A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request granted to Americans for Public Trust (APT) recently revealed that left-wing extremist groups Climate Power and the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) held at least one training session with members of the Biden administration in 2021. The FOIA request showed that the two groups conducted secret training sessions, and that Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm participated.
In addition to Granholm’s Energy Department, the FOIA request reveals, members of the Interior Department, the Agriculture Department, and the Commerce Department were also involved with the left-wing training session, which reportedly included climate communication strategies for Biden administration appointees. The session took place in March of 2021.
The training sessions were said to include “political appointees from all climate-related agencies.”
“Why are dark money groups, bankrolled by a foreign billionaire, training Energy Secretary Granholm on communication strategies? Instead of tackling issues that consumers care about — like lowering gas prices and being able to buy the kitchen appliance of their choice,” remarked APT Executive Director Caitlin Sutherland. “Secretary Granholm continues to do the bidding of green energy extremists. This constant coordination is just another example of the tremendous influence dark money has on the Biden Administration.”
How “dark” is the money being given to LCV and Climate Power? LCV reported receiving just under $115 million in 2021, a massive jump from the $77.7 million they raised the year before. Among their high-money donors are the Sixteen Thirty Fund and the New Venture Fund, which even The New York Times has referred to as “dark money” groups. So-called dark money allows funding groups to conceal the identity of donors.
Climate Power has been linked to Fund for a Better Future, which received nearly $45 million from the Wyss Foundation from 2017 to 2020. Among Climate Power’s advisory board are Special Presidential Envoy for Climate John Kerry, former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, LCV chairwoman Carol Browner, billionaire liberal donor Tom Steyer, former White House Climate Advisor Gina McCarthy, and former UN Ambassador Samantha Power.
According to its website, Climate Power “integrates hard-hitting research, polling, state and national earned media, digital and paid media to influence the national conversation, embolden leaders to take immediate, bold climate action, and expose climate deniers and their oil and gas lobby allies.”
Climate Power is also closely linked with Hillary Clinton advisor John Podesta: “Climate Power 2020 will change the politics of climate — pushing all candidates to aggressively campaign on climate action and holding science-denying campaigns accountable,” Podesta said in 2020.
As for LCV, they look to “influence policy, hold politicians accountable, and win elections. This is how we fight to build a world with clean air, clean water, public lands, and a safe climate that are protected by a just and equitable democracy.”
In addition to accepting climate training from dark-money lobbyists, Granholm met in June of last year with the CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a group currently pushing a nationwide ban on gas stoves. Granholm has denied that the Biden administration has any interest in banning gas stoves.
“Nobody’s banning gas stoves,” She told the Boston Herald as recently as last week. “Let me be very clear. It’s a ridiculous talking point that some have ginned up for political reasons.”
APT smells a rat, however.
“Despite calling stories about the Biden Administration banning gas stoves ‘ridiculous’ and ‘not true,’ Secretary Granholm’s calendar tells a different story. We’ve now learned that she consulted with the dark money group pushing to ban gas stoves,” Sutherland said. “Suffice to say, ‘ridiculous’ and ‘not true’ proposals don’t ordinarily involve a meeting with the Secretary of Energy — and where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Americans everywhere must demand Granholm and green energy extremists stay out of their kitchens.”
While nobody should be surprised that the Biden administration is apparently taking marching orders vis-à-vis climate change from far-left climate-cult interests, it is shocking how casually they do so. It’s also interesting that people such as Podesta, Kerry, Abrams, and Steyer are involved with these dark-money groups as they continue to influence anti-American policies such as ESG and “Green New Deal”-inspired governance.
