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EPA Requests DOJ Investigate Foreign Funding of Environmental Groups
The Washington Free Beacon ^ | OCTOBER 27, 2020 3:30 PM | Joe Schoffstall

Posted on 10/27/2020 5:06:47 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

The Environmental Protection Agency has asked the Justice Department to investigate allegations that U.S. environmental groups have received covert funding from China and Russia.

EPA administrator Andrew Wheeler made the request after Rep. Lance Gooden (R., Texas) alleged that left-wing environmental groups—including the Sea Change Foundation, Sunrise Movement, and Sierra Club—have functioned as conduits for "foreign influence, financial involvement, and election interference." Wheeler noted that it is not against the law for a nonprofit to take contributions from foreign entities but nonetheless asked the DOJ to look into whether the groups should register as foreign agents.

"Given heightened concerns that foreign countries, primarily China and Russia, are potentially funding U.S.-based ‘green' groups to undermine American energy independence and to help maintain the integrity of the EPA's decision-making, EPA will refer this matter to the DOJ [Foreign Agents Registration Act] Unit," Wheeler said. "The DOJ can then determine what appropriate steps to take, if any, including whether those entities should be registered as foreign agents."

Gooden's allegations follow calls from other Republican lawmakers to investigate the anonymous funding of green groups for potential foreign influence. In September, Rep. Liz Cheney (R., Wyo.) asked the DOJ to investigate whether Russia and China are working to infiltrate environmental groups as a way of influencing U.S. policy.

Erin Bridges, the fundraising director of the Sunrise Movement, told the Washington Free Beacon that such accusations were baseless, describing them as "another exhausted attempt from fossil fuel cronies to conjure up some vast conspiracy theory that's been debunked again and again."

But Republican lawmakers are most concerned about the Sea Change Foundation, which has utilized offshore entities to pump large sums into its coffers. Since its founding in 2006, the Sea Change Foundation has passed nearly $500 million to liberal environmental groups, including the Sierra Club,...

(Excerpt) Read more at freebeacon.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 2006; 2020election; china; econuts; election2020; energy; environment; environmentalists; epa; erinbridges; fara; foreign; globalwarminghoax; greennewdeal; landslide; lizcheney; nathanielsimons; prc; putin; russia; sanfrancisco; scf; seachange; seachangefoundation; sierraclub; simons; sunrise; sunrisemovement; trumplandslide

1 posted on 10/27/2020 5:06:47 PM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Duh!

What’s the hurry? They’ve been doing it since the 70s.


2 posted on 10/27/2020 5:09:16 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (If you're neverTrump at this point, drop the charade, you're just never the United States.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

It’s about time our side has the goods on the deep state and uses it.


3 posted on 10/27/2020 5:13:53 PM PDT by Track9 (English language instruction in china is sponsored by the CCP to facilitate espionage.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The Sunrise movement has been in the news more than once this week.


4 posted on 10/27/2020 5:17:01 PM PDT by Track9 (English language instruction in china is sponsored by the CCP to facilitate espionage.)
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To: DoughtyOne

Got their start with the anti nuke groups.


5 posted on 10/27/2020 5:17:21 PM PDT by riverrunner
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To: E. Pluribus Unum; Fedora

sunrise movement bump.


6 posted on 10/27/2020 5:21:26 PM PDT by piasa (Attitude adjustments offered here free of charge.)
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To: riverrunner

I suspect there were Cold War USSR bucks in the mix in the
late 1960s. The Vietnam protests were in full swing. It
was a natural. The Leftists in Europe were also infected.

Our youth may have a point at times, but their remedies
are downright suicidal.

Today, they don’t have a single clue as to what is actually
going on. They’re just out there a feeling-fumes, going
as far as they can on natural gas.


7 posted on 10/27/2020 5:22:27 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (If you're neverTrump at this point, drop the charade, you're just never the United States.)
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To: riverrunner

Yes, those too. Should have mentioned that.


8 posted on 10/27/2020 5:23:20 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (If you're neverTrump at this point, drop the charade, you're just never the United States.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum
NGOs have been a conduit for foreign and corporate interference for decades. Nobody is waking up to this now.
9 posted on 10/27/2020 5:54:47 PM PDT by AAABEST (NY/DC/LA media/political/military industrial complex DELENDA EST)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

The only thing DOJ is “investigating” is the babe in the adjacent cubicle,


10 posted on 10/27/2020 5:59:04 PM PDT by Bonemaker (invictus maneo)
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To: DoughtyOne

In the USFS and usblm

,,we called them watermelons

,,green outside
,,red inside.

always knew they were commies first and foremost

So happy to see these ecocommies looked into

,They devastated whole west coast industries and commerce and economy.

Hope they audit all the endangered species survey study numbers and expose the fraud.


11 posted on 10/27/2020 6:02:26 PM PDT by cuz1961 (USCGR Veteran 10/17/78 to 11/24/84)
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To: piasa

http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3568163/posts

US Environmentalists May Have Secretly Taken Russian Cash

House lawmakers want the Trump administration to investigate reports that a wealthy foundation used an offshore shell company to give millions of dollars to environmental activists opposed to U.S. energy development.

“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,” Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith said Friday.

Smith and Texas Republican Rep. Randy Weber asked Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin to investigate whether or not environmentalists were funneling money to U.S. environmental groups through a Bermuda-based shell company.

Republicans are pitching it as part of a larger investigation into the extent of Russian meddling in U.S. politics. . .

Conservatives and some energy experts have speculated for years Russian oligarchs may have funneled money to environmentalists to oppose energy development, especially hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

Fracking unleashed a U.S. energy boom and contributed to the collapse in oil prices in 2014. Eastern European officials claimed the Kremlin had backed environmental protects against oil and gas operations to keep those countries dependent on Russian imports.

The former head of NATO and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also said Russia had backed environmental activists in Europe, so is it that far-fetched they would also try and influence U.S. energy policy?

A 2015 report by The Washington Free seemed to confirm those fears based on findings from the Environmental Policy Alliance (EPA), which is run by the PR firm Berman and Company.

The Free Beacon reported the Sea Change Foundation got $23 million in 2010 and 2011 from a Bermuda-based shell company based out of a law firm with ties to Russian oligarchs. The law firm, Wakefield Quinn, also manages two Simons-run hedge funds.

What Is The Sea Change Foundation?

Investor Nat Simons and his wife Laura Baxter-Simons founded the Sea Change Foundation in 2006, in part, to “address the serious threats posed by global climate change.”. . .

Sea Change took millions from a shell company set up by Wakefield Quin in 2011 “exclusively for philanthropic purposes,” according to documents. The shell company, Klein Ltd., gave Sea Change $23 million in 2010 and 2011. Klein Ltd is out of Wakefield Quin’s office.

The same year prominent U.S. environmental groups took millions from Sea Change many were ramping up campaigns to oppose fracking operations popping up all over the country.

“The Sierra Club, the Natural Resource Defense Council, the League of Conservation Voters, and the Center for American Progress were among the recipients of Sea Change’s $100 million in grants in 2010 and 2011,” The Free Beacon reported, adding that as “many as 20 companies and investment funds with ties to the Russian government are Wakefield Quin clients.”

Wakefield Quin also has ties to two Simons-run hedge funds, which are run out of the law firm and operated by attorney Roderick Forrest. Those hedge funds held $80 million the same years Klein Ltd. gave $23 million to Sea Change. . .Several Wakefield Quin employees have ties to Russian firms with Kremlin links, according to the EPA report.

One firm, Spectrum Partners Ltd, is a holding company run out of Wakefield Quin that has a fund “with 53% of its assets invested in the Russian oil and gas industry.” Wakefielf Quin has ties to a firm co-directed by Hans Rudloff, the chairman of the Russian state-owned oil company Rosneft.

Wakefield Quin also has tied to the “holding company of Russian investment banking firm Troika Dialog,” which “is one of the largest shareholders in an oil company owned by Russian oligarch Alexander Lebedev,” according to EPA. The Bermuda-based firm also has ties to the Firebird New Russia Fund, which invests in Russian energy, and at least two other companies being investigated for money laundering.


12 posted on 10/27/2020 6:03:03 PM PDT by Fedora
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I’ve believed this for many years. I think our enemies and specifically foreign competitors of our domestic energy industry have been funding big-time environmental groups for decades. Easy way to cripple the competition.


13 posted on 10/27/2020 6:08:04 PM PDT by Steely Tom ([Seth Rich] == [the Democrats' John Dean])
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To: DoughtyOne

These groups are all funded by the EPA set asides when the EPA settles lawsuits with the offending parties. Usually part of the settlement fines are set aside to these groups.


14 posted on 10/27/2020 6:08:19 PM PDT by shotgun
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; cardinal4; ColdOne; ...
cdfvxbvcvbcvbcv

15 posted on 10/27/2020 7:11:23 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

And we wonder why so much power and money is going after Trump.
The deep state trash hates their gig being exposed


16 posted on 10/27/2020 7:15:42 PM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (Leave me alone, I have no incriminating evidence on the Clintons)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Enviromarxists being funded by Commies? Say it ain’t so!


17 posted on 10/27/2020 8:17:23 PM PDT by jdsteel (Americans are Dreamers too!!!)
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