During his campaign, President Trump promised to unleash America’s energy potential and restore our position as the dominant energy player in the world. As his administration begins to fulfill that promise, starting with untangling President Biden’s regulatory straightjacket, a lesser-known, and more corrupting undertaking could derail his effort: foreign billionaires funneling millions through leftist green organizations and the Democratic party.
Recent reporting from the Free Beacon exposed how Australian mining baron Andrew Forrest is using the American legal system to pursue his commercial and ideological goals. Mr. Forrest’s agenda is seemingly about environmental activism, but when you scratch the surface, it appears to have much more to do with kneecapping his primary U.S. competitors.
As reported, Mr. Forrest is funding an activist environmental lawsuit against ExxonMobil by using a pass-through charity that pays the bills of a California law firm. The lawsuit is a not-too-clever spin on climate suits that seek to undermine American competitiveness by destroying companies’ ability to produce, market, and deliver responsibly sourced, homegrown American energy. It also takes this tired legal theory a step further by expanding the “Exxon knew” charade to the recycling of plastics, targeting the innovations and solutions oil and gas companies have developed in recent years.
The tangled web of Mr. Forrest’s cross-continental funding and his American proxies raised enough concerns that the Department of Justice forced the private attorneys on the case to register as foreign agents. Adding to the plot, the NGOs’ lawsuit was brought in coordination with a sister suit filed by California’s attorney general, raising questions about Mr. Forrest’s access to one of the country’s most influential public offices.
The mining magnate is not the only foreign billionaire using his wealth and influence to try and undermine American competitiveness. Left-wing Swiss billionaire Hansjörg Wyss has provided massive donations to the Democratic Party and environmental organizations. His foreign-funded Wyss Foundation, conveniently housed in Washington, D.C., bankrolls everything from environmental journalism to progressive political advocacy apparently to influence environmental policies across the U.S.
Another foreign billionaire, Christopher Hohn, funds an array of climate organizations including the lawless and disruptive Extinction Rebellion and the Center for Climate Integrity. We know all about Extinction Rebellion because of their lawless antics, including blockading traffic and gluing themselves to just about anything they can get their hands on, including themselves. The less familiar Center for Climate Integrity is the main activist group recruiting plaintiffs to sue American energy companies, as revealed by Congressman Darrell Issa, a champion of third-party litigation financing reform.
Not content to let these foreign billionaires have all the fun, deep-pocketed Americans displeased with the new administration are also busy cutting checks to subvert a pro-energy agenda. Following President Trump’s second withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, Michael Bloomberg announced he would personally chip in to help finance the United Nations’ climate efforts in place of scrapped U.S. contributions. Mr. Bloomberg’s intervention makes clear what keen observers have long known: international climate governance is a billionaire’s pet project, not a democratic priority.
The Chinese Communist Party is also in the undue influence game. The Free Beacon also uncovered a climate nonprofit run by former CCP officials that has funneled millions of dollars into groups with explicit missions to replace fossil fuels, like the gas-stove-hysterical Rocky Mountain Institute.
For years, our organization has been sounding the alarm about the infiltration of the green movement of billionaires leveraging fear and political power for personal gain. Messrs. Forrest, Wyss, Hohn, and Bloomberg are just the tip of the iceberg. These so-called philanthropic donations, influencing countless institutions across America, have a clear political and commercial agenda.
Sunlight is the best disinfectant to seek out and eliminate these dark money webs. Thankfully, Congress has begun to shed light on the need for disclosure of foreign lawsuit funding and has signaled increased scrutiny on how climate lawsuits and other anti-energy efforts originate and are amplified. They should go a step further by rooting out all foreign funding for political causes. This will protect American industry and help fulfill President Trump’s promise to the American people to restore our nation’s energy preeminence.
