Schmidt Fdn

<font face="Times New Roman">vitter rep</font><div><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><div><font face="Times New Roman"><b>ii. The Schmidt Family </b></font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">
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</div><div><font face="Times New Roman">ii. The Schmidt Family Foundation: Peddling Anti-Fracking Science</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">The Schmidt Family Foundation, through its 11th Hour Project, is another example of a</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">big foundation funding an echo chamber that promotes its propaganda. Schmidt is based in</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">California, has reported assets of $312,189,881, and gives mostly to organizations focusing on</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">climate change, fracking and other environmental causes.241 Schmidt’s grant philosophy offers a</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">strong example of prescriptive grantmaking previously discussed in this report. Its website</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">advises: “Please note, all of the Foundation's grantmaking is now done on a strictly invitational</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">basis and we will not review proposals received either in the mail or to our email inbox. We</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">proactively seek new partnerships based on our program area strategies.”242</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">232 Felicity Carus, Dangerous levels of radioactivity found at fracking waste site in Pennsylvania, THE</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">GUARDIAN, Oct. 2, 2013, http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/oct/02/dangerous-radioactivityfracking-waste-pennsylvania</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">233<b> Wendy Koch</b>, Fracking linked to radioactive river water in Pa., USA TODAY, Oct. 2, 2013,</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/10/02/fracking-radioactive-water-pennsylvania/2904829/ 234 Id. 235 Id. 236 Carus, supra note 233. 237 Bobby Magill, Fracking Study: Gas Production In Pennsylvania May Be Polluting Creek With Radioactive</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">Waste, HUFFINGTON POST, Oct. 2, 2013, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/02/fracking-studypennsylvania_n_4030748.html</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">238 Id., supra, note 233. 239 Josh Fox Twitter feed, Oct. 6, 2013, 12:37 P.M., https://twitter.com/gaslandmovie/status/386938386344194049</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">(last visited July 22, 2014).</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">240 [A]<span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Park Foundation, 2013 Grants Database</span>,</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">http://www.parkfoundation.org/search.php?coding=group&group=2013&title=2013%20Grants#category_31 (last</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">visited July 22, 2014);</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2"> [B] Jon Campbell, Park Foundation funds anti-fracking groups, DEMOCRAT & CHRONICLE, Apr. 15, 2012,</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">http://roc.democratandchronicle.com/article/20120415/NEWS01/304150016/Park-Foundation-funds-anti-frackinggroups.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">241 2012 is the most recent I.R.S. Form 990 that is currently available for the Schmidt Family Foundation. 242 http://www.11thhourproject.org/grantees.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">36</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">In 2011, Schmidt made a grant of $50,000 to the Environmental Working Group (EWG),</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">a Washington, D.C. based environmental research organization,243 “[t]o support the creation of</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">case study on hydro-fracking in CA.”244 EWG’s directors include Drummond Pike of Tides</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">(Tides Foundation also funds EWG245) and Laura Turner Seydel of the Turner Foundation.246</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman"> In</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">February 2012, EWG released a report on fracking entitled “California Regulator: See No</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">Fracking, Speak no Fracking.”247 The study’s Acknowledgments recognized that funding, “was</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">made possible thanks to the generosity of the 11th Hour Foundation, The Park Foundation, to</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">Civil Society Institute and EWG’s community of online supporters”248 The below graphic</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">depicts the funding stream.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">The report was mostly reported on by outlets backed by Park and Schmidt. In fact,</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">Mother Jones covered it favorably in a February 29, 2012 story249 possibly as a direct result of</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">Schmidt’s $225,000.00 donation to Mother Jones in 2012 “To support food & environmental</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">reporting, public affairs outreach.”250 Schmidt has also donated $850,000 to Grist between 2010</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">and 2012.251 Its 2012 donation of $300,000 to Grist was “To provide general operating support,</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">
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</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">243 Environmental Working Group; About Us, http://www.ewg.org/about-us/offices (last visited July 22, 2014). </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">244 Schmidt Family Foundation Form, IRS Form 990, 2011. 245 Tides Foundation, IRS Form 990, 2011-2013. </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">246 Environmental Working Group; About Us; Board Members, http://www.ewg.org/about-us/board-members (last</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">visited July 22, 2014).</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">
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</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">247 Renee Sharp and Bill Allayaud, CALIFORNIA REGULATORS: SEE NO FRACKING, SPEAK NO</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">FRACKING (Feb. 2012).</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">http://static.ewg.org/reports/2012/fracking/ca_fracking/ca_regulators_see_no_fracking.pdf</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">248 Id. at p. 3. 249 Kiera Butler, California Government Has No Idea Fracking Is Happening, MOTHER JONES (Feb. 29, 2012),</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">http://www.motherjones.com/blue-marble/2012/02/california-fracking. 250 Schmidt Family Foundation, IRS Form 990, 2012. </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">251 Schmidt Family Foundation, IRS Form 990, 2011 & 2012.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman" size="2">37</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman"> </font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">environmental news & commentary on the web.”252 Grist also reported on the EWG study.253</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">Accordingly, Schmidt, along with Park, are two examples of foundations using their grant</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">powers to create news on their environmental interests and then spread the news to the public in</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">a manner that supports their views.</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">b. Activist Group</font></div></div><div><font face="Times New Roman">
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