It has long been known that major foundations funded by billionaire families such as Gates, Getty, and Rockefeller have played a major role in funding various climate change alarmist efforts that denigrate so-called “fossil fuels.” It has been an open secret for a long time. Until recently, little was known about the role these billionaire foundations play in persuading various government agencies to follow the same path.
Fox News reported This week, several billionaire interests led by the Rockefeller family foundation subpoenaed ExxonMobil's records from the New York State Attorney General's Office during 2015 regarding an investigation into the company's early research into global warming. It has become clear that he was under pressure to request the same. A series of leaked emails between longtime RFF director Lee Wasserman and the office of then-New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman first broached the idea in early 2015. is. Mr. Schneiderman eventually responded to pressure and sent his first subpoena to ExxonMobil in November. In that same year.
RFF's involvement in the pursuit of ExxonMobil extended to influencing media coverage and paying for interviews. In September 2015, Inside Climate News published the first in a series of articles called the “Exxon Knew” series. RFF funded the effort As reported in the Daily Caller in 2016, it was done through a multi-million dollar grant to ICN and its parent company, Lost Light Projects. It was also supported by an RFF grant in October of the same year. Series of jointly published articles ExxonMobil was demonized by the Los Angeles Times and Columbia School of Journalism. (Related: David Blackmon: Another eco-friendly vehicle pipe dream explodes like the Hindenburg)
“We have spent years tracking the relationships between left-wing environmental groups and their billionaire funders, and this is a financial and ideological challenge to a wide-ranging legal attack on America's energy industry. , once again proving its relevance to political influence,” said Tom Pyle. the director of the Energy Research Institute said in an email. “It's hard to believe that this country's anti-oil sentiment is driven by a network of billionaires, activists, and politicians who show little concern for how their political movements harm ordinary Americans. It’s obvious.”
The strategy behind the New York AG investigation is meeting There, a strategy was developed to attack the oil and gas industry using the same tactics that had been deployed against the tobacco industry since the 1980s. The plan's success depended on identifying and recruiting “sympathetic state attorneys general” willing to take a lead role in initiating an ongoing series of lawsuits targeting the industry. .
Activists ultimately landed on Schneiderman as the most likely and most willing partner.When Mr. Schneiderman was forced to resign for personal reasons. scandalHis successor, current AG Letitia James, enthusiastically took over the torch. However, the lawsuit was ultimately rejected by the New York State Supreme Court, which called the claims “exaggerated.”
RFF was in the news earlier this month, and on February 8th, The Wall Street Journal reported The interests of the company and other left-wing billionaires, including Michael Bloomberg, helped pressure President Biden to implement a “pause” in January on permits for proposed new liquefied natural gas export facilities. Ta.
WSJ reporters, citing sources “familiar with the effort,” say local communities are rallying to oppose new LNG export capacity, even as U.S. LNG has become a vital source for the world. It details a billionaire-backed campaign launched four years ago to engage and organize activist groups. America's ally in Europe following Russia's war against Ukraine. Activists then “buttonhole” government officials at conferences and conferences around the world, freezing proceedings based on flimsy and hyperbolic claims of climate alarm similar to those behind the lawsuit against ExxonMobil. I put pressure on him.
“They got our attention,” Barron's quoted an anonymous White House official as saying.
Well, they did, but for what purpose? All of these campaigns are promoted using lofty propaganda that portrays them as efforts to suppress the malleable concept of “climate change,” but these efforts by RFF and its billionaire allies and Other efforts always end up increasing energy costs for the public. America's energy security is declining and our country's dependence on China is increasing.
In the end, the only reasonable conclusion is that these results are actually as planned.
David Blackmon is an energy writer and consultant based in Texas. He spent his 40 years in the oil and gas business, specializing in public policy and communications.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
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