Colllusion

An American Spectator magazine story, “Russian funding of U.S. environmental groups shows how collusion is done,” points to the kind of Russian collusion and domestic meddling that some approve.

A 2014 U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee report identified that the San Francisco-based Sea Change Foundation receives funding from a Bermuda-based shell company known as Klein Ltd. The company was created by attorneys from Wakefield Quin, a law firm that has close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The IRS requires nonprofit organizations to file 990 forms that report their activities. Those 990s show that Klein Ltd. contributed $23 million to the Sea Change Foundation in 2010 and again in 2011. The forms show that the foundation distributed more than $20 million in grants in 2010 and 2011 to environmental organizations, including the leftist Natural Resources Defense Council, The Sierra Club Foundation, the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, the Tides Foundation, the Union of Concerned Scientists and the World Wildlife Fund.

In return for the grant money, those leftist environmentalists were “to promote awareness of climate change,” “reduce reliance on high carbon energy,” “educate the public about climate and clean energy” and “promote climate and clean energy communications.” A U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee report, titled “Russian Attempts to Influence U.S. Domestic Energy Markets by Exploiting Social Media,” details that the environmental groups used the Russian money to protest the process of fracking and fight the building of the Keystone XL pipeline. If environmentalists can thwart U.S. oil production, Russia stands to gain greater economic and political power.

It is gratifying to see Russia's concern for our environment--and interesting how influence abuts free speech. And how complex the job of monitoring is, even for the most vigilant.