By Thomas Lifson, from American Thinker
[update, I scheduled this the previous night, and was unaware that Dave Middleton would publish the same story a few hours earlier….C’est la vie ~ctm]
Charges of “Russian collusion” may have opened Pandora’s Box for the environmentalist wing of the Democratic Party and the American left. Republican congressman Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee, and energy subcommittee chairman Rep. Randy Weber have sent a letter to Treasury Secretary Stephen Mnuchin, calling:
… on the Trump administration to investigate whether Russia is trying to undermine the U.S. energy industry by funding environmental activism as part of a “propaganda war against fossil fuels.”
They lay out the logic of the case:
Russia’s goal is to “suppress the widespread adoption of fracking in Europe and the U.S.,”
according to a letter to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin from House Science, Space and Technology Committee chairman Lamar Smith and energy subcommittee chairman Randy Weber.
“If you connect the dots, it is clear that Russia is funding U.S. environmental groups in an effort to suppress our domestic oil and gas industry, specifically hydraulic fracking,” said Mr. Smith, Texas Republican, in a Friday statement.
“They have established an elaborate scheme that funnels money through shell companies in Bermuda,” he said. “This scheme may violate federal law and certainly distorts the U.S. energy market. The American people deserve to know the truth and I am confident Secretary Mnuchin will investigate the allegations.”
The Republicans said the panel is already conducting oversight into “what appears to be a concerted effort by foreign entities to funnel millions of dollars through various non-profit entities to influence the U.S. energy market.”
Certainly Russia has a motive. The widespread adoption of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling has fueled an energy boom in the United States that threatens Russian exports of oil and natural gas, which accounted for 68 percent of the country’s export revenue in 2013.
The letter pointed to reports that Russian entities may have funneled millions through a Bermuda shell company, Klein Ltd., to the Sea Change Foundation in San Francisco, which has in turn provided grants on anti-fracking groups like the Sierra Club and the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund.
Proving such a link is another matter. The letter acknowledged that the “Russian government and complicit parties have executed a political agenda with little or no paper trail.”
Letter to Secretary of the Treasury here
HT/jmarshs
So, does this new religion have a name yet, something besides fanaticism? What!?! You don’t think that’s what it is?
You KIDS!!! Fanaticism is an all-encompassing term for ‘join us or die’ – that sort of thing. I expect to see temples built to accommodate this New World Religion. I think they are called ‘banks’ right now, because Mammon, the God of Money, drives everything. Riots and demonstrations cost money.
Maybe I could talk Shu, the Egyptian God of the Atmosphere, to send torrents of rain to places that depend on solar platforms for electricity. Now that would be awesome!
The Russians have history in this practice. They were instrumental behind the anti-nuclear campaign in the UK during the cold war.
Interesting that to a very large degree, it’s the same groups that were once funded by the Soviets that are now at the forefront of the CAGW movement.
Russia has been doing these kinds of subversive acts for a century! What do they think Russia was doing during the Cold War? LMAO.
This recent Russian scaremongering is a tool for our own home-grown Marxists/liberals and it’s really getting tiresome.
Obama’s DOJ gave special permission so that the Russian Natalia could enter the US.
In 1917, Germany provided a special conduct to get Lenin through to Moscow.
In Canada the real foreign influence is very detailed in this website
http://fairquestions.typepad.com/rethink_campaigns/
Green US billionaires of Tides and other “charities” are the culprits… not the Russians…
Tom,
Vivian Krause is absolutely brilliant.
Well this is nothing new. Here in Canada the left supported USA environmental groups like Tides and the Sierra club have been spending money trying to stop any energy development. Millions went to stop the Enbridge Gateway line from Edmonton to Prince Rupert. The last election was very much influenced by foreign left groups to push Harper out in favor of pretty boy Trudeau.Any pipeline or energy plant is attacked using this foreign funding. The Suzuki foundation is a clearing house for these foreign funds and a lot of it ends up in first nations hands to push the fight for them.