro-SB 350 mailers into the districts of Assembly

Democrats. He also attended a Mass at St. Anthony Mary Claret Catholic

Church at the south end of Fresno, in Assemblyman Henry Perea’s

district. Perea is a leader of the moderate Democrats, who, for now, are

withholding support for SB 350.“None,” Perea said of the impact

of Steyer’s efforts. “As I walk my dogs around the neighborhood, no one

is pulling me aside and asking me about 350.”Steyer spread $1.6

million to California state campaigns last year. That isn’t pocket

change, except that Chevron spent $11.6 million on California campaigns

in 2013 and 2014, and Tesoro, Valero and Occidental Petroleum spent

another $5.5 million.Employing the tried-and-true technique of

selecting and electing legislators who are open to their arguments, if

not malleable, oil companies gave money to no fewer than 24 Assembly

Democrats in 2014. Some more than others. The industry-funded

Coalition to Restore California’s Middle Class spent $520,000 to elect

Jim Cooper to the Elk Grove-area Assembly seat. Californians for Jobs

and a Strong Economy, also heavily funded by oil companies, spent

$445,000 for Cooper. Cooper says he made no promises to donors other

than to “be fair and listen to everybody’s position.” “My folks

aren’t driving electric vehicles,” Cooper told me. “If gas prices spike,

that will hurt them. I support the concept (of SB 350), but how do we

get there in a smart way?”What is and isn’t smart is relative.

Oil companies are smart, and will adapt to whatever politicians concoct.

Legislators will do what’s in their best interests. Let’s hope it’s in

our interests, too.<div class="ng_endnote_contact">Dan Morain: <a href="tel:916-321-1907" title="">916-321-1907</a>, <a href="mailto:dmorain@sacbee.com" title="">dmorain@sacbee.com</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/DanielMorain" target="_blank" title="">@DanielMorain</a></div></div></div></div><div style="width: 1px; height: 1px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: left; text-transform: none; overflow: hidden;">
Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/dan-morain/article31841658.html#storylink=cpy</div>=
<h1 class=" ">

                    Kitzhaber saga fuels conservatives' fight on clean energy</font></h1><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">

                </font><p class="subhead"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
                        The former governor's downfall hands conservatives ammunition to use against environmentalists.</font></p><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
                
            </font><footer class="meta">
    <p class="byline"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
            By <span class="vcard">Jonathan Topaz</span> and <span class="vcard"><a href="http://www.politico.com/staff/elana-schor" rel="author" class="url fn" target="_top">Elana Schor&nbsp;&nbsp; E&E?<br /></a></span></font><br/>

                        Updated <time datetime="2015-02-18T06:27-0500">02/18/15 06:27 PM EST</time></font></p><p class="updated"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><time datetime="2015-02-18T06:27-0500">For

years, conservatives have decried efforts at the state and federal

level to support renewable energy producers as crony capitalism.

In Oregon, Gov. John Kitzhaber, they may now have their poster child.

The

downfall of Kitzhaber — the Democrat who last week said he would resign

because of conflict-of-interest allegations over his first lady’s

consulting contracts — hands conservatives on and off Capitol Hill

ammunition to use against billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, green

nonprofit groups and national Democrats advocating clean energy.

“This

is just another example of environmental activist groups attempting to

influence policy under a veil of secrecy, and one more reason these

groups merit additional scrutiny,” Senate Environment and Public Works

Chairman Jim Inhofe (R-Okla.) said in a statement Tuesday.

“Beneath the violation of public trust by the Oregon state officials, we

have far-left foundations funneling significant funds to an

environmental group to orchestrate this type of activism without any

public disclosure.”

Sen.

David Vitter (R-La.), who opened an investigation into environmental

nonprofits giving during his time as the environment committee’s top

Republican, on Tuesday connected the Kitzhaber investigation to “a well-funded, highly developed far-left environmental network in place to influence environmental public policy.”

“This

appears to be only one key example of how far they are willing to go to

advance their agenda,” Vitter, who is running for governor of the

Pelican State this year, said through a spokesman.

Democrats

for weeks have distanced themselves from Kitzhaber, whose fiancée,

Cylvia Hayes, earned at least $213,000 on contracts closely tied to her

work in the Kitzhaber administration. Most of those contracts were

related to clean energy, a major priority in the governor’s

administration on which Hayes served as an unpaid adviser. State

Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum has an open criminal investigation into

the Kitzhaber administration’s actions, and federal authorities on

Friday issued a criminal subpoena to the Oregon Department of

Administrative Services for information related to Hayes’ contracts.

ALSO ON POLITICO
Oregon Gov. Kitzhaber resigns

JONATHAN TOPAZ

Kitzhaber, who leaves office on Wednesday, was just beginning a record fourth term as governor.

Oregon

Secretary of State Kate Brown, a Democrat, took over and became the

state’s 38th governor. When asked about how committed Brown will be to

clean energy in her upcoming administration, spokesman Tony Green said

she wasn’t yet ready to address specific policy questions.

But

conservatives are seeking to link Kitzhaber’s administration to the

national green-energy policies advocated by the White House and other

Democrats. They claim that Democrats have propped up failed clean-energy

projects that aren’t financially sustainable without government aid,

and that aid ends up financially benefiting only the politically

connected companies lobbying for it.

“The

skepticism is with Washington politicians picking winners and losers in

the marketplace,” said Catherine Frazier, spokeswoman for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who argues that government funding for clean energy projects amounts to “corporate welfare.”
Kate Brown is pictured. | AP Photo

ALSO ON POLITICO
Meet Kate Brown

JONATHAN TOPAZ

“I have no doubt that this should serve as a call for an investigation beyond Oregon’s borders,” said Christopher Horner of the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a free market think tank.

Horner and others cited emails, obtained by Freedom of Information Act

requests, between officials in the governors’ offices in Oregon,

Washington state and California in 2013 discussing a multistate climate

strategy. In the emails, state officials discuss potential funding from

Steyer and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and indicate

that White House Council on Environmental Quality staff are “interested”

in the proposal.

In the past several days, both The Wall Street Journal and National Review

have published opinion pieces highlighting Oregon as an example of the

failures of the clean energy industry. “[T]he Hayes-Kitzhaber operation

exposes the underside of the big-money, insider politics that has come

to dominate the environmental movement,” the Journal wrote in an

editorial, an argument congressional Republicans have also used to

criticize the Obama administration’s backing of companies such as

Solyndra and Fisker Automotive.

Conservatives also argue that

liberals — and the media — are holding the oil industry to a much higher

ethical standard than the clean energy industry. “When Obama is giving

tens of billions of dollars in tax breaks, this isn’t for a mom-and-pop wind or solar company. It’s for corporations,”

said Charlie Pearce, a former campaign official for Dennis Richardson,

the Republican who lost to Kitzhaber in November. Pearce vowed to launch

a recall petition against Kitzhaber before the incumbent announced his

resignation.

And the situation in Oregon also allows

conservatives to target Steyer, the billionaire climate advocate that

has become a major player in national electoral politics — someone who,

Pearce acknowledged, has become “the Democratic boogeyman” — akin to

Charles and David Koch, who support GOP candidates.

For

Republicans dedicated to undercutting the network of Democratic campaign

support and activism that Steyer has helped build, his ties to the

Oregon scandal advance a simple but potent argument: Wealthy

environmentalists are not above the same tactics they savage

conservatives for using.

“I don’t object to Steyer spending his money trying to persuade people; I object to the hypocrisy,” GOP energy lobbyist and strategist Michael McKenna said

in an interview. “Whether it’s criminal or not, it all smells pretty

bad, and it’s a rebuke to everybody who says our side’s different from

the other side.”

American Energy Alliance President Tom Pyle,

whose pro-fossil fuel nonprofit is backed in part by funding from the

Kochs, said in an interview that the Oregon flap is “indicative of

systemic problems with all these programs” focusing on green energy.

“They’re

so heavily dependent on government intervention and involvement,” said

Pyle, a former Koch Industries lobbyist. “It’s beyond cronyism —

bordering on corruption.”

The web of nonprofit grants and

support that connects Steyer to Hayes might be indirect, but its

structure mirrors the conclusions of Vitter’s report last year, which

traced the financial influence of a group of wealthy green donors

Republicans dubbed “the Billionaire’s Club.”

The Energy

Foundation, one of two massive nonprofits that paid for Hayes’ $118,000

fellowship — income she failed to publicly disclose until questioned by

Oregon media — got a $500,000 grant approved from Steyer’s TomKat

Charitable Trust in 2012, according to the trust’s tax filings for that

year.

The Energy Foundation steered two $25,000 grants in

2012 and 2013 to the Clean Economy Development Center, which gave Hayes

her fellowship, federal tax forms show.

The GOP Senate report

targets the Energy Foundation as “a quintessential example of a

pass-through frequently employed” by a nationwide network of green

donors working to influence federal and state policies.

The

Energy Foundation said conservative attacks are skirting the issue on

clean energy. “It’s unfortunate that some are using recent events in

Oregon to make old, familiar attacks on clean energy work being done in

the Pacific Northwest and across the nation,” the foundation said in a

statement to POLITICO.

Bobby Whithorne, a spokesman for Steyer’s

NextGen Climate political action committee, said the Oregon attacks are

part of a broader industry campaign to twist the truth.

“It’s no

surprise the Big Oil special interests and their feckless minions will

blow as much dirty smoke as they can - in the last several weeks they

have denied basic climate science, rejected human evolution and, in this

case, ignored the actual facts,” he emailed Wednesday.

The

TomKat trust’s Energy Foundation donations amounted to less than 1

percent of the latter group’s annual intake for 2013, NextGen noted, and

were not permitted to be used on “legislative, lobbying or electoral

purposes.”

In a Feb. 6 statement posted on its website, the Clean

Economy Development Center said Hayes’ work focused on “communicating

the economic benefits of clean economy projects” and that it “does not

engage in any lobbying activities.” CEDC did not return a request for

further comment by press time.

One of the projects on which Hayes

focused during her fellowship, CEDC said, was a Gulf Coast sustainable

communities project set up after the BP oil spill that won praise from

the White House in 2011 for having “established a model of collaboration

that brings together local communities, federal agencies, nonprofits,

and businesses to rebuild neighborhoods.”

CEDC’s executive

director Jeffrey King co-founded a group called Clean Economy Network

that in 2011 became part of Advanced Energy Economy, another green

nonprofit, of which Steyer is a co-founder and board member. The CEN’s

affiliate education fund received $2.5 million in grants from Steyer’s

TomKat trust in 2012, according to federal tax returns.

Former

Inhofe aide Matt Dempsey, now a senior director at FTI Consulting,

predicted that the Oregon scandal would come back to haunt Steyer as the

hedge funder seeks to influence the next election.

“This is a black eye for his efforts moving forward in 2016,” Dempsey said.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/john-kitzhaber-oregon-clean-energy-115287#ixzz43Glx7Gvb
</time>

                </footer><font face="Times New Roman" size="4"><br />Read more: <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/john-kitzhaber-oregon-clean-energy-115287#ixzz43GljMi2I">http://www.politico.com/story/2015/02/john-kitzhaber-oregon-clean-energy-115287#ixzz43GljMi2I</a></font><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==<br /></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">This&nbsp;<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2015/10/truth-bomb-going-drop-middle-gop-debate" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">story</a>&nbsp;was originally published by&nbsp;</em><a href="http://www.motherjones.com/" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Mother Jones</a><em style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit;">&nbsp;and is reproduced here as part of the&nbsp;<a href="http://climatedesk.org/" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Climate Desk</a>&nbsp;collaboration.</em></font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you watch tonight’s Republican primary debate on CBNC, you can expect to hear opinions on the economy and&nbsp;<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/gop-debate-colorado-legal-weed-john-blaze" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">pot</a>,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2015/10/what-look-wednesdays-gop-debate" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">attacks on newly annointed front-runner Ben Carson, and more</a>. You can also expect to see the ad above, which lays out the economic case for action on climate change.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The 30-second spot is part of a six-figure TV and digital ad buy from NextGen Climate, the advocacy group run by billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer. At the beginning of the primary season,&nbsp;<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/04/nextgen-steyer-climate-change-rand-paul" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Steyer promised to focus his group’s energy</a>&nbsp;on holding Republican presidential candidates accountable for their lack of climate action, and to pursue a campaign to “disqualify” any candidate who doesn’t accept mainstream climate science.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“America has never been a country of quitters,” the ad states, over bucolic b-roll of farmers, veterans, and small town Main Streets. “We don’t ignore threats like climate change.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Then the scene changes to wind farms and solar panels, as the narrator promises that American-made clean energy will produce jobs, innovation, and energy independence. At the end, it advocates a specific goal of getting half the country’s power from renewable sources by 2030. (We’re at about&nbsp;<a href="http://www.eia.gov/electricity/monthly/epm_table_grapher.cfm?t=epmt_1_01" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">7 percent</a>&nbsp;now.)</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Steyer is clearly right that clean energy is a major 21st-century growth industry. Solar is the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/11/solar-energy-power-boom-charts" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">fastest-growing energy source</a>&nbsp;in the country, and employment in that sector already outnumbers coal miners two-to-one. Nearly&nbsp;<a href="http://fs-unep-centre.org/publications/global-trends-renewable-energy-investment-2015" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">$40 billion</a>&nbsp;was invested in clean energy in the United States in 2014, 7 percent higher than the previous year. Earlier this month, California&nbsp;<a href="http://www.pv-magazine.com/news/details/beitrag/california-governor-brown-signs-50-renewable-portfolio-standard-into-law_100021447/#axzz3psKtK7Az" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">adopted the same ambitious target</a>that Steyer is calling for: The state’s power companies will be required to get 50 percent of their electricity from renewables by 2030.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">But the message hasn’t yet gotten through to most of the Republican presidential candidates. Marco Rubio’s energy plan is basically the&nbsp;<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/10/rubio-energy-plan-drill-drill-drill" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">exact opposite</a>&nbsp;of what Steyer wants. Jeb Bush wants to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2015/07/jeb-bush-wants-elimate-all-energy-subsidies" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">eliminate all energy subsidies</a>, including those for renewables. Other&nbsp;<a href="http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/presidential-candidates-who-believes-in-climate-change/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">candidates have variously</a>&nbsp;denied the existence of climate change, championed fossil fuels, and taken pot shots at President Barack Obama’s climate agenda.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.6; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The one exception, believe it or not, is Ben Carson, who&nbsp;—&nbsp;despite engaging in&nbsp;<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ben-carson-climate-change_560d9b3fe4b0dd85030b5354" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">climate change skepticism&nbsp;</a>—&nbsp;recently said he wants&nbsp;<a href="http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/10/ben-carson-clean-energy-goals" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">“more than 50 percent”</a>clean energy. Maybe tonight we’ll learn more about how exactly he plans to get us there.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="line-height: 23.04px;">http://grist.org/politics/this-ad-might-be-one-of-the-only-factual-things-youll-hear-during-the-republican-debate/</span></font></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">There’s been some buzz lately about what the next step would be for billionaire environmentalist&nbsp;<a href="http://ecowatch.com/author/tom-steyer/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;">Tom Steyer</a>‘s group Next Generation. It&nbsp;<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2015/04/tom-steyer-nonprofit-shuts-down-climate-program-116584.html" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;">hit the news last week</a>&nbsp;that he was shutting down the group’s climate policy research arm, with speculation that he would shift resources to its political wing NextGen Climate (NGC).</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Now we know. Monday NGC announced its first big campaign of the 2016 presidential election season, dubbed “<a href="http://b.3cdn.net/climate/f2401aea66b932965b_e4m623ikv.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;">The Hot Seat</a>.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">If you’re in a position that is different from 97 percent of scientists, that does raise basic competency questions in terms of whether people are going to want to give you the keys to the White House,” said NextGen Climate’s chief strategist Chris Lehane during a press call Monday.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The group describes the program as “a high-tech war room that will track Koch brothers-backed presidential candidates,&nbsp;put them in the Hot Seat for their science denial and support for policies that only serve the best interests of the Kochs, and press them on their plans to address&nbsp;<a href="http://ecowatch.com/climate-change-news/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;">climate change</a>&nbsp;for the next generation.” It’s referring to the Republican presidential race as “The Koch Primaries,” tying the candidates to big-spending fossil fuel-billionaires Charles and David Koch, who have vowed to drop almost a billion dollars to put someone who serves their anti-climate interests into the White House.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The campaign will include TV and radio ad buys, billboards and social media,&nbsp;with college campuses and young voters a particular priority.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“America is at an energy crossroads, and there is nearly a billion dollars in money from the Koch brothers’ network standing in the way of real solutions that will move our country forward,” says NGC. “But there’s good news: Republican presidential hopefuls’ willingness to deny basic science and put our country at risk in their pursuit of the Kochs’ campaign cash is a serious liability with voters.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The San Francisco-based group will set up satellite offices in DC and key presidential primary states to work on “making climate denial into&nbsp;a liability with voters&nbsp;and force these candidates to answer to the American people.” It’s been teasing the new campaign with billboards, truck-drawn mobile billboards and a plane that flew over the Iowa Agriculture Summit with a banner that said, “Jeb Bush: I’m Not a Scientist.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“From Iowa to New Hampshire,&nbsp;we’ll be&nbsp;ready to strike when Republicans deny basic science and refuse to show meaningful climate leadership for our country and our kids,” promises NGC. “NGC will expose the nexus between the nearly one billion dollars the Koch network plans to spend and the anti-science positions taken by Republican presidential candidates.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Lehane didn’t attach a specific dollar figure to Steyer’s likely spending in the upcoming race, but said,&nbsp;“He has made it clear he will spend what it takes. It still is a drop in the big oil bucket compared to what the other side is spending.&nbsp;We’re up against the most well-resourced special interests I think in the history of democracy. They will do whatever it takes to try to rig the system to keep in place an approach that generates enormous amounts of money for them regardless of its impact on our economic health, national security and the impact on our kids.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">NGC’s research showed that among Iowa voters, the Koch Brothers had a negative 16 favorability, and that 71 percent of likely Iowa voters said they would be less inclined to support a candidate bankrolled by the Kochs. They also found that among young voters in four battleground states, likely to make up about a third of 2016 voters, only 9 percent had a favorable view of the Koch Brothers and oil companies such as Koch Industries had a 15/58 favorable/unfavorable rating. Forty-one percent said climate denial would disqualify a candidate, no matter what their other positions.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The first batch of climate deniers NGC is putting on the Hot Seat include Texas&nbsp;Senator Ted Cruz, Kentucky Senator Rand Paul (the two official&nbsp;candidates), former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker and Florida Senator Marco Rubio.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Rand Paul announced his presidential bid in Louisville today, and NGC stood&nbsp;outside the event with its “lie detector test” to try to force him to reveal his positions on climate change. In the past&nbsp;<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/204235-paul-science-behind-climate-change-not-conclusive" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;">he’s hedged and said</a>&nbsp;that he’s “not sure anybody knows exactly why” climate change occurs and that the science behind it is “not conclusive.” He’s also said that someone who would tie extreme weather events like hurricanes to climate change is an “ignoramus.” Those statements undermine claims that Paul could have&nbsp;<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/204235-paul-science-behind-climate-change-not-conclusive" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;">wide appeal to younger voters</a>.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“If Senator Paul thinks he’s going to be ‘Nirvana’ or ‘Pearl Jam’ for these&nbsp;young voters, what is his plan to address an issue that is clearly one of their top concerns?” says NGC.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Of Bush, being pushed by supporters as the most “electable” candidate, Lehane said, “He claims not to believe in the science. I think it’s particularly interesting he is from a state that will be particularly impacted by [climate change].&nbsp;I think it is really hard to run an electability campaign when you’re talking about the fact you need to generate more support from young voters when you are taking a position that is a defining issue for young voters—that is going to be a signifier as to why they shouldn’t support him.”</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The popular media narrative about&nbsp;<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/10/21/steyer-midterm-elections-climate-deniers/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;">NGC’s 2014 spending</a>—primarily Steyer’s and estimated at about $75 million—was that it didn’t yield much in the way of results. However, three of its seven priority candidates won, a decent record in what was a difficult election for progressive candidates overall. And unlike much of the money coming from the Koch Brothers, who have pledged to spend almost a billion dollars to elect a fossil fuel-friendly president next year, Steyer’s money is not “dark”—he’s been open about what he is spending and where.</font></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE</font></strong></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/01/09/steyer-considers-boxer-seat/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Tom Steyer Considering Run for Retiring Senator Boxer’s Seat</font></a></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/02/25/koch-brothers-fund-climate-denier-willie-soon/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Koch Brothers, ExxonMobil and Big Coal Fund Climate Denier Scientist Willie Soon</font></a></span></p><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 25.2px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/31/fighting-dark-money/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Fighting Dark Money to Restore Our Democracy</font></a></span></p><p><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">==</font><br/>

huffpo

"I think it was money incredibly well spent. The fact of the matter is, we think this is the big issue facing the United States and the world," said Steyer in an interview Tuesday, hours after Republicans routed Democrats in midterm elections around the country. "I am not regretting a dime."

Steyer <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/31/super-pac-donors-2014_n_6084988.html" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">spent more than $74 million</a> this election cycle in an effort to elect proponents of action on climate change. His political action committee, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/29/steyer-nextgen-climate-elections_n_5901232.html" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">NextGen Climate Action</a>, targeted its efforts in seven states: the Senate races in Iowa, New Hampshire, Michigan and Colorado, and the governor's races in Maine, Florida and Pennsylvania. Each race pitted a champion of action on climate change against a candidate who has denied that human activity is driving rising temperatures.

<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 15px; padding: 0px; direction: ltr; font-weight: normal; line-height: 21px; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-stretch: normal;">The goal, NextGen chief strategist Chris Lehane <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/us/politics/tom-steyer-hopes-nextgen-climate-gets-voters-to-consider-environment.html" target="_hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">said at a press event in May</a>, was to make 2014 "a pivot year for climate, the year we can demonstrate that you can use climate change as a wedge issue to win in political races."

Based on Tuesday's outcome, it doesn't look like 2014 was the year after all.

The candidates backed by NextGen -- all Democrats -- pulled out wins in just three of the seven races: New Hampshire Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Tom Wolf and Michigan Senate candidate Gary Peters. The four winning Republican candidates opposed by NextGen: Florida Gov. Rick Scott, Colorado Senate candidate Cory Gardner, Iowa Senate candidate Joni Ernst and Maine Gov. Paul LePage.

But Steyer is claiming some non-electoral victories in the effort. Among them, getting climate change to emerge as an issue in each of those races, building the group's voter contacts, and engaging volunteers in efforts to get out the vote. On those fronts, Steyer said, "We feel really good."

"We try to separate the world into the stuff we can control and the stuff we can't," he said. "One of the things we can't control is if there's a big Republican wave in the United States of America on the midterm election of a president's second term. In some of those races, that wave swept over us."

Steyer said another positive result was how much attention the climate garnered in this election cycle, even if all of NextGen's favored candidates didn't ultimately win office.

In Colorado, the group called out Gardner for his record of denying climate change, which eventually led him to <a href="http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2014/09/05/cory-gardner-renewable-energy-mark-udall/112296/" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">run ads</a> in which he talked about his support for wind power. In Florida, incumbent Gov. Scott was pushed so hard on climate that he eventually had to agree to <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/florida-gov-rick-scott-meets-with-climate-scientists-today/2193596" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">meet with climate scientists</a> and <a href="http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2014/08/05/3467906/rick-scott-environmental-plan/" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">release a new environmental plan</a> (which didn't actually mention climate change). And in a number of other races, Republicans had to retreat from outright denials that climate change is happening, <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/21/republicans-science-climate_n_6023282.html" target="hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">resorting instead to the "I'm not a scientist"</a> defense.

"In every state we were active, Democrats and Republicans had to deal with this issue, that it was something where not only do Democrats have to be good on it to turn out votes, but the Republicans really had to move away from denial," said Steyer. "They're part-way on the road to actually confronting this issue in a realistic way. I think there's no doubt, if you look at this, it's at a completely different place in the American political landscape than it was at the beginning of the year. I think on that basis, it was a tremendous success."

While most voters are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/11/03/elections-climate-change_n_6096582.html" target="_hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">generally supportive</a> of climate action, it tends to <a href="http://www.people-press.org/2014/09/12/wide-partisan-differences-over-the-issues-that-matter-in-2014/" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">fall below other issues</a> when voters are asked to rank their top concerns. Steyer argues that's the wrong way to approach the topic's importance.

"The idea of 'climate' -- in quotation marks -- is never going to be the issue. It's always going to be a local, human issue," he said. "And so to the extent that you put 'climate' on the ballot, that's never going to move the needle. The fact of the matter is, people care about their own human interests: the people they love, their families and their communities."

To that end, Tuesday night showcased two environmental success stories: Shaheen in New Hampshire and Peters in Michigan. Both <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/18/gary-peters-senate-koch_n_5600741.html%22" target="_hplink" sl-processed="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">embraced environmental issues</a> in their campaigns and localized the challenges, and used the issues to distance themselves from their opponents.

Steyer said he's already thinking about the next election. "We've said from the beginning, this has always been a 2014-16 strategy," he said. "We chose our states very deliberately as states that have national importance ... We chose them with an eye to 2016."

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==

LAT 10/14

His political organization, NextGen Climate Action, is focused on seven campaigns across the country: U.S. Senate contests in Iowa, Colorado, New Hampshire and Michigan and gubernatorial races in Florida, Maine and Pennsylvania. He's also invested in some state legislative races, including Democratic efforts to win back a two-thirds majority in Sacramento.

In the process Steyer has drawn the enmity of conservatives, who paint him as the epitome of smug I-know-what's-best-for-you liberalism: a radical leftist billionaire hypocrite who wants to kill jobs and raise gas prices while perched snugly in his Sea Cliff mansion. He's even inspired the Republican Party to create a website, <a style="text-decoration: none;">MeetTomSteyer,</a> devoted entirely to disparaging "Steyer the Liar."...

<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">The states he aimed at are places where Democrats can talk about climate change without the risk they face in, say, conservative-leaning Louisiana, Kentucky or Georgia, which also have highly competitive Senate races.<strong style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">His absence there is<strong style="font-weight: bold; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> <span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 27px; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important;">tacit admission that, whatever the merits Steyer sees in his argument, the politics are not yet on his side....

<a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-tom-steyer-environment-2014-elections-20141012-story.html#page=1">http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-tom-steyer-environment-2014-elections-20141012-story.html#page=1</a>

===

9/14

Still, getting thousands of voters to the polls this November who will vote for candidates who believe in climate change will be the test.

In the final months, Steyer's team will continue to target more than 1 million voters in the seven races they vowed to shake up.

To get the job done NextGen has hired over 700 people and opened 20 offices across the seven states.

NextGen's focus is "drop-off voters," or ones who don't consistently vote in nonpresidential election years.

In May, Steyer's group jumped into the Colorado, Michigan, New Hampshire and Iowa Senate races, and the Florida, Maine and Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaigns.

Steyer's top strategist, Chris Lehane, said, without a doubt, "climate change has emerged as an issue" in the campaigns they have focused.

Wednesday's call was meant to provide a status update on the group's campaign strategy, which has come under fire from Republicans and dubbed as unconventional by political strategists.

In the final months, NextGen will continue running its aggressive ad buys, and mail, telephone and email households in the seven states where they have built up operations.

Canvassers for NextGen plan to knock on over 750,000 doors by Election Day. So far, the group has tackled 125,000 of that total.

Critics of Steyer's agenda to make climate change a wedge issue say his 2014 strategy has had little bite so far.

Steyer said he would funnel $100 million into races this year, with at least $50 million of it coming from his own pocket. The rest, Steyer hopes to bring in from other wealthy donors who want to rally behind the climate change banner.

In July, NextGen raised $8 million, according to Federal Election Commission filings, but only $501,000 of it came from outside donors. The other $7.5 million came from Steyer.

NextGen isn't worried though.

“If the issue is whether there are significant resources for the 2014 campaign, we have the resources,” Lehane told The Hill last month.

==

<a href="http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/206898-steyer-brings-moneyball-to-climate-change-politics">http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/206898-steyer-brings-moneyball-to-climate-change-politics</a>

...

8m$ ~ cooch model

...ow, the hedge fund manager turned environmentalist wants to bring “moneyball” to politics, and he says his team of strategists at NextGen Climate, who come from every “winning” Democratic presidential campaign over the last 30 years, are just the people to do it.

To put global warming at the forefront of American politics in 2014, which Steyer’s right-hand man and top Democratic strategist Chris Lehane has called a “pivot” year for climate, NextGen will focus on the data of climate change and turning out voters who will back candidates that want action on the issue.

That means borrowing an idea based on the “moneyball” thesis of baseball. The book by Michael Lewis, which inspired a movie of the same name, starring Brad Pitt, tells the story of how the 2002 Oakland A’s used statistical analysis to buy assets, or players, that were undervalued by other teams and sell ones overvalued by other teams to level the playing field in what many consider the unfair game of baseball.

That’s what Steyer says he wants: to “level the political playing field” through field work and data-driven modeling to locally and strategically target voters and identify non-traditional voter blocs. Much like the A’s plan that brought in some once written-off players, it’s about targeting undervalued voters that the opposition previously expected to be out of play in a midterm election year.

“This is the year, in our view, where we are able to demonstrate you can use climate — if you do it well and in a smart way — as a wedge issue to win in political races,” Lehane told a small group of reporters on Wednesday. “The side that does a better job of changing or expanding the voter pool is the side that has the competitive advantage.”

NextGen has no illusions. While Steyer has said he will commit $50 million of his own money and fundraise $50 million from donors toward the goal, the groups know its fiscal contributions to the midterms will be a “drop in the big oil bucket” compared to what the other side is throwing into the game.

But when it comes to pro-Democratic groups, NextGen is one of, if not the, biggest players out there. And Steyer’s $50 million isn’t a ceiling: he could very well spend more.

Undeterred by the odds, he’s choosing to pick fights with known, staunch climate skeptics in the Colorado, Michigan, New Hampshire and Iowa Senate races, and the Florida, Maine and Pennsylvania gubernatorial campaigns.

Step 1 in each race will be to brand the opponent as a “science denier.”

From there, NextGen will utilize nano voter mobilization, targeting voters it predicts will react to a message on climate change.

That means college students, millennials, Hispanics, African-Americans, single women and mothers.

Next comes the moneyball. By strategically extending its “get out the vote” and “persuasion” tactics beyond typical base voters, NextGen will target communities significantly hit by climate-related issues.

The streamlined strategy also goes back to Steyer’s background in the business world.

“The guy is a wizard with numbers,” Lehane said of Steyer, which is why NextGen is playing “moneyball” politics to fight conservative goliaths like billionaire businessmen Charles and David Koch.

And once climate change is framed as “an enterprise challenge or an enterprise threat” to families, then everything changes and it’s cast in a different light, Lehane said.

To Steyer, it’s about localizing the issue through conversation, such as on increased cases of asthma for children or whether homeowners’ flood insurance is going up.

The final element in the equation for NextGen is to disrupt the dynamics of races by undermining the trust and character of climate skeptics.

The fight, Lehane says, is the modern-day version of doctors versus the tobacco industry. They will pin the opponent on their ties to the fossil fuel industry, pitting them against the best interest of specific communities within their state.

Despite the heavy partisan rhetoric coming out of Congress, NextGen is optimistic that its granular strategy will triumph over the likes of the conservative fossil fuel-friendly Koch brothers.

“We are never going to have as much money but all we need is enough for David’s slingshot is to fire through, and to fire fast and to fire quick to be able to reach the big oil Goliath,” Lehane said.

Still, NextGen won’t be involved in top races for vulnerable Democrats that could put the party’s control of Senate in jeopardy. Top targeted seats in Louisiana, North Carolina, Arkansas, Alaska and others are held by pro-energy Democrats.

It signals the underlying goal: climate change policies, not political domination. It’s bigger than 2014 for Steyer and his team of climate activists — they want the conversation around greenhouse gas emissions, carbon taxes on big polluters and the like to change and to dominate campaigns for years to come.

==

conflict with markey?

==

promoted to primary 9/14 b/c of:

prop 23 chair

<div style="">http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20140827/tight-floridas-governors-race-climate-change-central-issue</div>

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The increasingly visible effects of climate change in Florida are putting Republican Gov. Rick Scott in a bind as he seeks re-election this November.

With rising water already eating away at the coastline and threatening cities, Florida is largely considered ground zero for climate change in the United States. Increased flooding in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, disappearing beaches and endangered fresh water supplies are making climate change a top issue in the governor's race, opinion <a href="http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/07/25/4255058/poll-7-in-10-likely-voters-concerned.html" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">polling</a> shows.

Scott spent much of his first term dismantling the climate-change initiatives of his predecessor, Charlie Crist, who's now his Democratic opponent in the November election. Both men won nomination in Tuesday's primary. Voters, environmentalists, scientists and the media are joining Crist in pressing Scott to acknowledge the threat that climate change poses to the state. But if he does, he risks alienating the far right wing of the Republican Party, which helped elect him in 2010.

"He's caught in the crosshairs," said Frank Jackalone, the senior organizing manager for the Florida chapter of the Sierra Club.

The contrast between Scott and Crist on the climate issue may help decide one of the most heated gubernatorial races this year. Coming out of the primary, the race in the nation's third-most populous state is a dead heat, polls <a href="http://elections.huffingtonpost.com/pollster/2014-florida-governor-scott-vs-crist" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">show</a>. Political analysts predict it will be one of the most expensive contests this year. NextGen Climate, a super PAC created by billionaire investor-turned-activist Tom Steyer, is spending millions to spotlight Scott’s record on climate change.

Scott has begun sending mixed signals on his stance as Crist and environmental advocates turn up the heat. Generally he has dealt with conflicting pressures by avoiding the issue. That's become increasingly difficult as the smallest storms swamp city streets and salt water creeps into aquifers, threatening the drinking supply for millions of Floridians.

By contrast, Crist made the climate a priority when he was Florida's Republican governor from 2007 to 2011. Now running as a Democrat to win back the seat, he is using global warming as a cornerstone of his campaign.

Scott spokeswoman Jackie Schutz said in email that "during Governor Scott's first term, Florida has spent more than $350 million on flood mitigation projects and over $120 million to support beach renourishment projects, a 45 percent increase from the last administration."

The Crist campaign did not respond to a request for comment before deadline.

Since taking office four years ago, Scott has unraveled Crist's statewide climate adaptation plan, his mandates for renewable energy and programs to cut greenhouse gas emissions. Scott managed never to discuss his climate views in detail. The closest he came was in 2011 when he <a href="http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/rick-scott-doesnt-believe-global-warming" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">told</a> a reporter he had "not been convinced" that climate change was happening or was caused by humans.

When boxed into dealing with climate questions during the campaign this year, Scott has come down on both sides. He told reporters he didn't know whether climate change was dangerously affecting Florida because he's "not a scientist." His $1 billion environmental proposal doesn't mention climate change. On the other hand, he bucked dozens of other Republican governors by staying silent on the Environmental Protection Agency's Clean Power Plan to cut carbon emissions.

For years, scientists have been trying to brief Scott on the scientific evidence for global warming and the risks for Florida. This month, after 10 researchers sent a letter renewing their offer, Scott agreed.

The meeting took place Aug. 19. Scott spent 10 of the allotted 30 minutes on small talk, ended the meeting a few minutes early and left without asking a single question.

"We didn't actually make that much progress," said Ben Kirtman, a climate scientist at the University of Miami who participated in the meeting. Kirtman is also a lead author of the latest assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's. "It was frustrating."

Kirtman noted that the room was packed with members of the media that were granted access by the governor's office, which could have made Scott wary of asking questions. He wondered if Scott would have been more responsive if the meeting took place behind closed doors.

Jackalone of the Sierra Club said Scott seems to be moderating his position on some climate issues. U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, may be part of the reason why, Jackalone said. After Rubio argued that President Obama's adaptation and mitigation proposals could put the U.S. back in a recession, the Florida press and public blasted Rubio.

"Scott is still answering questions by being evasive," Jackalone said. "But he at least seems willing to listen now. That's a shift."

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<div id="toggleFlyout">See Also

<div class="seealso-each" style=" margin-bottom: 4px;"><a href="http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20140313/climate-change-showdown-florida-governors-race" style="text-decoration: none; outline: none;">Climate Change Showdown in Florida Governor's Race</a></div>

</div>

</div>

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==

...

Here are the races Steyer is targeting and why, as described by NextGen:

<li style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Colorado U.S. Senate Race: Fossil fuel development and its adverse health impacts affect Colorado’s most vulnerable communities, yet Senate candidate Cory Gardner—a science denier—has taken hundreds of thousands in donations from fossil fuel companies while voting for their interests.</li>

</ul>

<li style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Florida Gubernatorial Race: While communities across Florida are threatened by<a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/15/coastal-u-s-melting-antarctic-glacier/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;">sea-level rise</a>, saltwater intrusion and rising flood insurance costs, Gov. Rick Scott is a climate denier and has decimated efforts to “preserve environmentally sensitive land.”</li>

</ul>

<li style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Iowa U.S. Senate Race: Iowa’s farms and rural communities are feeling the pain in their wallets and on their land due to record floods coming on the heels of a record drought, while State Sen. Joni Ernst has “not seen proven proof ” that climate change “is entirely man-made” and former energy CEO Mark Jacobs is “not convinced that man-made causes are causing” climate change.</li>

</ul>

<li style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Maine Gubernatorial Race: The forestry industry in Maine is at risk and fishermen are already experiencing the negative effects of higher ocean temperatures, yet <a href="http://ecowatch.com/2014/04/16/governor-crippled-solar-future/" target="_blank" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; transition: color 0.2s linear 0s; background: transparent;">Gov. LePage</a> denies that climate change is a threat, rather saying it offers Maine “a lot of opportunities.”</li>

</ul>

<li style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Michigan U.S. Senate Race: Air pollution is affecting kids’ education across Michigan, with over half of Hispanic and African American children attending school in the most polluted areas, yet Senate candidate Terri Lynn Land has the support of the Koch Brothers who are spending millions on her race and have threatened the state’s water and air quality with their dirty energy stockpiles.</li>

</ul>

<li style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">New Hampshire U.S. Senate Race: New Hampshire’s tourism industry—which supports more than 60,000 jobs—stands to be devastated by the effects of climate change; meanwhile Senate candidate Scott Brown looks out for the Koch Brothers and his Big Oil buddies, taking their campaign dollars and voting to protect $24 billion in oil subsidies.</li>

</ul>

<li style=" box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Pennsylvania Gubernatorial Race: Low-income communities in Pennsylvania are disproportionately affected by asthma and often live in the shadow of the state’s biggest polluters; meanwhile Gov. Corbett favors powerful corporate energy executives over Pennsylvania families.</li>

</ul>

<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 1em 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 25.2px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">NextGen says it will use climate change as a “wedge issue” to inspire voter turnout while exposing why climate deniers would make poor leaders and legislators.

...

http://ecowatch.com/2014/05/22/tom-steyer-election-climate/

===

salon

Seven Republicans in key Senate and governors’ races are about to see their pro-fossil fuel, anti-climate policies come under attack. Billionaire Tom Steyer, founder and president of NextGen Climate, <a href="https://nextgenclimate.org/elections/#/intro" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">announced</a> Thursday that he’ll be focusing $100 million on influencing the midterm elections in states where climate change could play a vital role.

By supporting candidates who openly embrace climate change policies and exorcising deniers, Steyer’s strategists <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/us/politics/tom-steyer-hopes-nextgen-climate-gets-voters-to-consider-environment.html?ref=science&_r=0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">told the New York Times</a>, he hopes to “create a political landscape in which candidates fear that they will be politically punished for questioning” the established science of climate change — all of which can pave the way for making climate a central issue in the 2016 elections.

To that end, he’s jumping into Senate races in Colorado, Iowa, Michigan and New Hampshire, and into gubernatorial contests in Maine, Pennsylvania and Florida. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/22/us/politics/tom-steyer-hopes-nextgen-climate-gets-voters-to-consider-environment.html?ref=science&_r=0" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">The Times has more</a> on how he’s hoping to shape the debate in each state:

In the Senate race in Michigan, Mr. Steyer’s group will back Representative Gary Peters, a Democrat who says he will make a point of highlighting how climate change is lowering water levels and leading to environmental problems in the Great Lakes, while also threatening Michigan’s agriculture.

…In Florida, NextGen will spend to defeat Gov. Rick Scott, who has openly questioned the science of climate change. Charlie Crist, a Democratic challenger and former Republican, has cited skepticism of climate change as one of the reasons he left the party.

…In Iowa, NextGen will back Representative Bruce Braley, a Democratic candidate for the Senate who voted for a House <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/business/energy-environment/climate-and-energy-legislation/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">climate change bill</a> in 2009. The group will attack Mr. Braley’s potential Republican opponents, State Senator Joni Earnst or Mark Jacobs, a former electric energy company executive, by criticizing claims they have made questioning climate science.

In Maine’s three-way governor’s race, Mr. Steyer’s group hopes to unseat the Republican incumbent, Paul R. LePage, who has said that climate change could bring economic opportunity to his state, as melting ice in the Northeast Passage opened up shipping routes, and warmer winters could attract tourists to Maine year-round.

In Colorado, the group will back Senator Mark Udall, a Democrat who has vocally supported climate and clean energy policies, against Representative Cory Gardner, who has questioned the science of climate change. In the Pennsylvania governor’s race, NextGen will back Tom Wolf, a Democrat, against the Republican incumbent, Tom Corbett, who in an interview this month called the science of climate change “a subject of debate.”

The group is also targeting New Hampshire Senate candidate Scott Brown, who has voted to protect billions in oil subsidies, and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, who <a href="http://www.post-gazette.com/news/state/2013/12/07/State-environmental-nominee-takes-heat-for-warming-remarks/stories/201312070088" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; text-decoration: none; background: transparent;">claims</a> not to have “read any scientific studies that would lead me to conclude there are adverse impacts” from climate change.

“The debate on climate change is settled: it is here, it is human-caused, and it is already having a devastating impact on our communities, but we need to accelerate the level of political support to address this critical issue before it’s too late,” Steyer said in a statement, implicitly responding to critics who compare him to the Koch brothers. “This means making politicians feel the heat—in their campaign coffers and at the polls.”  abrams

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/22/anti_climate_republicans_about_to_come_under_attack_by_billionaire_tom_steyer/

</blockquote>

===

<a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-pn-steyer-20140521-story.html">http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-pn-steyer-20140521-story.html</a>

One of President Obama’s wealthiest supporters is pledging to spend at least $50 million in a bid to make climate change the central issue in hotly contested elections in New Hampshire, Florida, Michigan and a handful of other battleground states.

A group run by California billionaire Tom Steyer unveiled plans to aggressively target Republicans in seven states who have been skeptics of global warming. Among the political figures the group plans to target is Florida Gov. Rick Scott and former Massachusetts Sen. Scott Brown, who hopes to win a Senate seat from New Hampshire.

The group plans to spend at least $100 million – half of it Steyer’s money, the rest raised from other environmentalists – on campaigns that will include micro-targeting voters, branding climate skeptics as deniers of basic science and highlighting the hardships climate change is already causing.

“We are not going to be talking about polar bears and butterflies,” said Chris Lehane, Steyer’s lead political strategist. “We are going to be talking about how this issue of climate impacts people in their backyards, in their states, in their communities.”

<div class="trb_panelmod_body" style=" display: table-cell; vertical-align: top; width: 340px; min-width: 340px; max-width: 340px; position: relative; z-index: 1000; padding-right: 10px; height: 160px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/local/political/la-pn-steyer-20140521-story.html#" class="trb_panelmod_title" data-role="panelmod_opener" style="margin-bottom: 3px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none; float: left; clear: both; white-space: nowrap;">lRelated</a>

SEE ALL RELATED</a><a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-steyer-20131222-story.html" class="trb_outfit_categorySectionHeading_a" style="margin: 0px; font-weight: bold; display: inline-block; text-decoration: none; padding: 0px;">NATION</a></dt>

<dd style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-steyer-20131222-story.html" style="text-decoration: none;">Tom Steyer may be liberals' answer to the Koch brothers</a></dd>

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</div></aside>

Steyer, who has emerged as a liberal counterpoint to the conservative Koch brothers, has been working aggressively over the last few years to make climate change – long an abstraction in campaigns – a pivotal issue on which elections can be won or lost. His advisors argue there are legions of voters who can be motivated to come to the polls on the matter, despite surveys that have shown climate change to be a relatively low priority for most Americans.

Steyer’s group, NextGen Climate, will probably represent the largest independent spending by liberals in the election. Its effort, though, is expected to be dwarfed by that of the Kochs, whose organization, Americans for Prosperity, has poured millions of dollars already into races around the country, mostly focused on attacking President Obama’s healthcare law.

--

NextGen’s plan suggests Steyer’s political reach is growing. Until now, the billionaire has kept his campaign activities narrowly focused. Last year, he spent more than $8 million to help Democrat Terry McAuliffe win his campaign for governor of Virginia against former Atty. Gen. Ken Cuccinelli, a Republican who had been long despised by climate change activists.

Steyer also inserted himself into the Senate race in Massachusetts, attacking one candidate’s support for the Keystone pipeline.

</div>

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</div></aside>

But Steyer’s most notable victories have not been in battleground-state gubernatorial or congressional campaigns but in ballot initiatives in California. He bankrolled a successful effort in 2012 to persuade Californians to raise taxes on out-of-state businesses by $1 billion per year, half of which will be spent on energy-efficiency programs. He also co-chaired the successful effort in 2010 to defeat Proposition 23, which would have rolled back the state’s landmark global warming law.

In the upcoming election, NextGen faces a much tougher landscape. The president’s approval ratings continue to be tepid, and Democratic strategists are concerned that voters who traditionally support the party are going to stay home. Steyer’s advisors are hoping to use the climate issue to drive those voters to the polls in seven states.

In Florida, NextGen plans to seize on Scott's musings that he is unconvinced climate change is man-made, as well as his initial reluctance to join litigation against BP following the gulf oil spill. The campaign will link the extreme weather events that are disrupting life in the state to climate change, and seek to hunt down concerned voters who might otherwise stay home.

“We are not a traditional 'super PAC,' where we are going to spend some money on television and leave,” said Sky Gallegos, NextGen's political director.

“We are looking at creating a long-term conversation with voters," Gallegos added. "We want to talk to them and make a real connection of how climate hits them at the household level.”

In Iowa, NextGen will raise the issue of climate change in the context of the drought that has hit the state and its agriculture. The campaign will highlight the reluctance of Republicans running for Senate there to embrace the warnings of climatologists and will warn that the policies those candidates favor will result in even more extreme heat and water shortages on ranches and farms in the future.

In New Hampshire, NextGen will seek to redefine Brown, who has a reputation as a moderate. It will charge that he is cozy with big oil. NextGen will also go on the attack in elections in Colorado, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Maine.

“The political tectonic plates are shifting,” Lehane said. “The issue of climate has become far less abstract … to folks on an everyday basis.”

==

Climate deniers, science haters, and planet degraders, here’s the latest on your newest and deepest-pocketed political foe.

As <a href="http://grist.org/politics/steyer-may-spend-100-million-to-push-climate-cause-in-midterms-but-polluters-will-spend-more/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Grist’s Ben Adler told you in February</a>, billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer is spoiling for an expensive battle against politicians who are standing in the way of climate action. Steyer plans to funnel about $50 million into campaigns this year to support climate-friendly political candidates and attack the climate-denying variety. His super PAC, <a href="https://nextgenclimate.org/" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">NextGen Climate</a>, expects to raise that much again from other like-minded donors, for a total war chest of $100 million – a vast amount that Adler pointed out will nonetheless pale in comparison to the fossil fuel industry’s spending on its candidates of choice.

<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/billionaire-tom-steyer-will-use-clout-and-cash-to-boost-democrats-environment-in-key-races/2014/05/21/aeb5a2ca-e12b-11e3-8dcc-d6b7fede081a_story.html" target="_blank" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">The Washington Post reports</a> on newly released details about Steyer’s plans for 2014:

The independent efforts run by his super PAC, NextGen Climate, will include television ads, on-the-ground field organizing and get-out-the-vote operations that seek to mobilize voters on the local impacts of climate change. The group plans to highlight issues such as drought in Iowa and the rising cost of flood insurance in Florida. It will also spotlight the climate-change skepticism of GOP Senate and gubernatorial candidates, and the campaign donations they have received from the fossil-fuel industry.

So far, the list of targeted Republicans includes Senate hopefuls<a href="http://grist.org/politics/enviros-pump-money-and-energy-into-colorado-senate-race/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Cory Gardner in Colorado</a>, Terri Lynn Land in Michigan and Scott Brown in New Hampshire, as well as governors Rick Scott of Florida, Paul LePage of Maine and Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania. The group also plans to target the GOP’s Senate nominee in Iowa.

</blockquote>

NextGen Climate said in a <a href="http://grist.files.wordpress.com/2014/05/nextgen-climate-press-briefing.pdf" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">press release</a> that it will use three main tactics:

Deploying climate as a wedge issue to turn out key voters — particularly persuadable voters and drop-off voters who are traditionally absent in mid-term elections.

Targeting extreme Republican candidates who deny basic science and are beholden to the special interests of the fossil fuel industry.

Providing significant resources to support candidates who are on the right side of climate policy.

</blockquote>

<a href="http://grist.org/news/these-are-the-states-where-climate-hawk-tom-steyer-will-wage-political-war/">http://grist.org/news/these-are-the-states-where-climate-hawk-tom-steyer-will-wage-political-war/</a>

wapo

Tom Steyer plans to finance full-fledged political campaigns in at least seven states key to Democratic fortunes in the 2014 midterms and the 2016 presidential race, further cementing his rapid rise as one of the party’s most influential patrons.

The independent efforts run by his super PAC, NextGen Climate, will include television ads, on-the-ground field organizing and get-out-the-vote operations that seek to mobilize voters on the local impacts of climate change. The group plans to highlight issues such as drought in Iowa and the rising cost of flood insurance in Florida. It will also spotlight the climate-change skepticism of GOP Senate and gubernatorial candidates, and the campaign donations they have received from the fossil-fuel industry.

So far, the list of targeted Republicans includes Senate hopefuls Cory Gardner in Colorado, Terri Lynn Land in Michigan and Scott Brown in New Hampshire, as well as governors Rick Scott of Florida, Paul LePage of Maine and Tom Corbett of Pennsylvania. The group also plans to target the GOP’s Senate nominee in Iowa.[The leading contenders are state Sen. Joni Ernst, who has the tacit support of the governor and earned national attention with an ad about castrating hogs, and Mark Jacobs, a self-funding former energy executive. Radio host Sam Clovis and former U.S. Attorney Matt Whitaker round out the top four.]

The effort will be largely financed by Steyer, a former hedge fund manager who has<a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/02/18/billionaire-plans-100-million-campaign-for-democrats/" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(212, 212, 212); text-decoration: none;">pledged </a>to spend at least $50 million of his money on this year’s races. The super PAC is also seeking to raise an additional $50 million from like-minded donors.

With the promise of ample resources, the group plans to spend money not only on television ads, but on data-driven voter outreach and opposition research, “every aspect of a modern-day campaign,” said Chris Lehane, Steyer’s lead political strategist.

“Tom has made clear that NextGen is not a drive-by” super PAC, Lehane told reporters at a briefing in Washington.

Steyer, whose super PAC spent more than $8 million last year on the Virginia gubernatorial contest and Massachusetts special Senate election, could both help and hinder Democrats.

After indicating this year that NextGen Climate might target Democrats who support the Keystone XL pipeline, Steyer’s group outlined a plan Wednesday that avoids such intraparty fighting.

Steyer recently <a data-xslt="http" href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/18/us/politics/billionaire-expands-activism-to-senate-races.html?r=0" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(212, 212, 212); text-decoration: none;">gave </a>$5 million to the Senate Majority Fund, the super PAC backing Senate Democrats. And he is set to <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/biden-to-attend-democratic-fundraiser-hosted-by-hedge-fund-investor-tom-steyer/2014/05/20/f76abb48-dfa7-11e3-9743-bb9b59cde7b9_story.html" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(212, 212, 212); text-decoration: none;">host </a>a Democratic National Committee fundraiser featuring Vice President Biden at his San Francisco home. this month.

But his political spending could create awkward situations for Democrats. In Colorado, for example, Lehane said the group might focus on natural gas fracking, an issue that could put Democratic Sen. Mark Udall, who has <a data-xslt="_http" href="http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_25481204/udall-gardner-trade-barbs-energy-records-u-s" style="border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(212, 212, 212); text-decoration: none;">expressed </a>support for the industry, in an uncomfortable bind.

And Steyer could become a flashpoint in this year’s midterms. His expansive spending comes as Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.) and other Democrats are railing about the influence of conservative donors Charles and David Koch, opening the party to charges of hypocrisy.

Steyer made his fortune as managing partner of Farallon Capital, a San Francisco-based hedge fund that has invested in companies developing tar oil sands in Canada, as well as an oil pipeline company. When he departed Farrallon in 2012, Steyer said he asked his former hedge fund to “green” his investments by segregating his money into a separate fund “free of ecologically unsound investments.”

Lehane said Wednesday that Steyer has divested his investments from coal and tar sands.He said he did not know whether Steyer was invested in other energy industries such as oil and natural gas. But he said Steyer does not stand to benefit personally from his political spending and thas committed to giving away the majority of his fortune.

A NextGen Climate spokesman said Steyer has investments in green energy held by foundations and trusts. and that any profits are donated. to charitable organizations .

In his political spending this year, Steyer appears to be testing new ways to leverage climate change in local races. Lehane said the group is drawing lessons from other movements that have pushed for social change.

“Change occurred once those issues were defined in moral terms, as right versus wrong, and then used within our political system as a wedge issue,” he said.

Alice Crites and Carol D. Leonnig contributed to this report.

===

<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/02/steyers-100-million-would-put-enviros-on-the-map.html?utm_source=CRP+Mail+List&utm_campaign=139de1f554-Newsletter_2_27_20142_27_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9df8578d78-139de1f554-210710609">http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/02/steyers-100-million-would-put-enviros-on-the-map.html?utm_source=CRP+Mail+List&utm_campaign=139de1f554-Newsletter_2_27_20142_27_2014&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9df8578d78-139de1f554-210710609</a>

<div class="asset-body" style="margin-bottom: 1em; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Former hedge fund manager-turned-climate-activist Tom Steyer's <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/us/politics/financier-plans-big-ad-campaign-on-environment.html" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">vow</a> that his <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/expenditures.php?cycle=2014&cmte=C00547349" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">NextGen Climate Action</a> super PAC would spend $100 million this year could catapult the environmental movement into money-in-politics player status, if he follows through.

And there's no reason to think he won't. Last year, Steyer played a significant role in two major elections, spending<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/tom-steyer-virginia-election-2013-climate-change-99611.html" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">more than $8 million</a> to help elect Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe and more than $1 million in the Massachusetts special election to replace then-Sen. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00000245" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">John Kerry</a> (D-Mass.).

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<div id="more" class="asset-more" style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 24px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">About <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/recips.php?cmte=C00542779&cycle=2014" style="text-decoration: none;">$529,000</a> went to support now-Sen. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00000270&cycle=2014" style="text-decoration: none;">Ed Markey</a> (D-Mass.) or oppose his rival, Rep.<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00013855&cycle=2014" style="text-decoration: none;">Stephen F. Lynch</a> (D-Mass.), in the primary. Markey co-authored a bill to create a cap-and-trade system on carbon emissions; it passed the House in 2009. Lynch is a supporter of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada's tar sands to the Gulf of Mexico if it's approved by the Obama administration. (Steyer is doing his best to nix it.)

In the general election, Steyer's group spent another $414,000 attacking Republican candidate Gabriel Gomez. It also <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pac2pac.php?cycle=2014&cmte=C00542779" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">contributed</a> $500,000 to the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00486845&cycle=2014" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">League of Conservation Voters</a>, an environmental advocacy group, which spent nearly $544,000 combined on the election supporting Markey and opposing Gomez. In an election where Markey spent about $12 million and Gomez $4 million, Steyer's money was significant.

Steyer is expected to play an even bigger role in the 2014 elections. According to a <a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/02/05/14210/billionaires-use-super-pacs-advance-pet-causes" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">report</a>from the Center for Public Integrity, Steyer gave more to super PACs last year than any other donor -- $11.1 million, with all of that money going to fund his CE Action Committee and NextGen Climate Action Committee. This year's projected $100 million -- Steyer said he would contribute half of it himself and raise the rest -- could have an even bigger impact and put the environmental movement on the map in campaign finance terms.

Environmental organizations gave <a href="https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary.php?cycle=2014&ind=Q11" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">only about</a> $742,000 to congressional candidates in the 2012 election cycle, almost wholly benefiting Democrats. By comparison, companies and trade groups in the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/industries/summary.php?ind=E&recipdetail=A&sortorder=U&cycle=2012" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">energy and natural resources industry</a> gave about $77.2 million, mostly to Republicans.

More significantly, the outside spending groups of environmental organizations laid out a combined $20 million or more in the 2012 cycle, including more than $14 million by the<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cycle=2012&cmte=League+of+Conservation+Voters" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">League of Conservation Voters</a>. <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00531814&cycle=2012" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Environment America</a> spent about $1.5 million and the<a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/outsidespending/detail.php?cmte=C00483693&cycle=2012" style="background-color: transparent; text-decoration: none;">Sierra Club</a> rounded out the three top spenders with roughly $1.2 million.

Still, all the environmental outside money from 2012 comes to around one-fifth of what Steyer proposes to inject into the process. Not all of his funds will be spend at the federal level, but they could help smooth out a sharply unlevel playing field.

And who couldn't use a hedge fund billionaire for a sugar daddy?

Follow Robbie on Twitter at @robbiefeinberg</div>

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After years of being outgunned by polluters and their allies, environmentalists have been celebrating the arrival of a savior: <a href="http://grist.org/politics/if-people-arent-pissed-off-it-aint-working-a-chat-with-green-billionaire-tom-steyer/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Tom Steyer</a>, a Bay Area hedge-fund billionaire. <a href="http://grist.org/politics/the-big-election-winner-deep-pocketed-tom-steyer/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Last year</a>, he spent $11 million to help Democrat Terry McAuliffe get elected as Virginia governor, and millions more on <a href="http://grist.org/news/heres-the-anti-keystone-ad-one-nbc-station-doesnt-want-you-to-see/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">anti</a>-<a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/e2-wire/e2-wire/320873-keystone-pipeline-foe-steyer-launches-1-million-ad-push" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Keystone</a> <a href="http://nextgenclimate.org/keystonetruth/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">ads</a> and the campaign to elect Massachusetts Democrat <a href="http://grist.org/news/ed-markey-climate-hawk-headed-for-the-senate/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Ed Markey</a> to the Senate. And on Tuesday, The New York Times’ Nicholas Confessore <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/18/us/politics/financier-plans-big-ad-campaign-on-environment.html?_r=0" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">reported</a>, “He is rallying other deep-pocketed donors, seeking to build a war chest that would make his political organization, NextGen Climate Action, among the largest outside groups in the country, similar in scale to the conservative political network overseen by Charles and David Koch.”

The Koch brothers, naturally, are not sitting idly by as their enemies armor up. As Politico’s Ken Vogel <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/01/koch-brothers-2014-elections-102555.html" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">wrote</a> last month, “If the Koch brothers’ political operation seemed ambitious in 2010 or 2012, wait for what’s in store for 2014 and beyond. … This year, the Kochs’ close allies are rolling out a new, more integrated approach to politics. That includes wading into Republican primaries for the first time to ensure their ideal candidates end up on the ticket.”

The problem for progressives, as Vogel’s story and others make clear, is that in the era of unlimited outside political spending, liberals will usually be outraised by conservatives. And environmentalists will be outraised by polluters.

Just consider the amounts at stake on each side. Let’s start with Steyer, via the Times: “In early February, Mr. Steyer gathered two dozen of the country’s leading liberal donors and environmental philanthropists to his 1,800-acre ranch in Pescadero, Calif. … to ask them to join his efforts. People involved in the discussions say Mr. Steyer is seeking to raise $50 million from other donors to match $50 million of his own.”

And now for the Kochs. Their network spent more than <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/the-players-in-the-koch-backed-400-million-political-donor-network/2014/01/05/714451a8-74b5-11e3-8b3f-b1666705ca3b_story.html" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">$400 million</a>on the 2012 election cycle, and they’re already spending big on this year’s midterms. From Politico: “Groups in the Koch network — led by the brothers’ main political vehicle Americans for Prosperity — <a href="http://www.politico.com/playbook/0114/playbook12615.html" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">spent $25 million</a> between the summer [of 2013] and early this month on ads bashing Democrats over Obamacare, which have been credited for<a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/kay-hagan-senate-poll-99731.html" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">hurting Democratic senators</a> who are vulnerable in 2014.” And they’re just getting started.

Also consider the vast wealth of some of the conservative donors the Kochs brought to their secret Palm Springs gathering last month.Mother Jones <a href="http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/koch-brothers-palm-springs-donor-list" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">obtained</a> a guest list, and it demonstrated two things that will always favor conservatives and polluting industries: There are more mega-fortunes on their side, and their wealthy businessmen — and they are almost all men — are pursuing their short-term financial interests, not mere concern for general human welfare. From Mother Jones:

The more than 40 donors courted by the Kochs include hedge fund and private-equity billionaires, real estate tycoons, and executives of top corporations, including Jockey International and TRT Holdings, owner of Omni Hotels and Gold’s Gym. …

Another top conservative contributor on the list is TRT Holdings’ cofounder Robert Rowling, whose net worth is estimated at $4.9 billion. During the 2012 election, <a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/08/22/10741/donor-profile-robert-rowling" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Rowling directed</a> $3.5 million to American Crossroads, the super-PAC spearheaded by Karl Rove, and he cut a $100,000 check to the pro-Romney super-PAC Restore Our Future. …

Other heavy hitters slated for meetings with the Koch brothers or their representatives included <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/carl-berg/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Carl Berg</a>, a Silicon Valley real estate tycoon worth $1.1 billion; <a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/ken-griffin/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Ken Griffin</a>, who founded the hedge fund Citadel and clocks in at No. 103 on the Forbes 400 (net worth, $4.4 billion); <a href="http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=65253&ticker=CCB:CN" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">John W. Childs</a>, a top private-equity investor; and <a href="http://www.klipsch.com/About-Us" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">Fred Klipsch</a>, the chairman of the headphone and speaker company Klipsch Group.

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This underscores the fact that a big-money system of unrestrained spending by rich individuals’ will reflect the views of the ruling class and the interests of large corporations — tilting heavily against environmental, financial, and labor regulations, progressive taxation, and public investment. (The event schedule obtained by Mother Jonesalso demonstrates that executives from Koch Industries itself are involved in the right-wing political fundraising. The company previously claimed it had no relationship to the brothers’ political activities.)

And the Kochs are by no means the only rich guys aiming to elect more Republicans. As Politico <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2014/02/paul-singer-republican-gop-fundraising-campaigns-donors-103600.html" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">reported</a> Tuesday:

A group of major GOP donors, led by New York billionaire Paul Singer, is quietly expanding its political footprint ahead of the midterm elections in an increasingly assertive effort to shape the direction of the Republican Party.

The operation was launched discreetly last year, with the previously unreported formation of a club called the American Opportunity Alliance to bring together some of the richest pro-business GOP donors in the country … Around the same time, Singer and his allies also formed a federal fundraising committee called Friends for an American Majority that raised big checks for a select list of the GOP’s most highly touted 2014 Senate hopefuls.

Those candidates are among the big names expected at a two-day retreat organized by the American Opportunity Alliance set for the last week of February at a swanky Colorado resort. The closed-door event — which is also expected to draw House Speaker John Boehner and New Hampshire Sen. Kelly Ayotte, according to Republicans familiar with the plans — is seen in GOP finance circles as a grand debut of sorts for Singer’s still-amorphous club. …

[T]he list of big-name pols expected at the American Opportunity Alliance’s upcoming Colorado gathering highlights the influence that only a few big donors can command in the post-Citizens United era, when a small group of wealthy individuals can reorder elections with just a few huge checks.

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Singer’s group is backing Alaska Senate Republican hopeful Dan Sullivan, who was appointed by Sarah Palin to serve as state natural resources commissioner. Sullivan used the position to advocate for his state’s right to exploit natural resources and against federal efforts to protect Alaskan land.

Meanwhile, oil and gas industry PACs are pouring money into the reelection effort of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and the campaigns of three Republicans who are seeking to replace retiring Democratic senators, Greenwire <a href="http://www.eenews.net/stories/1059994660" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">reported</a> Tuesday. But they have also donated to Democratic Sens. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana and Mark Begich of Alaska, who are up for reelection.

That points to another disadvantage for environmentalists. While the extractive industries can always count on Republicans to do their bidding, greens cannot always count on Democrats. Landrieu, who just became chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is an oil industry lackey with an extensive anti-environment <a href="http://grist.org/politics/meet-the-senator-from-exxonmobil-whos-taking-over-the-energy-committee/" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">record</a>. Steyer is <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/could-tom-steyer-s-anti-keystone-campaign-help-mary-landrieu-she-thinks-so-20140217" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; max-width: 100%;">considering</a> funding ads attacking Landrieu, but it’s not as if that would move her toward favoring environmental regulation. Being attacked from her left flank helps burnish her independent credentials, making her more appealing to the Louisiana electorate. Or perhaps it just softens her up for a Republican opponent in November. When you’re up against the financial muscle of the oil industry in a state like Louisiana, there are no good options.

So the fossil fuel industry and rich Republican donors will spread their money around this year, and Steyer will try to match them, but will likely come up short. It’s a problem that he even has to try.

http://grist.org/politics/steyer-may-spend-100-million-to-push-climate-cause-in-midterms-but-polluters-will-spend-more/</section>

Ben Adler covers climate change policy for Grist

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<span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9861px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(175, 209, 187); float: none; display: inline !important;">That’s why business moguls Tom Steyer, Michael Bloomberg, and Hank Paulson recently came together to launch <a href="http://riskybusiness.org/" onclick="javascript:gaq.push(['trackEvent','outbound-article','http://riskybusiness.org']);" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-color: rgb(175, 209, 187); text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9861px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;">Risky Business</a><span style="font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 17.9861px; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(175, 209, 187); float: none; display: inline !important;">, an initiative to model climate change’s long-term fiscal threat to the U.S. Meanwhile, the U.N. is conducting its own study on climate and economic impacts. These efforts are happening because more and more leaders are recognizing the real — and unacceptable — costs that we are already paying for carbon pollution and the danger they pose to the long-term health of our economy.

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Early this month Tom Steyer, a California billionaire (a board member at the Center for American Progress), <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/tom-steyer-virginia-election-2013-climate-change-99611.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">spent</a> $8 million of his own money to help defeat climate denier Ken Cuccinelli’s campaign to be governor of Virginia.

Amongst other tactics, Steyer’s political committee, NextGen Climate Action, <a href="http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/tom-steyer-virginia-election-2013-climate-change-99611.html" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">aired ads</a> that scolded Cuccinelli for launching an investigation into the research of a University of Virginia climate scientist.

“Tom’s view is that climate and climate change solutions need to be on the ballot in a way they never have before,” Michael Casey, a consultant with NextGen Climate Action, <a href="http://www.nationaljournal.com/energy/in-a-switch-green-groups-are-outspending-their-industry-foes-and-winning-20131026" style="text-decoration: none; font-weight: inherit; outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline;">told</a> The National Journal about Steyer.

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<a href="http://www.kqed.org/epArchive/R201303201000">Tom Steyer: Billionaire Investor Turned Climate Activist</a>

San Francisco billionaire, investor, philanthropist and environmentalist Tom Steyer has emerged as a political force in California in recent years, backing two successful environmental ballot measures. Now the former hedge fund manager is taking a greater role on the national stage, particularly in the fight against climate change. He was even in the running to become President Obama's next energy secretary.

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Steyer has been a particularly vocal opponent of Keystone in recent weeks, joining forces with a handful of young Massachusetts advocates to pressure Rep. Steve Lynch (D-Mass.) -- who's running against Rep. Edward Markey for the open Senate seat in Masschusetts -- <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/20/keystone-xl-massachusetts-senate_n_2917579.html" target="_hplink">to relinquish his support for the pipeline</a>. To have 1,000 Keystone activists show up outside his house would be, well, awkward.

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The battle over the Keystone XL is threatening to impinge upon the U.S. Senate race in Massachusetts, with California billionaire Thomas Steyer, who opposes the oil pipeline, threatening to spend big money to influence the outcome.

A former hedge fund manager turned environmental advocate, Steyer has joined forces with a handful of young Massachusetts advocates to pressure Rep. Steve Lynch (D-Mass.) to relinquish his support for the proposed pipeline, which would run from Alberta's tar sands in Canada to oil refineries along the Gulf Coast. Lynch previously voted in favor of expediting approval of the pipeline. His rival in the April 30 primary, Rep. Edward Markey, is the ranking member on the House Natural Resources Committee and an outspoken opponent of the project.

In <a href="http://bluemassgroup.com/2013/03/a-challenge-to-lynch/" target="_hplink">a public letter</a>, Steyer called on Lynch to do one of two things by "high noon" on Friday: "Either act like a real Democrat and oppose Keystone's dirty energy. Or, get a sworn, binding statement -- with securities law enforcement -- from TransCanada and the refiners that all of the Keystone-shipped oil will stay here." Otherwise, Steyer warns, he'll "launch an aggressive public education campaign" aimed at hurting Lynch's electoral chances.

The Lynch campaign was unimpressed. "This letter reads like something out of a James Bond film -- a billionaire making threats and issuing ultimatums that expire at 'high noon,'" said spokesman Conor Yunits. "Like President [Barack] Obama, Congressman Lynch supports an all-of-the-above energy strategy, and he is not going to respond to threats and ultimatums."

Lynch has argued the $5.3 billion project would create jobs and tap a valuable energy source. Opponents note the jobs estimates are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/14/keystone-xl-pipeline-jobs-creator_n_2874734.html?utm_hp_ref=green" target="hplink">overblown</a> and emphasize the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/tom-zeller-jr/transcanada-on-the-climat_b_2496838.html" target="hplink">extremely unfavorable climate impacts of the project</a>.

"While we are still hoping against hope that Lynch will come to his senses and announce his opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline by Friday, if he does not, we are definitely planning to move forward to make sure people know he's prioritizing polluters over the people," said Craig Altemose, one of the environmental activists on the letter.

Last year Steyer spent tens of millions of dollars on California ballot initiative Proposition 39, which channels more money into clean energy projects by closing a tax loophole for out-of-state corporations.

But his involvement in the Democratic primary could prove a headache for Markey, who's called on primary candidates of both parties to reject money from outside interest groups.

The so-called People's Pledge was modeled after an agreement between former Sen. Scott Brown (R) and his opponent, sitting Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D), to <a href="http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2012-01-23/politics/35438568_1_fund-ads-crossroads-gps-super-pacs" target="_hplink">curb outside campaign spending</a> in last year's Senate race.

Republican contenders in the 2013 Senate race have <a href="http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/03/20/usa-congress-massachusetts-idUKL1N0CBDF220130320" target="_hplink">declined to make the commitment</a>, noting they don't have the connections or campaign funds of their more established Democratic rivals, according to Reuters.

"Ed Markey categorically rejects attempts to violate the spirit of the People's Pledge, and urges groups and individuals on both sides to respect the pledge to keep outside advertisements off Massachusetts airwaves," said Markey campaign manager Sarah Benzing. "Unlike the Republicans in this race, who have flatly refused to follow the lead of Scott Brown in condemning the influence of Karl Rove and the billionaire Koch brothers in our politics today, Ed Markey is committed to passing a constitutional amendment that would clean up our elections by repealing the court's misguided Citizens United ruling."

Environmentalists are undeterred. "We are planning a kick-off on Friday with a mobile billboard," said Altemose in his email. "We're also talking about documenting how many times people make the bogus claim that this pipeline will help with our energy independence, and issuing a report naming just how many times that's been claimed, and who's been making the claim."

The State Department, which has authority over the pipeline's final approval, is in the midst of a 45-day public comment period. A decision by the Obama administration is expected late this summer.

huffpo

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Ed Markey on Friday denounced California billionaire Tom Steyer's involvement in the Massachusetts Senate special election. The hedge fund manager turned environmentalist has threatened to spend big money if Markey's opponent, Rep. Steve Lynch, does not renounce his support for the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline. Now Markey is saying thanks but no thanks for the support.

"As I stated when I first learned about Tom Steyer's demands on Monday, these kinds of tactics have no place in our political discourse and should be repudiated," said Markey in a statement. "Mr. Steyer should immediately withdraw his threats and ultimatum, and stay out of this Senate race. This campaign should be about the people of this state, and I remain committed to giving Massachusetts voters a debate about the issues they care about most"

Steyer has been working with several young Massachusetts advocates on a campaign against the pipeline, which would stretch 1,700 miles from Canada to oil refineries in Texas. In a public letter on Monday, the environmentalists asked Lynch to do one of two things: "Either act like a real Democrat and oppose Keystone's dirty energy. Or, get a sworn, binding statement -- with securities law enforcement -- from TransCanada and the refiners that all of the Keystone-shipped oil will stay here [in the U.S.]." Otherwise, Steyer said he'd launch an education campaign against Lynch.

While Markey, having previously called on primary candidates on both sides of the aisle to reject money from outside interest groups, has already <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/20/keystone-xl-massachusetts-senate_n_2917579.html" target="_hplink">has distanced himself</a> from Steyer before, his statement on Friday is his most definitive rejection to date.

Chris Lehane, a spokesman for Steyer, told HuffPost in an email, "While we have have great respect for Ed Markey and know he is a real Democrat, the issue in this race is whether Steve Lynch is running to be the senator from Canada fighting for increasing the wealth of a foreign oil company or a senator from Massachusetts who will stand for the common good of the Commonwealth."

Frank Callahan, president of the Massachusetts Building Trades Council is similarly displeased with Steyer's involvement. "I guess I shouldn't have been surprised by the arrogance of another out-of-state and out-of-touch billionaire who identifies himself as a 'clean energy philanthropist' when he interjected himself into our U.S. Senate race with a threatening letter to Congressman Stephen Lynch," Callahan said. "As a lifelong resident of Massachusetts, I've had enough of Washington insiders and outside environmental groups attempting to dictate who we can have for our elected representatives. I and my fellow residents of Massachusetts are perfectly capable of deciding who will represent us in the United States Senate. Keep your money -- our votes are not for sale."

The union leader's ire was puzzling to Craig Altemose, one of the environmental activists on the letter, who says the pipeline's job estimates, which have been widely reported as <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/14/keystone-xl-pipeline-jobs-creator_n_2874734.html?utm_hp_ref=green" target="_hplink">overblown</a>, will not do anything to help people in the state of Massachusetts.

"Local unions in [Massachusetts] will not see a single job for the KXL pipeline, however temporary," he told HuffPost in an email. "And the pipeline -- and the climate change it will accelerate -- will do permanent damage to the Commonwealth ... If Lynch wants to support local union jobs in Massachusetts, he should look no further than <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/23/cape-wind-regulation-liti_n_2736008.html" target="_hplink">Cape Wind</a>, which will create hundreds of temporary construction jobs here in the Commonwealth and more permanent jobs than the entire 1,700 mile pipeline."

Last year Steyer spent many millions of dollars on Proposition 39, California ballot initiative that funnels money into clean energy projects by closing a tax loophole.

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