Environmental groups with ties to anti-Israel groups, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and billionaire mega-donors are pressuring Democratic congressional leadership to pursue an agenda of “no immunity” for the fossil fuel industry.
“We write to urge Democratic members of the House and Senate to proactively and affirmatively reject any proposal that would shield fossil fuel companies from the growing number of legal and legislative efforts to hold them accountable for their role in the climate crisis,” a letter from almost 200 environmental groups to Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., reads.
The signers include the Westchester People’s Action Coalition (WESPAC), a fiscal sponsor of Students for Justice Palestine, a pro-Palestine group that has orchestrated dozens of anti-Israel protests since the Oct. 6 terrorist attack.
Fox News Digital previously reported on the financial ties between WESPAC and liberal megadonor George Soros. WESPAC, whose funding is largely unknown, has espoused anti-Israel rhetoric for years, including accusing the government of “apartheid,” “ethnic cleansing,” “collective punishment” and “war crimes,” according to NGO Monitor.
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Another letter-signer was the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), one of the nation’s largest environmentalist groups, which has been accused by Republican members of congress of having “substantial” ties to the CCP.
NRDC’s president and CEO, Manish Bapna, is a council member of the China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development, a “platform for cooperation and policy development between Chinese and international researchers.”
Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. James Comer sent a letter to the attorney general in 2023 to investigate NRDC, saying it “acts as a mouthpiece for Chinese propaganda, signaling that it either takes direction from the CCP or that it is willing to self-censor to maintain a positive relationship with the Communist regime.”
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Bob Deans, spokesman for NRDC, told Fox News Digital in a statement, “This letter affirms a simple principle: the polluter pays for the harm they cause. The fossil fuel industry shouldn’t be let off the hook for the damage its pollution causes; same as any other industry. Working families shouldn’t have to pay the price for that pollution, in the havoc it wreaks on our homes, pocketbooks, health and farms.”
“The NRDC is an independent, non-profit, public-interest group working to confront the climate crisis and protect the environment and public health. When developing our institutional positions—in the United States, China, and anywhere else in the world—we rely on our U.S.-based senior leadership and board of independent trustees, and no one else. We do the bidding of no government, in this country or any other.”
Foreign-funded groups Extinction Rebellion and the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) joined in on the letter to Democratic leadership.
CCI, in their 2022 990 form, promoted the idea “that climate polluters should be held financially responsible for the climate damage they’ve deliberately caused at the center of the climate debate.”
The group, which received a grant of over $1 million from the billionaire-fueled Rockefeller Family Fund in 2018, said that they support “congressional investigations designed to expose the oil and gas industry’s historic and ongoing climate deception.”
The Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, co-founded by European billionaire Christopher Hohn, donated $7 million to CCI from January 2018 through September 2020 in an effort “to accelerate climate action by supporting litigation that promotes climate mitigation, adaptation and resilience.”
Extinction Rebellion has been responsible for a long list of attempts to disrupt the public life of innocent bystanders, including blocking an airstrip, blocking traffic and interfering with the tennis U.S. Open in 2023.
Another environmental advocacy group, 350.org, is funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, a group owned by billionaire businessman Michael Bloomberg who, in October, became the second-largest individual donor to then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign.
The group is funded by the Tides Foundation, a group that fiscally sponsors pro-Palestine groups, such as the Adalah Justice Project, a Palestinian-led advocacy group. Fox News Digital has previously reported that the Tides Foundation has given millions to liberal organizations who have organized pro-Palestinian protests.
The foundation financially backs several groups listed as signatories on the letter to Jeffries and Schumer.
“Tides is aware of the letter that was sent to Rep. Jeffries and Sen. Schumer to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for their role in the climate crisis,” a Tides Foundation spokesperson told Fox News Digital. “Our community of fiscally sponsored projects, donors, and grantees hold a wide range of perspectives, including on how to best protect and care for our planet.”
The statement continued, “At Tides, we value and support diverse approaches to advancing equity. We work closely with our partners to ensure they adhere to the guidelines outlined in our handbook and we condemn hate speech, violence, antisemitism and Islamophobia in any form. Tides has never received money from Open Society Foundation or any other donor to fund the student protests on college campuses. We believe that every life lost to violence is a profound injustice.”
Fox News Digital reached out to the offices of Sen. Schumer and Rep. Jeffries.
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