kevin mooney
gotta be incubator baby?
made his bonEs on acorn, sea change (4 pinocchios wapo)' NEVER ACTUALLY PROVES KLEIN TOOK RUSS $?
cited by corsi or morano:
quickly that I wish we would apply environment social governance E. S. G. Standards to products from china.That would end the whole solar and electric battery. Imagine if we actually were able to do that. Uh in terms of china Russia we don't we don't
pay a lot more in the stores.
00:55:07
If that would. That's right. Well you would but I'm just saying that would be if you're going to apply it to a U. S. Companies that should be evenly equally applied. It's not. [vol dopt by US corps, no govt even incentive?] Uh and in terms of china,kevin Mooney actually with the Heritage Foundation and others has done great reports about chinese. I'm sorry not chinese but Russian and Russian money particularly going into environmental groups to promote, you know, shutting down U. S. Energy. So it's one of the things ...
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booktv 2022
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yikes newsweek recycles daily sig BS: rooskies gren sea change
https://www.newsweek.com/putin-funding-green-groups-discredit-natural-gas-fracking-635052
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bs staff report 404 --> wayback
july 2014
Contact: Luke Bolar — Luke_Bolar@epw.senate.gov (202) 224-6176 Cheyenne Steel — Cheyenne_Steel@epw.senate.gov (202) 224-6176 U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (Minority)
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https://leftexposed.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/2014-Senate-Billionaire-Club-Report.pdf
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twit
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https://kevinmooney.info/biography/
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elcome to Kevin Mooney's homepage.
Kevin is a journalist and investigative reporter for the Commonwealth Foundation in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania and the Heritage Foundation in Washington D.C. His home state is N.J., but he has several adopted states.
Kevin has a joint Master's Degree in Government and Communications from Regent Universityin Virginia Beach, Va. While with Regent University, Kevin studied abroad at Hertford College in Oxford University. Kevin has traveled throughout the United Kingdom, Ireland, Italy, France, Spain and the Netherlands. He's ambitious to revisit previous international stops, but is also looking to see more of Europe before traveling to Australia, New Zealand and eventually parts of Asia.
View recent stories below or find out more about him in his Biography.
Recent Stories
- Biden’s HHS Pushes ‘Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Accessibility’ Agenda to Racialize Government
- Youngkin Poised to Withdraw Virginia From Multistate Climate Pact
- Salvation Army Silent on Impact of Race-Based Training on Fundraising
- Salvation Army Should Apologize by Christmas for Racially Divisive Training, Watchdog Demands
- Salvation Army Conceals ‘Politically Charged’ Racial Teachings During Fundraising Campaign, Nonprofit Group Says
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- Breitbart.com
- Capital Research Center
- CNSNews.com
- Daily Caller
- Daily Signal
- Forbes Magazine
- Fox News TV Appearance
- National Review
- Pelican Institute
- Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity
- Washington Examiner Blog Posts
- Washington Free Beacon
- Washington Times
- Washington Times Op-Ed
- Watchdog.org
- Weekly Standard
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off bs bio
Kevin Mooney is an investigative reporter who writes for several publications based in the Washington D.C. area. He is currently an investigative reporter with The Daily Signal, the multimedia news publication of The Heritage Foundation and with the Commonwealth Foundation, a free market think tank based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Kevin currently writes for National Review, The Daily Signal, The Epoch Times, The Washington Examiner, Broad & Liberty, and the publications of the Capital Research Center. His work has also appeared in The Washington Free Beacon, The Washington Times, The Daily Caller, the American Spectator, Newsbusters and Breitbart.com
Prior to joining the Heritage Foundation and the Commonwealth Foundation, Kevin worked as an investigative reporter with The Pelican Institute for Public Policy based in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Rhode Island Center for Freedom and Prosperity, the Franklin Center and CNSNews.com.
Kevin specializes in reporting on the environmental movement,its impact on economic activity and new scientific data that questions the premise of man-made global warming. Another special area of interest concerns the actions of organized labor and its impact on public policy and the free market.
Kevin has also appeared on several Fox News programs including the Tucker Carlson program where he discussed the financial relationship between the Russian government and the U.S. environmental movement. He also appeared on theGlenn Beck program to discuss the connection between organized labor and the now defunct Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now(ACORN). Kevin was also the first to report on the taxpayer funding made available to ACORN in midst of voter fraud activity that involved ACORN and its operatives in the 2008 election cycle.
Prior to arriving in Washington D.C., Kevin worked as a reporter for the Trenton Times and Forbes Newspapers in New Jersey. He also held editorial positions with Dow Jones and Company and Bloomberg News in Princeton, N.J. In 2017, Kevin received his Fourth Degree (also known as the Patriotic Degree) in the Knights of Columbus. He belongs to the Bishop Griffin Assembly in N.J.
He is a member of the following organizations:
- Investigative Reporters and Editors
- The Society of Professional Journalists
- The National Press Club
- The Philadelphia Society
- The Federalist Society
- The National Association of Scholars
- Young America’s Foundation
- The State Policy Network
- America’s Future Foundation
- The Amateur Astronomer’s Association of Princeton
- Princeton Battlefield Society
- The Ancient Order of Hibernians
- The Knights of Columbus
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sieg heil
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forget about allegations of Russian interference in U.S. presidential elections for a moment,
or even“collusion” between Russian officials and Trump campaign operatives.
The real action is in the European and U.S. energy markets, according to a letter from two Texas congressmen to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that details what they call “a covert anti-fracking campaign” with “little or no paper trail.”
The Daily Signal obtained a copy of the June 29 letterto Mnuchin from Reps. Lamar Smith and Randy Weber, both Republicans who chair energy-related House panels. (See the full letter below.)
Smith and Weber quote sources saying the Russian government has been colluding with environmental groups to circulate “disinformation” and “propaganda” aimed at undermining hydraulic fracturing. Commonly called fracking, the process makes it possible to access natural gas deposits.
The sources include a former secretary-general of NATO, who is quoted by the GOP congressmen as saying:
Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called nongovernmental organizations—environmental organizations working against shale gas—to maintain dependence on imported Russian gas.
This anti-fracking campaign seizes upon environmental issues and health concerns that could be used to constrain U.S. drilling and fracking exercises, the letter explains.
Gazprom, a large Russian oil company, stands to benefit if Russian-funded environmental activism results in reduced levels of fracking and natural gas production in the United States, Smith and Weber tell Mnuchin. They write:
It is easy to see the benefit to Russia and Gazprom that would result from a reduction in the U.S. level of drilling and fracking—a position advocated for by numerous environmental groups in the U.S.
Smith, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, joined Weber, chairman of that panel’s energy subcommittee, in calling on the treasury secretaryto investigate whether Russia works with American environmental activists to prevent the U.S. from developing its natural gas resources.
Top U.S. government officials who have acknowledged the connection between Russian and environmental groups include former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee for president in 2016.
In 2014, Clinton delivered a “private speech” in which she discussed Russia’s financial support for environmental groups, the letter says. The speech was included in documents released by WikiLeaks, it says.
An Oct. 10, 2016, report in TheWashington Times quoted Clinton as saying:
We [the State Department and the U.S. government] were up against Russia pushing oligarchs and others to buy media. We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand up against any effort, ‘Oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you,’ and a lot of that money supporting that effort was coming from Russia.
Contrary to what Russia’s propaganda machine and its environmental allies have told news consumers in Europe and America, fracking is safe, effective, and enormously beneficial, Nick Loris, an economist and energy policy analyst with The Heritage Foundation, said in an email to The Daily Signal.
“If successful, an anti-fracking campaign is depriving Americans of good-paying jobs and affordable, dependable energy,” Loris said. “Despite smears and outright lies from environmental activists, smart drilling and energy extraction technologies have been proven to be safe.”
“It feels like every week a new study is published, confirming what we already know,” he said. “Hydraulic fracturing does not contaminate drinking water. The facts and history of hydraulic fracturing, a history that dates back more than half a century and over 1 million fracked wells, indicate that many of the fears associated with the process are grossly exaggerated or flat-out unsubstantiated.”
Loris added:
The good news, however, is that the anti-fracking campaign really hasn’t been all that successful in ‘keeping it in the ground.’ The U.S. is the world’s largest petroleum and natural gas producer, and we can thank fracking and American energy companies for it.
The result is that money is going back into bank accounts of hardworking families through lower energy bills, and American businesses are more competitive because of lower input costs. And we’re in a position to supply our allies with power, significantly reducing the ability of any one nation’s ability to manipulate energy markets for political gain.
In their letter to the treasury secretary, Smith and Weber also say the Russians have been able to advance their strategy without “a paper trail.”
They pass along reports that Russia apparently funnels the money through a Bermuda-based “shell company” known as Klein Ltd.
Tens of millions of dollars are moved from Russia through Klein “in the form of anonymous donations” to a U.S.-based nonprofit called the Sea Change Foundation.
The money, the congressmen write, then is moved in the form of grants to U.S. environmental organizations.
Here is their complete letter to Mnuchin:
also signal no italics April 22, 2018
new Yorkers who are missing out on the natural gas revolution could be victims of Russian spy operations that fund popular environmental groups, current and former U.S. government officials and experts on Russia worry.
Natural gas development of the celebrated Marcellus Shale deposits has spurred jobs and other economic growth in neighboring Pennsylvania. But not in New York, which nearly 10 years ago banned the process of hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking, to produce natural gas.
Two environmental advocacy groups that successfully lobbied against fracking in New York each received more than $10 million in grants from a foundation in California that got financial support from a Bermuda company congressional investigators linked to the Russians, public documents show.
The environmental groups Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club Foundation received millions of dollars in grants from the San Francisco-based Sea Change Foundation.
“Follow the money trail, and this [New York] ban on fracking could be viewed as an example of successful Russian espionage,” Ken Stiles, a CIA veteran of 29 years who now teaches at Virginia Tech, told The Daily Signal.
To Stiles and other knowledgeable observers, this looks like an actual case of knowing or unknowing collusion with Russia.
Both Natural Resources Defense Council and Sierra Club Foundation also accepted tens of millions from the Energy Foundation, the top recipient of grants from Sea Change, according to foundation and tax records.
When New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, renewed his state’s ban on fracking three years ago, the Natural Resources Defense Council issued a statement supporting the ban. So did the Sierra Club, the primary recipient of grants from its sister organization, the Sierra Club Foundation.
Environmental activists associated with the groups receiving Sea Change Foundation grants continued to pressure Cuomo and other public officials to maintain and expand New York’s fracking ban.
Most recently, the two environmental groups scored another victory when the Delaware River Basin Commission, an interstate regulatory agency that includes the governors of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, proposed a ban on fracking within the Delaware River Basin cutting across all four states.
The Sierra Club and the Natural Resource Defense Council have pressed the regional commission to impose the ban, issuing statements (here and here) calling for restrictions that are tighter than what the commission proposed.
PennEast Pipeline Co. is set to begin construction on a 120-mile-long pipeline to transport natural gas from the Marcellus Shale across Eastern Pennsylvania into New Jersey. In a new public relations campaign, PennEast asks New Jersey residents if they would rather obtain their energy from Pennsylvania or Russia.
>>> Related: PennEast Pipeline Backers Tout Lower Energy Prices in Fighting Well-Funded Green Groups
PennEast cites media reports describing how anti-pipeline policies in Massachusetts forced the state into a position where it had to rely on Russian imports of liquified natural gas during peak cold periods this past winter.
The Russian Money Trail
Government officials and environmental leaders have a responsibility to track the money, Stiles, the former CIA officer, told The Daily Signal in an interview.
“The Russians are very adept and skilled at making long-term investments,” Stiles said. “They sit back very patiently to see how their funding can pay off over a period of many years.”
Stiles added:
Whether these environmental groups realize it or not, they could be operating as what we [in the CIA] call ‘agents of influence.’ By working to block natural gas production, environmental activists are advancing policies that work to the advantage of Russia and to the disadvantage of America and America’s allies.
Karen Moreau, who is in charge of the New York office of the American Petroleum Institute, a trade association for gas and oil companies, argues that the resulting policy hurts state residents and businesses.
“New York remains at a disadvantage because other states are not just more pro-energy, they are more pro-business and therefore pipelines that could have been constructed in New York taking gas from the Marcellus Shale are instead moving south, not north,” Moreau told The Daily Signal.
“The manufacturing renaissance that is taking place in this country thanks to the president’s policies is not happening in states like New York,” she said.
A [unnamed] senior adviser to the State Department told a recent conference that Trump administration policies supporting energy dominance could help the U.S. eclipse the amount of natural gas Russia exports to the European Union.
The Daily Signal unsuccessfully sought comment from the Sierra Club Foundation and its affiliate the Sierra Club, as well as Natural Resources Defense Council and Sea Change Foundation, on the allegations of Russian financial support for environmentalists’ anti-fracking and anti-pipeline campaigns.
The Marcellus Shale is a geological formation of sedimentary rock with large deposits of natural gas that cuts across southwestern New York, northern and western Pennsylvania, western Ohio, most of West Virginia, and small portions of Kentucky and Tennessee.
The U.S. Geological Survey determined that the Marcellus Shale contains “about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids.”
Since the U.S. is now the top producer of natural gasin the world, and well positioned to export liquefied natural gas across the globe, Russia recognizes it gradually could lose influence in parts of the world where Moscow has been the dominant supplier of oil and gas, Stiles said in a phone interview.
“America’s natural gas revolution has huge geopolitical ramifications, so Russia’s motivation to try to block our natural gas development is easy to understand,” the CIA veteran said. “If you are worried about the Russian bear rearing its ugly head in the next several years, the way to stop that and put it back into its cage is to cut it off at the knees financially.”
“That’s what natural gas pipelines are all about and that’s what fracking is all about. We are providing affordable energy to average Americans at home and our allies overseas.”
US Gains in Market
In the fracking technique applied to shale formations, engineers inject water mixed with sand and chemicals into a well at high pressure, producing a fluid that fractures the rock and releases trapped oil or natural gas.
Environmentalists continue to challenge fracking, arguing among other things that it contaminates well water.
The natural gas import-export equation has changed radically in the past few years, with trends pointing to the U.S. becoming a net exporter.
Richard Westerdale, the senior adviser with the State Department, made this point in November during the Heartland Institute’s America First Energy Conference in Houston, Texas.
“By 2020, the U.S. will be approaching nearly 100 billion cubic meters in [liquefied natural gas] exports,” Westerdale said in a presentation. “It’s simply amazing to me to think that back in 2010, we were building [liquefied natural gas] import terminals.”
As natural gas markets become increasingly competitive, the “world wins,” he added, since “well-functioning markets reinforce global energy security, foster economic growth and commercial interests abroad, and, depending upon how host countries choose to use [natural gas resources], it can in fact enhance environmental stewardship.”
In three of the first five monthsof 2017, U.S. natural gas exports were greater than imports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The most recent available data shows that U.S. exports of liquefied natural gas increased for the duration of 2017 as new facilities went operational.
What Consumers Know
Stiles, who teaches espionage and national security issues in Virginia Tech’s geography department,defines espionage, or spying, as “an operation that is planned and executed as to conceal the identity of, or permit plausible denial by, the sponsor.”
One way for Moscow to conceal its sponsorship of anti-fracking campaigns in New York or elsewhere in the U.S. is to move its funding indirectly and anonymously through various entities, the former CIA analyst told The Daily Signal.
“I think the groups and individuals on both sides of the debate over fracking and pipelines have a tendency to just look in their own back yards, without looking at the larger geopolitical picture,” Stiles said. “If it was more widely known that anti-fracking, anti-pipeline operations may be benefitting from a foreign source of funding, this would certainly impact the debate.”
:{
}:The agents of influence described by Stiles range from “controlled agents” and “trusted contacts” who know they’re working for a foreign government to “manipulated sources” who have no idea that they’re doing the bidding of a foreign power.
The former CIA analyst said he is inclined to characterize environmental activists who received Russian funding through indirect channels, such as Sea Change or the Energy Foundation, as manipulated sources.
Stiles calls on the leadership of environmental groups such as the Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council, which accepted large amounts through such channels, to start asking hard questions.
“It’s either a lack of due diligence or incompetence, or they may actually know something about a particular donor, but they don’t want to ask that question,” Stiles said. “I tend to think the issue is more that they are just not looking the gift horse in the mouth, and they are just taking the money.”
Paperless Money Trail
Sea Change Foundation, a family charity, is identified in congressional reports and correspondence as a major incubator of funding from foreign sources, including Russia. That money ends up in the coffers of U.S. environmental groups opposed to natural gas development and drilling techniques such as fracking that make that development possible.
Nathaniel Simons and his wife, Laura Baxter-Simons, established Sea Change Foundation in 2006. Simons is the son of James Simons, founder of the New York-based Renaissance Technologies hedge fund firm.
Sea Change, according to its website, works to “address the serious threats posed by global climate change,” focusing on “climate change mitigation and clean energy policy in the United States and internationally.”
In July 2014, the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee released a report describing how a Bermuda-based company, Klein Ltd., “was set up for the sole purpose of funneling anonymous donations to Sea Change.” [not illegal for fdn to take for $?]
Bermuda law permits Klein Ltd. to conceal foreign sources of funding, the report explains.
“It appearsthat Klein exists on paper only, as it does not have an internet presence, and was set up for the sole purpose of funneling anonymous donations to Sea Change,” the report says.
Subsequent investigations building on the findings of the Senate committee—including that of the Washington-based Environmental Policy Alliance—NOTHEEPA] established a connection between Wakefield Quin, the law firm that set up Klein, and top Kremlin officials, including Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Lawyers and others at Wakefield Quinhave been associated with Russian energy companies and worked with Leonid Reiman, a former Russian minister of telecommunications and longtime Putin ally, these investigations found.
Environmental Policy Alliance, which opposes the agenda of liberal green groups, is affiliated with Washington lobbyist Rick Bermanand his Berman & Co. public affairs firm.
Sea Change has not responded directly to The Daily Signal in the past, and did not respond for this report.
In an email to Salon, however, the foundation in July 2017 acknowledged receiving financial support from Klein, saying it accepted the company’s grant money as “general support” with no proviso that it be used for specific programs.
Response From Klein Ltd.
In an email to The Daily Signal, Roderick M. Forrest, a Wakefield Quin lawyer representing Klein Ltd., described allegations against his Bermuda-based client as “completely false and irresponsible.” Klein, he said, “has no Russian connection whatsoever.”
Forrest made similar assertions in an email to The Washington Times in July 2017.
The Daily Signal had sought the law firm’s comment on allegations of Russian funding of U.S. environmental groups and Klein’s alleged role in easing movement of Russian funds to the Sea Change Foundation.
“Our firm has represented Klein since its inception,” Forrest said in the email, “and we can state categorically that at no point did this philanthropic organization receive or expend funds from Russian sources or Russian-connected sources and Klein has no Russian connection whatsoever.”
The lawyer for Klein added:
Attorneys, law firms, financial institutions and all other companies based in Bermuda operate under a regulatory and anti-money laundering regime which applies standards which are amongst the highest in the world. Illicit movement of funds falls well below such standards and any informed party would understand that, not only is there no substance or truth to such allegations in this case, the allegations appear to be intended to damage the reputation of the Bermuda-based individuals and businesses named.
Bermuda and the U.S. have in place an information exchange framework under which the U.S. government, its regulators and law enforcement agencies have access to all information concerning financial transactions in Bermuda and by Bermuda entities. Through this framework, information is available to such proper authorities, enabling them to be satisfied as to the probity of any alleged payments.
Julie Hill, a professor at University of Alabama School of Law with expertise in regulation of financial institutions, told The Daily Signal that it is not “as easy as it was at one time to engage in money laundering” in places such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands.
That’s because monetary authorities now collect more information from companies than they did previously, Hill said.
“This information is not made public, but it can be given to foreign governments,” Hill said in an interview, adding:
The advantage in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands now would be more in terms of tax neutrality rather than anonymity. But it’s certainly true that various entities have in the past engaged in money laundering schemes in these locations, and the Russians would be part of this history. Today there are more barriers than in the past. That doesn’t mean it can’t be done, it just means it’s harder.
‘Ripe for Investigation’
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, sent a letter in June to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin saying allegations of Russian financial support for U.S. environmental groups “are ripe for an investigation” by the Treasury Department.
In the letter, previously reported by The Daily Signal, Smith noted that Klein Ltd. and Wakefield Quin share the same Bermuda address “with more than 20 other companies” apparently run through the law firm.
A review of IRS 990 Forms shows that Klein contributed $23 million to Sea Change in 2010 and 2011, almost half of what the California foundation received in that time. The 990 forms indicate Sea Change then made grants concentrated on environmental advocacy groups.
From 2010 through 2015, the Sierra Club Foundation received more than $18 million from Sea Change and Natural Resources Defense Council received more than $15 million.
Both groups are on record opposing natural gas development in New York, and both are among the top 10 recipients of Sea Change grants, according to an analysis of foundation records.
The Energy Foundation, at $64 million, was the top recipient of Sea Change grants from 2010 through 2015, the most recent year for which 990s are available.
The 2014 Senate report describes the Energy Foundation as a “pass through” public charity that donates to environmental activist groups such as the Sierra Club Foundation and Natural Resources Defense Council.
The idea behind a “pass through” organization, according to the Senate report, is “to create the appearance of a more diversified base of support” and to “shield” donors from accountability.
Between 1998 and 2015, the Energy Foundation paid 30,178 grants to 12,058 recipients totaling more than $1.2 billion, records show. Grantees included environmental groups active in opposing natural gas development of the Marcellus Shale.
The top recipient was Natural Resources Defense Council, with more than $35 million. The Sierra Club Foundation received more than $16 million. (The council has $236.5 million in net assets, while the foundation has $113.2 million in net assets.)
:{Recalling Cold War History
}:
Paul Kengor, a Grove City College political science professor who has researched the history of Moscow’s manipulation of U.S. political figures, told The Daily Signal that he sees an “old Cold War powder keg that went dry suddenly being reignited.”
“What makes the current situation more nefarious today is the possibility—if this is indeed accurate—of Russian manipulation of domestic groups inside the United States and the willful cooperation of those domestic environmentalists,” Kengor, a biographer of Ronald Reagan, said in an email, adding:
In the 1980s, Ronald Reagan had one heck of a time trying to enlist the support of our Western allies in blocking the Siberian gas pipeline in Russia. Even [British Prime Minister] Margaret Thatcher balked; in fact, that’s an understatement: Thatcher was vehemently opposed because she wanted Britain to have the cheap Russian gas and wanted some British firms to have some of the construction contracts. The same was true for the West Germans and the French.
Ronald Reagan boldly proceeded almost alone in this effort in the 1980s. But here today … we have the extremely troubling possibility of our own U.S. citizens being targeted by the Russians for manipulation in undercutting our own domestic energy industry, our workers, and our citizens. TRUMP AND KIDS DID ALL TO GET SANCTIONS DROPPED?!]
What stands out in terms of Cold War history and its relevance to contemporary questions of espionage is the role of Putin, warns Bonner Cohen, a senior fellow with the National Center for Public Policy Research, a Washington-based think tank that supports free market solutions to policy challenges.
“Putin, let’s not forget, is an old hand at using Western pressure groups to serve the Kremlin’s purposes,” Cohen said in an email.
“When, in the 1980s, the old Soviet Union was manipulating self-styled ‘peace groups’ in Western Europe and the U.S. in an effort to divide NATO and isolate the U.S., Putin was a mid-level KGB agent in East Germany.”
Cohen added:
Though that effort ultimately failed, Putin learned his lesson well. Then it was U.S. missiles to defend Western Europe that had to be demonized; today, it is U.S. oil and natural gas that are portrayed as a threat. In both cases, money changed hands, and scare tactics were the order of the day.
New Yorkers and High Energy Costs
New York residents continue to pay the price for Cuomo’s ban on drilling techniques that make it possible to access natural gas from the Marcellus Shale, laments Moreau, executive director of the American Petroleum Institute’s New York office.
“People who could have had inexpensive natural gas instead have had to pay very high electricity prices due to the cold snap this winter,” Moreau told The Daily Signal, “and many power generators were actually forced to burn oil instead of natural gas due to the constraints on natural gas.”
The 625 members of API, a national trade association, include major energy companies in the oil and gas industry.
Although New York is the fourth-largest consumer of natural gas in the nation, that natural gas primarily is imported from other states, Moreau said.
“If not for the pro-energy development policies of other states, New Yorkers would be bitterly freezing this winter,” she said.
The Daily Signal sought comment from Cuomo’s office to ask if the New York governor had concerns about allegations of Russian support for environmental groups active in his state. His office has not responded.
Cohen, of the National Center for Public Policy Research, said he sees a connection between Putin’s government in Moscow and influential U.S. environmental groups that is difficult to deny.
“The Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council, and other advocacy groups may have their own ‘green’ reasons for opposing America’s realizing the energy potential of its abundant fossil fuels,” Cohen said in an email to The Daily Signal. “At the same time, these groups know full well that they receive funding from the Sea Change Foundation and the Energy Foundation, both of which, according to a congressional report,are funded by Russian interests via a Bermuda-based shell company.”
Some green groups and Russia under Putin “have a common interest in demonizing fracking and related technologies that have tilted global energy markets in America’s favor,” Cohen said.
“Just as the shale revolution has been an economic godsend to millions of Americans, providing them with affordable electricity and transportation fuel, it has been a nightmare for Russia and environmental activists.”
Ken McIntyre contributed to this report.
A Note for our Readers:
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from sea change: at what pt is he involved?
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random 11 22
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crc bs
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Josh Gasland
delingpole BB
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2014/07/30/exposed-sea-change-the-shadowy-one-percenter-foundation-waging-war-on-affordable-energy/
OMFG:
The role Sea Change plays as a member of the Billionaire’s Club is deeply troubling,
especially in light of recent revelations that environmental activists, many of whom are clearly
benefiting from this extreme “dark money,” do not have any moral qualms over where their
money comes from – so long as it supports the far-left cause.
416
This sentiment was captured by
a recently releasedinvestigative video that revealed Hollywood producers of far-left
environmental films were eager to accept Middle Eastern money to produce an anti-fracking
video. Notably, in speaking with a man believed to represent rich Middle Eastern oil interests
opposed to American energy independence through fracking, one producer said:
416Project Veritas, Full Un edited raw video, exclusive release by Project Veritas, available at YouTube.com,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6HZ5VLmyes&list=UUL9PlYkRD3Q-RZca6CCnPKw (last visited July 29,
2014).
65
This is not the first major project that we’ve had funded through a funding source
which you know, for various reasons – we didn’t disclose. It would have been
very unwise for everybody to understand the dynamics of that funding. So we
know how tricky it is…. It’s money, so in that sense we have no moral issue. OKEEFE
no lnx
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/17/bogus-allegation-that-putin-is-funding-california-environmental-charity/
Analysis
The bogus ‘allegation’ that Putin is funding a California environmental charity
By Glenn Kessler
Staff writer
March 17, 2022
“It has been alleged that [Russian President Vladimir] Putin is using a San Francisco-based e-NGO, the Sea Change Foundation (Sea Change), to funnel money into U.S.-based environmental advocacy efforts designed to undermine American energy production. … Notably, reports suggest that your organization is one of the top e-NGO recipients of Sea Change grants since 2006.”
:{
}:
— Letter signed by every GOP member of the House Energy Committee, written to several environmental groups, March 10
Note the passive voice in this letter — “it has been alleged.” There’s just enough smoke in the four-page missive to suggest there’s a raging fire. At Fox News, the resulting story was headlined: “House Republicans demand answers from environmental groups over allegation of collusion with Russia.”
The letter demanded answers by March 25 from three environmental groups — the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Sierra Club — on whether they have received funding from Russia or China and whether any funding from Sea Change, an environmental philanthropy, was used for anti-fracking advocacy. Sea Change contributes about $40 million to $50 million a year to a variety of environmental organizations.
“Provided the public reporting of Putin’s dark money influence in Europe and the concerns surrounding similar efforts in the United States, we write today to explore your connections with Sea Change,” the letter said. “Any action by President Putin, the Russian government, or Putin’s allies to undermine American energy security must be addressed.”
But upon inspection, the allegations crumble into dust. The flimsiest of dots are connected to make a case. What is even more astonishing is that, regular as clockwork, Republicans have been making these bogus claims every few years, even after credible explanations have been given. Small wonder — they keep getting the same favorable headlines from right-leaning media.
The Facts
This all started in 2014, when the Republican staff of the Senate Environment Committee published a report alleging that a group of “left wing millionaires and billionaires … directs and controls the far-left environmental movement, which in turn controls major policy decisions and lobbies on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).” The report focused on Sea Change Foundation, based in California, which it said “relies on funding from a foreign company with undisclosed donors.”
The president of Sea Change is Nat Simons, a son of billionaire hedge fund investor James Simons, who is one of the world’s richest people, with a net worth of almost $29 billion.The committee report conceded that Nat and his wife, Laura Baxter-Simons, “predominantly fund Sea Change through their own personal wealth, mostly attributed to their ties to Renaissance Technologies, a wildly profitably hedge fund.”
But the report also noted that “in addition to funding by the Simons, the only other source of its contributions derives from a Bermuda-based company called Klein Ltd.” In 2010, Kleincontributed $13 million to Sea Change, about half of Sea Change’s contributions that year, and in 2011 Klein contributed $10 million to Sea Change, about one-third of the contributions. The report decried the “lack of transparency” about Klein’s funding and said the company appeared to have been set up “for the sole purpose of funneling anonymous donations to Sea Change.”
There was not a word in the report about Russian money. But then, in December 2015, a group called the Environmental Policy Alliance issued a six-page paper titled “From Russia With Love?”
Note the question mark.It intended to raise allegations but provide plausible deniability. The paper — it’s too thin to be called a report — claimed it was building on the Senate report by examining the law firm that set up Klein.
That firm, Wakefield Quin, is one of Bermuda’s top law firms. The hyped discovery in the paper was that some of the lawyers at the firm held directorship positions in companies of some of their clients, including some linked to the Russian energy sector.One 2008 court case in the British Virgin Islands, for instance, resulted in a money laundering conviction against a client associated with an adviser to Putin. “While it is unclear who is funding Klein, the law firm controlling this shady offshore funder of the U.S. environmental movement has ties to Russian money laundering, a friend and advisor of Vladimir Putin, Russian oil production, and more,” the paper said.
Law firms, of course, often have many clients, sometimes with shared interests. But that does not mean the law firm is coordinating among its clients or funneling money between them. The dots are so poorly connected as to be almost nonexistent.
Moreover, there is a certain irony in theEnvironmental Policy Alliance issuing the paper. It’s one of the many “AstroTurf” organizations — faux think tanks — run out of the offices of Berman and Company, headed by GOP lobbyist Richard “Rick” Berman. The group’s webpage says it is devoted to “uncovering the funding and hidden agenda behind environmental activist groups.”
In 2014, the New York Times obtained a recording of a closed-door speech in which Berman bragged to a group of oil industry executives about how he kept corporate donations secret behind a wall of nonprofit groups that sponsor major advertising campaigns supporting industry objectives. “There is total anonymity,” he said. “People don’t know who supports us.”
Despite the dubious provenance and the flimsy reasoning, the claims made by Berman’s group keep circulating.
In 2017, when Russian interference in the 2016 election was in the news, two Republican lawmakers from Texas, Lamar Smith (since retired) and Rep. Randy Weber, issued an open letter asking the Treasury Department to investigate possible money flows from Putin to Sea Change.
The letter began by citing concerns raised about Russia’s opposition to fracking by NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton.
Rasmussen in 2014 was quoted as saying that Russia “engaged actively with so-called nongovernmental organizations — environmental organizations working against shale gas — to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas.”He provided no proof and declined to say more, saying, “That is my interpretation.”
Clinton, in a private speech in Edmonton, Alberta, in 2014, alluded to Russian disinformation efforts. “We were up against Russia pushing oligarchs and others to buy media,” she said. “We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand against any effort, ‘Oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you,’ and a lot of the money supporting that message was coming from Russia.”
The speech was revealed when Russia hacked the account of Clinton campaign manager John Podesta and turned over his emails to WikiLeaks. But Nick Merrill, a Clinton spokesman, said she was not talking about Russia funding groups in the United States. “I remember this speech,” he said in an email. “She was talking about proposed pipelines in Europe that would have threatened Russian supply.”
One repeatedly cited statistic is that Russia invested $95 million in nongovernmental organizations to persuade European governments to stop shale gas exploration. The number appeared in a 2018 Senate committee report, sourced to the Wilfried Martens Center for European Studies. But the Wilfried Martens Center report does not explain how that figure was calculated and attributes it only to a 2015 “interview with anonymous contributor.” The report also is unclear about how much of this funding came from what are known as GONGOs (government-organized nongovernment organizations) or Russian oil companies themselves, as opposed to secret conduits of Russian money.
Finally, the letter referred to a national intelligence report issued on Jan. 6, 2017, about Russia’s efforts to influence the political debate in the United States. That report noted that RT, the Russian news channel, “runs anti-fracking programming, highlighting environmental issues and the impacts on public health.”
In other words, concerns about apparent Russian efforts to use nongovernmental groups in Europe to undermine fracking were leveraged to suggest that the same problem existed in the United States. But the only direct intervention in the United States that has been identified was a Russian news network.[that is well known propaganda organ vs u.s. NGO?]
When Smith and Weber issued their letter, the Bermuda law firm issued a blistering statement denying any suggestion that it acted as a conduit for Russian funds. “The allegations are completely false and irresponsible,” the firm said. “Our firm has represented Klein since its inception, and we can state categorically that at no point did this philanthropic organization receive or expend funds from Russian sources or Russian-connected sources and Klein has no Russian connection whatsoever.”
Politico quoted a Sea Change spokesperson as saying that no money from Russia had been received and that none of its donations to environmental groups were earmarked for opposition to fracking — which was supposedly the point of the subterfuge. From our study of Sea Change’s tax filings, its contributions have been focused broadly on climate change mitigation, energy efficiency and clean-energy policies.
Finally, a year later, the Sea Change Foundation revealed the source of Klein’s funding — the Simons family wealth. It turns out it was just another trust for the family’s billions.
“I wish to clarify that press reports speculating that Klein has received funding from outside sources are factually incorrect and have no basis,” Nat Simons said in a 2018 statement to Inside Philanthropy. “Neither Klein nor Sea Change Foundation has ever solicited or accepted contributions from non-family related sources.” Simons said that the name of the Bermuda funding vehicle had been changed from Klein Ltd. to Sea Change Foundation International.
Yet, here we are, with a new letter.This new missive repeats, at the start, the same items as the earlier letter — such as quotes from Rasmussen, Clinton and the national intelligence report. It adds a 2019 quote from former Trump aide Fiona Hill, made during the first impeachment inquiry, that Putin “saw American fracking as a great threat to Russian interests.” (Hill told the Fact Checker that “this was only a general statement” as “Putin went on a rant about fracking that I personally witnessed in November 2011.”)
Then the letter claims that “it has been alleged thatPutin” is using Sea Change to advance his interests. No mention is made of Sea Change’s 2018 statement explaining the family wealth as the source of the money.
The letter is so stuck in a time warp that it’s out of date. Rod Forrest, a director and senior counsel at Wakefield Quin, told The Fact Checker that the law firm no longer represents Sea Change (or Klein) and has not done so for some time.“Wakefield Quin does not have any directorship positions with any investment or other group connected in any way to any Russian minister,” he added.
Nat Simons and Laura Baxter-Simons, in a statement to The Fact Checker, said: “We are disappointed to see false allegations of foreign influence through Sea Change Foundation resurface after this untrue assertion was fully refuted in a statement released in 2018. To state clearly, neither Klein nor Sea Change Foundation has or had any connection to Russia or Russian funds.”
The environmental groups also issued statements denying any links to Russian funds.
“We receive no funding from the government of Russia,” said Bob Deans, the Natural Resources Defense Council’s director of strategic engagement. “We answer to our independent leadership, and we don’t do the bidding of any government — foreign or otherwise — in our work to advocate for common sense environmental protections in the public interest. These allegations are rooted in a smear campaign orchestrated nearly a decade ago by fossil fuel interests and a right-wing think tank. They only serve now, as then, as a distraction.”
“This false conspiracy theory, invented by the same deceitful front groups paid to do polluters’ and Big Tobacco’s dirty work, has been repeatedly debunked over its nearly 10-year existence,” said Sierra Club Legislative Director Melinda Pierce. “The Sierra Club has no connections to Russia or China, and proudly fights for clean energy and climate action because this is what our planet requires, our families deserve, and what the overwhelming majority of Americans across the country demand.”
“This story is completely false and has been put to rest for years,” said David Willett, a League of Conservation Voters spokesman. “We have no connections to Russia, or China, and have been an effective advocate for environmental protection for over 50 years. These false and poorly-researched allegations are rooted in a nearly 10-year-old right-wing think tank and fossil fuel industry-funded smear campaign that gets revived every few years to serve as a distraction.”
Jack Heretik, a spokesman for the House Energy Committee’s GOP members, said: “If the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club have nothing to hide, then we look forward to seeing the evidence by March 25.”
Will Coggin, a Berman and Company research analyst associated with entities such as the Center for Consumer Freedom and the Environmental Policy Alliance, issued a statement defending the 2015 paper: “The NATO Secretary General said Russians were working with environmentalists to oppose fracking in other countries as a scheme to help Russian energy. Our report highlighted how a shadowy Caribbean-based organization gave $23 million to Sea Change and how the firm where that group was based had connections to Russian clients. The questions we raised are still unanswered, and this situation deserves a full, independent investigation.”
The Pinocchio Test
For years, it’s been clear that Sea Change Foundation has no connection to secret Russian money. After all, the foundation is associated with one of the world’s richest families. On top of that, we can find no evidence that money donated by Sea Change resulted in anti-fracking campaigns. The foundation might have been quicker to reveal that Klein’s funds were just more of the Simonses’ money, but in any case that has been known now for four years.
The lawmakers may pretend that they are just asking questions, but in reality they are recycling claims that have already been adequately debunked. It’s a smarmy way to earn some publicity during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. They earnFour Pinocchios.
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229 Comments
https://www.mediamatters.org/jesse-watters/kremlin-praises-fox-news-fox-personalities-desperately-try-link-environmental-groups
as Russia’s foreign minister praises Fox News coverage of war in Ukraine, the network has exploited the crisis to villainize the environmental movement, capitalizing on the global economic sanctions against Vladimir Putin’s invasion to recycle previously debunked claims that Russia is secretly funding “green campaigns” against oil drilling and fracking in the U.S.
Fox hosts and personalities took their cues from a March 10 letter from Republican members of theHouse Energy Committeeasking three environmental groups – the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and Sierra Club – to provide evidence of any financial support from Russia. Yet, as the Washington Post Fact Checker explains, the “bogus” allegations in the letter are remnants of a 2017 scandal concocted by Republicans to distract from an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.
Here are some examples of Fox pushing this lie:
- Fox host Jesse Watters suggested green energy campaigns “are taking dirty Russian money” in order “to scare Americans out of fracking and energy exploration.” Fox News, *Jesse Watters Primetime*, [3/3/22]
- Watters, and co-host Greg Gutfeld pushed this evidence-free claim again, saying that green energy campaigns in America are funded by Russia to increase dependence on foreign oil. Fox News, *The Five*, [3/4/22]
- Fox’s Carley Shimkus stated that “a lot of Republicans are calling for an investigation into whether Russia was funding climate change groups in the U.S.” Co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy followed up, “Of course they were.” Fox News, *Fox & Friends*, [3/16/22]
- Gutfeld spent his monologue ranting that “the left are in lockstep with what Putin wants, for us to be dependent on other countries like his for energy,” saying “Russia duped Europe into depending on their energy by funding rabid environmental groups” and spread “disinformation within green groups to steer countries away from fracking and shale gas.” Fox News, *Gutfeld!*, [3/16/22]
- Later in the episode, Gutfeld suggested that opposition to fracking in the U.S. had been “driven” by Russian propaganda efforts: “The past 10 years, all this stuff – all the documentaries, all the Hollywood celebrities, all the stuff about fracking – might have all been driven by Russia, or at least paying for that.” Fox News,*Gutfeld!*, [3/16/22]
- Gutfeld repeated the claim yet again the next day, saying the Democrats should be thanking Putin for rising gas prices “because after all, it was Russia who infiltrated the green groups to get us off our domestic oil and buy their foreign oil.” Fox News, *The Five*, [3/17/22]
Fox personalities have been criticized for pro-Kremlin commentary – and the Kremlin itself has noticed, as exposed by minister Sergey Lavrov's remarks about Fox and a recently reported memo from the Russian government that directed the country’s media outlets to promote as many clips of Fox News star Tucker Carlson as possible. (The Kremlin’s propaganda and Carlson’s own rhetoric have remarkable similarities.) The narratives parroted by Fox to earn this praise – from blaming Joe Biden for rising gas prices to suggestions the war in Ukraine is pushed by elitist self interests – are baseless and incendiary. Their recent push of easily debunked anti-environmental conspiracies are no different.
The allegations stem from whether the aforementioned environmental groups received donations from the Sea Change Foundation, an environmental philanthropy group run by billionaire Nat Simons. In 2015, a baseless report from the GOP lobbyist-led front group Environmental Policy Alliance accused the law firm that set up a Bermuda-based company financing Sea Change of having extremely vague ties to an adviser to Putin. The firm refuted these allegations as “completely false and irresponsible,” saying, “We can state categorically that at no point did this philanthropic organization receive or expend funds from Russian sources or Russian-connected sources.” In fact, the sole source of the foundation’s funding is the Simons family. Despite the appearance of Kremlin-linked donations being obliterated, that did not stop 2017 House GOP members from requesting an investigation, and now recycling the debunked claims.
The network’s hosts and guests – primarily recently promoted prime-time stars Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld – are also conflating a separate online article from Fox that quotes “experts” like the Heritage Foundation’s James Carafano noting that “Russians actually fund some of the most rabid environmental groups in Europe.” (Carafano has been a vocal critic of climate science and recently co-authored a piece describing the Biden administration’s climate policies as a “titanic disaster in waiting.”) The article’s so-called “experts” also included right-wing media’s favorite climate contrarian, Michael Shellenberger, a notorious natural gas advocate who’s pushed lies about the cost and efficiency of renewable energy.
The Republicans point to a 2017 national intelligence report that highlighted a Russian state news channel, RT America, that ran “anti-fracking programming,” and was trying to expand its U.S. audience. Not only did the report not provide any evidence that the channel had been successful, but as of March 4, RT America announced it was “ceasing production.” It is simply preposterous to believe that over a decade of fracking commentary was driven by the network prior to its dissolution.
Some efforts against European drilling and fracking have been linked to Kremlin propaganda designed to increase dependency on Russian oil exports, but with each reshaping of the conspiracy theory, there has been no evidence of any similarly funded successful campaign in the United States.
ref 1
https://www.foxnews.com/world/russia-funding-environmental-groups-europe-united-state
no lnx pix [vid?]
RUSSIA Published March 15, 2022
Russia duped Europe into energy dependence by funding 'rabid environmental groups': experts
Expert James Carafano: 'Russians actually fund some of the most rabid environmental groups in Europe'
By Emma Colton | Fox News
[soc med]
[Biden engaged in 'war on American energy,' finally banned Russia oil over bad news cycle, House rep says
NEW
You can now listen to Fox News articles! BeyondWords]
For years, world leaders have accused Russia of funding environmental groups in Europe to steer nations away from energy independence and strengthen Russia’s iron grip over the continent.As nations across the globe begin shunning Russian oil in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine, U.S. leaders are also questioning how deep Russia’s ties go in the environmental community.
"The Russians actually fund some of the most rabid environmental groups in Europe because they sic them on the energy projects that aren’t Russian," James Carafano, vice president of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy at the Heritage Foundation,told Fox News Digital in a recent phone interview.
RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: LIVE UPDATES]
Back in June 2014, just months after Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine, European leaders sounded off that Russia was using disinformation operations with environmental groups to steer countries away from fracking in favor of Russian oil.
"I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organisations - environmental organisations working against shale gas - to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas," Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the former prime minister of Denmark and then-secretary-general of NATO, said, according to the Guardian.
NATO’s press office passed the remarks off as Rasmussen’s personal views, but one NATO official sounded the alarm that Russia’s grip on Europe was tightening.
HOUSE REPUBLICANS DEMAND ANSWERS FROM ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS OVER ALLEGATION OF COLLUSION WITH RUSSIA
"We don't go into the details of discussions among allied leaders, but Russia has been using a mix of hard and soft power in its attempt to recreate a sphere of influence, including through a campaign of disinformation on many issues, including energy. In general, the potential for Russia using energy supplies as a means of putting pressure on European nations is a matter of concern. No country should use supply and pricing terms as tools of coercion," the NATO official told the Guardian in 2014.
Environmental groups have meanwhile feverishly denied any ties to Russia.
"The idea we’re puppets of Putin is so preposterous that you have to wonder what they’re smoking over at NATO HQ," Greenpeacetold the Guardian in 2014.
By 2016, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Scotland and Bulgaria had all banned fracking, either temporarily or permanently. Russia’s power over European energy grew large by 2022, providing roughly 40% of the continent’s natural gas supply. Lithuania, for example, gets 83% of its oil imports from Russia, Poland gets 58% and Finland 80%, The Hill reported. [DENMARK?]
"You're not really an independent nation if you depend on foreign countries so heavily for your energy supplies," Michael Shellenberger, thebest-selling author of "Apocalypse Never," told Fox News earlier this month.
EUROPE'S GREEN ENERGY POLICIES STRENGTHENED PUTIN, MICHAEL SHELLENBERGER SAYS
Shellenberger said that 15 years ago, "Europe produced more natural gas than Russia," but that all changed as "Russia increased its natural gas production and Europe reduced it."
"Europe decided not to frack in large part in response to climate activists," Shellenberger told Fox News. "We now think there is strong evidence suggesting [the climate activists] were supported directly through financing from Russia."
REPUBLICANS CALL ON YELLEN TO INVESTIGATE WHETHER RUSSIAN MONEY FINANCED USA GREEN GROUPS
In the U.S., Republican Reps. Lamar Smith and Randy Weber sent a letter to then-Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin in 2017 arguing that Russia’s goal is to "suppress the widespread adoption of fracking in Europe and the U.S." by funding such environmental groups.
The two Republicans even cited former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who complained during a private 2014 speech about "phony environmental groups" pushing an anti-fracking agenda.
"We were even up againstphony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand against any effort, ‘Oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you,’ and a lot of the money supporting that message was coming from Russia," Clinton said, according to excerpts leaked by WikiLeaks in 2016.
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are now holding three environmental groups’ feet to the fire.
The Republicans, led by Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, are demanding that the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club disclose their ties to aSan Francisco-based nongovernmental organization that Russian President Vladimir Putin allegedly uses to wield power over American energy production.
[PIX: Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Security Councilmeeting in Moscow, Russia.
]
"Provided the public reporting of Putin's dark money influence in Europe and the concerns surrounding similar efforts in the United States, we write today to explore your connections withSea Change," the Republicans wrote in the letter to the three groups last week. "Any action by President Putin, the Russian government, or Putin's allies to undermine American energy security must be addressed."
The three groups denied any ties in a previous comment to Fox News, describing the accusations as "completely false," "rooted in a smear campaign," and a phony "conspiracy theory."
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
:{
}:
"It is vital to our national security to know if Vladimir Putin, the Russian government, or Putin’s allies are meddling with America’s energy affordability and security. If the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, or Sierra Club have nothing to hide, then we look forward to seeing the evidence they provide by March 25th," House Energy and Commerce Committee Republican leader McMorris Rodgers told Fox News Digital.
ref {note many lnx are just to fox category/tag]
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/house-republicans-demand-answers-environmental-groups-collusion-russia
no lnx vid [interestingly on 3 22 pix of ukraine devastation]
REPUBLICANS Published March 10, 2022 7:37pm EST
House Republicans demand answers from environmental groups over allegation of collusion with Russia
The group's reportedly have ties to the Sea Change Foundation based in San Francisco
Kyle MorrisBy Kyle Morris | Fox News
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Vladimir Putin is laughing at the Biden administration: Charlie Hurt]
Fox News contributor tells Laura Ingraham that Vladimir Putin is sitting back laughing at the Biden administration.
[NEW
You can now listen to Fox News articles!
Listen to this article BeyondWords]
House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans are calling on certain environmental groups to disclose their ties to a non-governmental organization which is, according to the committee, reportedly used by Russian President Vladimir Putin to make an impact on American energy production.
Three environmental groups – the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and the Sierra Club – reportedly have ties to the San Francisco-based NGO environmental organization called the Sea Change Foundation, according to Republicans on the committee.
MARYLAND GOV. LARRY HOGAN WORKING ON ‘EMERGENCY SUSPENSION’ OF STATE GAS TAX
In a letter sent to each of the three groups, Republicans inquired about the funding the groups have received from Sea Change since 2006 and called for disclosure of whether the groups "are aware of concerns that Sea Change may be a conduit for Russian funding."
"Provided the public reporting of Putin's dark money influence in Europe and the concerns surrounding similar efforts in the United States, we write today to explore your connections with Sea Change," the Republicans stated in the letter. "Any action by President Putin, the Russian government, or Putin's allies to undermine American energy security must be addressed."
In addition, the Republicans asked the groups if they have received funds or took a particular action after a request "from the Russian government or anyone connected with the Russian government."
All three of the groups, according to Republicans on the committee, were identified as top recipients of Sea Change grants since 2006. The letter was signed by more than 20 Congressional Republicans, including Energy and Commerce Committee Republican leader Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Wash., and ranking member Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich.
"If the League of Conservation Voters, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club have nothing to hide, then we look forward to seeing the evidence by March 25," a spokesperson for Energy and Commerce Republicans told Fox News.
In a response shared with Fox News, Bob Deans, the director of strategic engagement for the NRDC, suggested the "allegations are false" and are "rooted in a smear campaign."
"We receive no funding from the governments of Russia or China," Deans said. "We answer to our independent leadership, and we don’t do the bidding of any government – foreign or otherwise – in our work to advocate for commonsense environmental protections in the public interest. These allegations are rooted in a smear campaign orchestrated nearly a decade ago by fossil fuel interests and a right-wing think tank. They only serve then, as now, as a distraction."
Similarly, a statement provided to Fox News from the LCV said the "story is completely false and has been put to rest for years."
"We have no connections to Russia, or China, and have been an effective advocate for environmental protection for over 50 years," the group stated. "These false and poorly researched allegations are rooted in a nearly 10-year-old right-wing think tank and fossil fuel industry-funded smear campaign that gets revived every few years to serve as a distraction."
Natali Sevriukova reacts next to her house following a rocket attack the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Feb. 25, 2022.]
In a statement shared with Fox News, Melinda Pierce, Sierra Club's legislative director, concluded the allegation of collusion is a "false conspiracy theory."
"This false conspiracy theory, invented by the same deceitful front groups paid to do polluters' and big tobacco’s dirty work, has been repeatedly debunked over its nearly 10-year existence," Pierce said. "The Sierra Club has no connections to Russia or China, and proudly fights for clean energy and climate action because this is what our planet requires, our families deserve, and what the overwhelming majority of Americans across the country demand."
Fox News did not receive an immediate response from the Sea Change Foundation.
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Gasoline prices in America hit a record high this week amid Russia’s continued invasion into Ukraine and the announcement that the United States would suspend purchases of Russian oil. As of Thursday, the national average for a gallon of regular gasoline reached $4.318, according to AAA data. Prices surpassed the $4 mark Sunday for the first time in 14 years.
The Republican members have requested a response to their questions by March 25.
Kyle Morris covers politics for Fox News. On Twitter: @RealKyleMorris.
attacked by Vitter billionaire rep bs:
A review of the IRS Form 990s reveals that Nathaniel (“Nat”) Simons is the President of Sea Change, and his wife, Laura Baxter-Simons, is its Secretary.398 Nat and Laura predominately fund Sea Change through their own personal wealth, mostly attributed to their ties to Renaissance Technologies, a wildly profitably hedge fund.399 Nat was once a principal at Renaissance and currently serves on the board of Renaissance; Laura was an associate counsel at Renaissance.400 Notably, Nat’s father, James Simons founded Renaissance.401 James Simons has been described as “one of the richest people on the planet, 402 is ranked 34th on the Forbes’ Richest People in America, 403 and 88th on the Forbes’ list of world billionaires with a net worth of $12 billion.404 In fact, the most recent data from the Center for Responsive Politics listed James and Nat’s mother, Marilyn Simons, as the #5 top contributor in the 2014 mid-term election cycle, donating 100% to Democrats – totaling $3,289,200.405 Nat also actively donates to political campaigns, including giving $15,000 to Obama’s 2009 Inaugural, and has given to dozens of Democratic candidates for Congress.406 Nat also serves as CEO ofElan Management where he manages the early stages of clean tech companies with a focus on solar and wind energy sources.407 Similar to Sea Change, Elan is based in San Francisco. Elan also created Prelude Ventures in 2009, an investment firm dedicated to clean energy. Tim Woodward, Managing Director of Prelude Ventures, has made comments revealing Elan’s agenda: “we still believe that advancements in renewables from solar to wind will be important opportunities . . . Unfortunately, energy is still a very inexpensive resource in North America, and that can make it difficult for many customers to pay much attention”408 (emphasis added). Only an affiliate of the Billionaire’s Club invested in renewable technologies would express disappointment in low energy prices. Aside from the Simons, Stephen Colwell is the Executive Director of Sea Change.
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vitter picked up by escalator delingpole:
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2014/07/30/exposed-sea-change-the-shadowy-one-percenter-foundation-waging-war-on-affordable-energy/
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The Connection Between Russia and 2 Green Groups Fighting Fracking in US By Kevin Mooney on April 22, 2018 New Yorkers who are missing out on the natural gas revolution could be victims of Russian spy operations that fund popular environmental groups, current and former U.S. government officials and experts on Russia worry.
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US green groups carry out Russia's bidding in fracking fight by Kevin Mooney October 12, 2018 12:00 AM C ongressional investigators have identified the San Francisco-based Sea Change...
:{Lawmakers Cite Evidence Russia 'Colludes' With US Green Groups to Block ...:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:
Kevin Mooney / @KevinMooneyDC / July 10, 2017 Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Gazprom Chief Executive Alexei Miller inspect work June 23 on the Turkish Stream gas pipeline project...
:{Kevin Mooney - Capital Research Center:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:
Kevin Mooney Kevin Mooney, a frequent CRC contributor, is an investigative reporter for The Daily Signal. Authored Content Green Watch "Green" Mega-Donors Funding Key Senate Battleground Races Article on August 29, 2022 by Hayden Ludwig, Kevin Mooney Green Watch RGGI Update: Virginia and RGGI Article on May 11, 2022 by Kevin Mooney Green Watch
:{The Connection Between Russia and 2 Green Groups Fighting Fracking:(style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;font-style:inherit;font-variant:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;vertical-align:top;display:inline-block;max-width:100%;overflow:hidden;text-overflow:ellipsis;white-space:nowrap"):}:
The Connection Between Russia and 2 Green Groups Fighting Fracking in US Kevin Mooney / @KevinMooneyDC / April 22, 2018 New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, here speaking Jan. 21 in Lower...