Last night Jan 2, 2017, on KIRO TV there was a short comment on a Seattle group meeting of anti-Trump environmental objectors that are organizing across the United States to go to WA DC on inauguration day.
As previously discussed, foundations, public charities and activist organizations that register as 501(c)(3) organizations receive certain tax benefits under the law. In return, there are strict limitations on how the money can be spent. For example, as also previously discussed, 501(c)(3) groups are strictly forbidden from “directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in a political campaign for or against a candidate for political office.”316 Accordingly, the Billionaire’s Club and activist groups organized as public charities have limited means to influence elections without jeopardizing their designated tax exempt status.
July 30, 2014. U.S Environment and Public Works Committee Republicans released a report today highlighting the collusion between environmental activists. How a Club of Billionaires and Their Foundations Control the Environmental Movement and Obama’s EPA
Washington, D.C. – Today, the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment & Public Works released a minority staff report, “The Chain of Environmental Command: How a Club of Billionaires and Their Foundations Control the Environmental Movement and Obama’s EPA.” The report examines the cozy relationship and collusion that exists between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Environmental activists.
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HOW DOES THIS NGO EPA CONTROL EFFECT AND AFFECT AMERICAN TAXPAYERS?
How can this report be equated, to the cost to AMERICAN TAXPAYERS, OF THE EPA’S $300 TO $500 BILLION DOLLARS IN UNFUNDED EPA MANDATES being trickled down to “We the People” by the Clean Water and Air Acts?
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Contents
INTRODUCTION……………………………………………………………………………………….1
I. Legal Framework of Far-Left Environmental Movement …………………….3
a. 501(c)(3) Private Foundations and Public Charities…………………………..3
b. The 501(c)(4) ……………………………………………………………………………………8
II. The Billionaire’s Club: Leveraging their Investment………………………….11
a. The Ties that Bind: Key Relationships Between Facilitators, Donors, and Activists ………………………………………………………………………………………..11
b. The Facilitators: Key Environmental Activists………………………………..18
c. The Face of the Environmental Movement: Public Charity Activists.21
III. The Bureaucrats: How the Obama EPA is Deeply Intertwined with the Billionaire’s Club and their Far-left Environmental Activists…………………..23
a. EPA’s Green Revolving Door………………………………………………………….23
b. The Obama EPA Helps to Fund the Far-Left Environmental Groups 29
c. Questionable Behavior by Regional Administrator Judith Enck………31
IV. Billionaire’s Club in Action: Case Studies of Services Rendered………33
a. Activists Groups Provide Billionaire’s Club with Propaganda…………33
b. Activist Groups Provide Billionaire’s Club with Artificial Grassroots Movements…………………………………………………………………………………………..38
c. Converting Charitable Donations into Political Outcomes……………….49
d. Fiscal Sponsorships Provide the Billionaire’s Club with Access to Nimble and Transient Groups and also Provide Distance from their Hired Hands ………………………………………………………………………………………………….54
e. The Billionaire’s Club Collaborating with Shady Foreign Funders….60
CONCLUSION………………………………………………………………………………………….67
APPENDIX A: TOP FOUNDATIONS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL GIVING 68
APPENDIX B: ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS………………………………………….73
a part of the conclusion
page 67 Finally, this report is necessarily limited in its scope AND ONLY SCRATCHES THE SURFACE IN ITS EFFORT TO DOCUMENT THE MONEY TRAIL. Furthermore, as the Committee’s jurisdiction is limited to oversight of the EPA and energy and environmental policy, so too this report is constrained to reviewing activities intended to influence such policy. There is an abundance of evidence to suggest that this system is replicated across the progressive coalition. More investigation and oversight is needed.
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After I read the report?
I called Luke Bolar — Luke_Bolar@epw.senate.gov (202) 224-6176.
I spoke with Sarah.
I commended the committee for doing the report.
My questions and comments to Sarah included,
So? A whole bunch of Billionaires have purchased? (for want of a better word)
The NGO’S Control of the US Environmental Policy?
The Ties that Bind: Key Relationships Between Facilitators, Donors, and Activists
page 51 Activist Public Charities FUNNEL MONEY TO POLITICAL AFFILIATES?
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My thoughts on this report are that it creates more questions than answers?
THE CAUSE? WITHOUT THE EFFECT? (not in the report?)
HOW DOES THIS NGO EPA CONTROL EFFECT AND AFFECT AMERICAN TAXPAYERS?
How can this report be equated, to the cost to AMERICAN TAXPAYERS, OF THE EPA’S $300 TO $500 BILLION DOLLARS IN UNFUNDED EPA MANDATES being trickled down to “We the People” by the Clean Water and Air Acts?
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THE MONEY’S ALL GONE? WHERE DID IT GO?
page 49 Converting Charitable Donations into Political Outcomes?
As previously discussed, foundations, public charities and activist organizations that register as 501(c)(3) organizations receive certain tax benefits under the law. In return, there are strict limitations on how the money can be spent. For example, as also previously discussed, 501(c)(3) groups are strictly forbidden from “directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in a political campaign for or against a candidate for political office.”316 Accordingly, the Billionaire’s Club and activist groups organized as public charities have limited means to influence elections without jeopardizing their designated tax exempt status.
FOLLOW THE MONEY?
It is unclear what purpose the transfer of funds between these two organizations serves, other than obscuring the money trail?
However, the Committee found that in many cases a 501(c)(3) will transfer funds to an affiliated 501(c)(4), which can engage in political activity. Under the law, these donations must only be used for activities within the permissible scope of the 501(c)(3)’s activities.317
It is uncertain WHETHER THE IRS STRICTLY OVERSEES to ensure this requirement is met.
this is especially true GIVEN THE ENORMOUS AND DIFFICULT TASK OF TRACKING AND ACCOUNTING FOR THE VAST SUMS OF MONEY THAT PASS THROUGH SEVERAL DIFFERENT GROUPS.
FOLLOW THE MONEY?
page 51 Activist Public Charities FUNNEL MONEY TO POLITICAL AFFILIATES?
PAGE 53 In addition to LCV, the National Resources Defense Council,343 the Environmental Defense Fund,344 the Sierra Club345 and 350.org346 also set up affiliate nonprofit organizations to operate in this manner. The large amounts of money, multiple transfers, and questionable regulation strongly suggest that 501(c)(3) environmental groups and foundations are exceeding the scope of their tax exempt limits by financially supporting politically active 501(c)(4)s.
Although the IRS Form 990s provide space to describe the purpose of a group’s grant, the descriptions given are often vague and overly broad. The circumstances surrounding the flow of money from 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) groups, and the likelihood of lax oversight, raises questions as to whether 501(c)(3) nonprofit foundations and charities are indirectly funding political activities
page 60 e. The Billionaire’s Club Collaborating with Shady Foreign Funders?
The Committee has also uncovered evidence that the Billionaire’s Club knowingly collaborates with shady offshore funders to maximize support for the far-left environmental activists they sponsor.
The Obama EPA Helps to Fund the Far-Left Environmental Groups?
page 29 In addition to providing insider access to important policy decisions, it appears activists now at EPA ALSO FUNNEL GOVERNMENT MONEY THROUGH GRANTS TO THEIR FORMER EMPLOYERS AND COLLEAGUES.
The Committee’s research demonstrates that oftentimes EPA contributes to the bottom line of green groups through grants. Accordingly, A GRANT FROM EPA OR ANOTHER GOVERNMENT AGENCY IS PARTICULARLY VALUABLE TO A 501(C)(3) AS NONPROFITS ARE REQUIRED TO OBTAIN ONE-THIRD OF ITS FUNDING from the public to maintain its tax-exempt status. A grant from EPA contributes to that goal, without limitation.184
OVER THE LAST TEN YEARS EPA HAS AWARDED NEARLY $3 BILLION IN GRANTS TO NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS.185
Based on a Committee review of the EPA grants database, the Obama EPA has given more than $27 million in taxpayer funded grants to major environmental groups. Notably, NRDC and EDF – two key activists groups with significant ties to senior EPA officials – have collected more than $1 million in funding each.
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page 25 Indeed, the NRDC staff absorbed by the Obama Administration and Capitol Hill Democrats in 2009 WAS REFERRED TO AS THE “NRDC MAFIA” because they occupied so many key positions throughout the democratically controlled government.148 While at EPA, these officials were able to advance their activist agenda, this time with full support of the government.
page 26 Watchdog groups also uncovered Enck using her personal email to communicate with environmentalists in violation of EPA policy
PAGE 32 This highly questionable behavior demonstrates how an EPA official with inappropriate ties to far-left groups and their foundations can use her position to benefit the environmental movement AT THE EXPENSE OF TAXPAYERS
One case involved a Presidential appointee violating their ethics pledge on 13 occasions by communicating and/or meeting with two prohibited organizations regarding their EPA work.201 Another case involved a political appointee who on two occasions violated the rules of ethics for federal employees by accepting a gift of travel and a flight in a private jet from a registered lobbyist.202
page 33 while benefiting from nonprofit status, essentially sell a product to wealthy foundations who are seeking to drive policy and political outcomes.
page 27 Ironically, at the time he was appointed to the EPA, he was actually suing EPA, along with other environmental activists on the basis of environmental justice concerns.165
page 30 Yet, ALA has been a main litigant against EPA, frequently suing the Agency only to reach a cozy settlement agreement while taxpayers foot the bill for ALA’s legal fees
Mainstream environmental groups are not the only ones to benefit from EPA grants. The Obama EPA gives grants to regional and less-well-known extreme groups
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My questions and comments to Sarah included,
Why? The Sovereign Tribes ARE NOT INCLUDED as part of the Billionaires EPA Environmental Control Club?
page 23 where “our” is the EPA Office of International and Tribal Affairs and “there” refers to the White House. In another outrageous email exchange, former Assistant Administrator for the Office of International and Tribal Affairs, Michelle DePass, and “Richard Windsor,” former Administrator Jackson’s alias, strategize over
page 25 These email exchanges confirm the close relationships between the foundations, environmental activist groups and the Obama Administration
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United States Senate
Committee on Environment and Public Works
Minority Staff Report
The Chain of Environmental Command
How a Club of Billionaires and Their Foundations Control the Environmental Movement and Obama’s EPA
(I have included some of the most recognizable NGO names)
Center for Biological Diversity (CBD)
Type: 501(c)(3)453
Total Assets: $12,282,335454
Greenpeace Fund
Type: 501(c)(3)467
Total Assets: $15,313,140468
Greenpeace Inc.
Type: 501(c)(4)472
Total Assets: $5,121,059473
Sierra Club Foundation
Type: 501(c)(3)508
Total Assets: $98,974,748
National Wildlife Federation (NWF)
Type: 501(c)(3)495
Total Assets: $66,456,891496
National Wildlife Federation (NWF) Action Fund
Type: 501(c)(4)501
Total Assets: $604,386502
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) Action Fund
Type: 501 (c)(4)504
Total Assets: $2,955,590505
