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Putin Is Funding Green Groups to Discredit Natural Gas Fracking

Ahlevah

Ahlevah

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Forget about allegations of Russian interference in U.S. presidential elections for a moment, or even “collusion” between Russian officials and Trump campaign operatives.

The real action is in the European and U.S. energy markets, according to a letter from two Texas congressmen to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin that details what they call “a covert anti-fracking campaign” with “little or no paper trail.”


The Daily Signal obtained a copy of the June 29 letter to Mnuchin from Reps. Lamar Smith and Randy Weber, both Republicans who chair energy-related House panels. (See the full letter below.)


Smith and Weber quote sources saying the Russian government has been colluding with environmental groups to circulate “disinformation” and “propaganda” aimed at undermining hydraulic fracturing. Commonly called fracking, the process makes it possible to access natural gas deposits.

Putin Is Funding Green Groups to Discredit Natural Gas Fracking
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The Russians love using lefties as dupes and pawns in their geopolitical chess games, e.g., the KGB's infiltration of European "peace" movements during the Cold War (https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000500596.pdf). Here they go again. :doh

First U.S. Natural Gas Shipped to Poland | Foreign Policy
 
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Ahlevah said:
The Russians love using lefties as dupes and pawns in their geopolitical chess games, e.g., the KGB's infiltration of European "peace" movements during the Cold War (https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000500596.pdf). Here they go again. :doh

First U.S. Natural Gas Shipped to Poland | Foreign Policy
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Russians have been selling anti-fracking bs to the coffee shop bros for at least a decade now. Actually, they have been behind a lot of disinformation aimed at the Left. Most of RT was Lefty at one time. Old news.
 
calamity said:
Russians have been selling anti-fracking bs to the coffee shop bros for at least a decade now. Actually, they have been behind a lot of disinformation aimed at the Left. Most of RT was Lefty at one time. Old news.
Click to expand...

The funneling of tens (perhaps hundreds) of millions of Russian dollars through Bermuda-based shell corporations to U.S.-based environmental groups might be old news to you, but this is the first I've heard about it.
 
Ahlevah said:
Did you read the letter from the congressmen? No, the letter is not based on anonymous sources, but is clearly and thoroughly annotated.
Click to expand...

Who was the congressman?
 
Ahlevah said:
Rep. Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and Rep. Randy Weber, Chairman of the Subcommittee on Energy. Once again, here is a link to their letter: https://science.house.gov/sites/rep...ocuments/06_29_2017 CLS & Weber - Mnuchin.pdf

It seems to me they've documented enough evidence to warrant an investigation by the Department of the Treasury.
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I dunno...the letter looks convincing....except that several of the environmental groups mentioned in the report, Sierra Club, NRDC, League of Conservation Voters aren't fake environmental groups...and aren't really against fracking and believe that natural gas should be included in the clean energy portfolio....and some have even helped block anti fracking initiatives. So if Russia intended their money to support fake anti-fracking groups in the US....then they sure wasted their money. And too, most anti-fracking activists would still speak out against fracking without Russian funding....so the notion they speak for the Kremlin because of some alleged money laundering scheme in the Bahamas is absurd.

Also...Exxon is a partner with the Russian oil company Rosneft mentioned in the letter.

Exxon, Rosneft unveil $500 billion offshore venture | Reuters

So is Exxon funneling money to fake anti-fracking groups too? And why would fracking in the US be a threat to Russian oil companies...who mostly sell their oil to the EU and Asia? I would think that Saudi Arabia keeping their oil prices low be a bigger threat to Russian oil than fracking in the US.

There's a lot of billionaires investing in cleaner energy....so why are they just singling out Nat Simmons?

Billionaires versus big oil | Fortune.com


I dunno...there's something about the evidence in that letter that doesn't quite add up. Then there's the fact that Smith and Weber, both rabid climate change deniers and whose main donors are the fossil fuel industry are the ones demanding the investigation makes it look a little too political to be believed.
 
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Ahlevah said:
The funneling of tens (perhaps hundreds) of millions of Russian dollars through Bermuda-based shell corporations to U.S.-based environmental groups might be old news to you, but this is the first I've heard about it.
Click to expand...

I was referring to other green propaganda, which may even have included propping up the Green candidate for president.
 
Moot said:
I dunno...the letter looks convincing....except that several of the environmental groups mentioned in the report, Sierra Club, NRDC, League of Conservation Voters aren't fake environmental groups...and aren't really against fracking and believe that natural gas should be included in the clean energy portfolio....and some have even helped block anti fracking initiatives. So if Russia intended their money to support fake anti-fracking groups in the US....then they sure wasted their money. And too, most anti-fracking activists would still speak out against fracking without Russian funding....so the notion they speak for the Kremlin because of some alleged money laundering scheme in the Bahamas is absurd.

Also...Exxon is a partner with the Russian oil company Rosneft mentioned in the letter.

Exxon, Rosneft unveil $500 billion offshore venture | Reuters

So is Exxon funneling money to fake anti-fracking groups too? And why would fracking in the US be a threat to Russian oil companies...who mostly sell their oil to the EU and Asia? I would think that Saudi Arabia keeping their oil prices low be a bigger threat to Russian oil than fracking in the US.

There's a lot of billionaires investing in cleaner energy....so why are they just singling out Nat Simmons?

Billionaires versus big oil | Fortune.com


I dunno...there's something about the evidence in that letter that doesn't quite add up. Then there's the fact that Smith and Weber, both rabid climate change deniers and whose main donors are the fossil fuel industry are the ones demanding the investigation makes it look a little too political to be believed.
Click to expand...

It took me all of about 10 seconds to find something from the Sierraclub on fracking
Beyond Natural Gas |
"Dirty, dangerous, and run amok"
"Fracking," a violent process that dislodges gas deposits from shale rock formations, is known to contaminate drinking water, pollute the air, and cause earthquakes.
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I know this is subjective, but those words do not look like they are in favor of fracking.
 
Ahlevah said:
Did you read the letter from the congressmen? No, the letter is not based on anonymous sources, but is clearly and thoroughly annotated.
Click to expand...

But I thought Russian propaganda efforts were nothing to be concerned about?

"No votes were changed" and all that.
 
Ahlevah said:
The Russians love using lefties as dupes and pawns in their geopolitical chess games, e.g., the KGB's infiltration of European "peace" movements during the Cold War (https://www.cia.gov/library/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000500596.pdf). Here they go again. :doh

First U.S. Natural Gas Shipped to Poland | Foreign Policy
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Just like Putin's meddling in our elections, he's trying to sow discord. So what happened here is you took the bait and ran with it.

Did you know Putin is doing the same thing at home? He funds campaigns that are pro Putin, anti Putin, pro Russia, anti Russia. He is using cutting edge propaganda techniques to confuse everyone so that nobody really knows what he is trying to do yet it is highly effective.
 
Ahlevah said:
The funneling of tens (perhaps hundreds) of millions of Russian dollars through Bermuda-based shell corporations to U.S.-based environmental groups might be old news to you, but this is the first I've heard about it.
Click to expand...

Hey that's my country!

Lot's of shady **** goes on here, tons of US companies use us to evade taxes!

Without them, our nation would like look Haiti!
 
longview said:
It took me all of about 10 seconds to find something from the Sierraclub on fracking
Beyond Natural Gas |

I know this is subjective, but those words do not look like they are in favor of fracking.
Click to expand...

I know, they keep changing their minds. Generally speaking, they're for drilling for natural gas if it is done responsibly...but against it if it is not. Sierra Club is not as outspoken against natural gas as they are against coal....


"....Of all the green groups, Sierra Club has had the most public change of heart on gas. In February 2012, press reports disclosed that the environmental group had taken more than $26 million from natural gas interests to support its anti-coal work. It wasn’t that much of a surprise, perhaps. Former Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope had even spoken at events alongside the CEO of gas giant Chesapeake Energy Corp., declaring, “Among the fossil fuels, natural gas is at the top.”

The disclosure of the financial support put Sierra Club—the largest green group in the country at 1.4 million members—in an awkward position. The group’s new executive director, Michael Brune, responded with a blog post that same day clarifying a change in the club’s position on gas and stating that it was no longer taking gas money. While it previously believed gas “might play a necessary role” in the clean energy future, the club now concluded that the benefits of gas did not outweigh harms caused by extraction, and it was shifting its activism to ways the US could “use as little gas as possible” going forward. In May, Sierra Club announced that a new “Beyond Natural Gas” effort, modeled after its decade-old “Beyond Coal” campaign that has helped defeat 176 new power plants. (Bloomberg has also given $50 million to Sierra Club’s anti-coal work.)....

Sierra Club’s taken the most strident anti-gas position of the big greens in the wake of its change, but it’s still not as outspoken as the state-level groups would like to see. “We understand that you’re not going to be able to ban the use of hydraulic fracturing everywhere tomorrow, but we’re certainly clear that it’s not being done right,” Nardone said. Nor is its gas work nearly as big as the effort they’ve made on coal, which has 150 devoted staffers. Beyond Gas has just five...."

Natural Gas Puts Greens in Tough Spot – Mother Jones

The Word Obama Forgot to Say - Coming Clean

Who killed the vote on fracking??Glossary - Boulder Weekly
 
Moot said:
I know, they keep changing their minds. Generally speaking, they're for drilling for natural gas if it is done responsibly...but against it if it is not. Sierra Club is not as outspoken against natural gas as they are against coal....


"....Of all the green groups, Sierra Club has had the most public change of heart on gas. In February 2012, press reports disclosed that the environmental group had taken more than $26 million from natural gas interests to support its anti-coal work. It wasn’t that much of a surprise, perhaps. Former Sierra Club executive director Carl Pope had even spoken at events alongside the CEO of gas giant Chesapeake Energy Corp., declaring, “Among the fossil fuels, natural gas is at the top.”

The disclosure of the financial support put Sierra Club—the largest green group in the country at 1.4 million members—in an awkward position. The group’s new executive director, Michael Brune, responded with a blog post that same day clarifying a change in the club’s position on gas and stating that it was no longer taking gas money. While it previously believed gas “might play a necessary role” in the clean energy future, the club now concluded that the benefits of gas did not outweigh harms caused by extraction, and it was shifting its activism to ways the US could “use as little gas as possible” going forward. In May, Sierra Club announced that a new “Beyond Natural Gas” effort, modeled after its decade-old “Beyond Coal” campaign that has helped defeat 176 new power plants. (Bloomberg has also given $50 million to Sierra Club’s anti-coal work.)....

Sierra Club’s taken the most strident anti-gas position of the big greens in the wake of its change, but it’s still not as outspoken as the state-level groups would like to see. “We understand that you’re not going to be able to ban the use of hydraulic fracturing everywhere tomorrow, but we’re certainly clear that it’s not being done right,” Nardone said. Nor is its gas work nearly as big as the effort they’ve made on coal, which has 150 devoted staffers. Beyond Gas has just five...."

Natural Gas Puts Greens in Tough Spot – Mother Jones

The Word Obama Forgot to Say - Coming Clean

Who killed the vote on fracking??Glossary - Boulder Weekly
Click to expand...
It sure sounds like the sierra club is not currently in favor of natural gas or fracking.
 
longview said:
It sure sounds like the sierra club is not currently in favor of natural gas or fracking.
Click to expand...

Largely due to a backlash from their members. But I don't think they spend as much money fighting natural gas or fracking as they do coal.
 
Fracking / Politics
[h=1]Finally! Actual Evidence of Russian Collusion![/h]Guest post by David Middleton ENERGY NEWS Lawmakers Cite Evidence Russia ‘Colludes’ With US Green Groups to Block Fracking Kevin Mooney / @KevinMooneyDC / July 10, 2017 Forget about allegations of Russian interference in U.S. presidential elections for a moment, or even “collusion” between Russian officials and Trump campaign operatives. The real action is in…
 
Russia's economy is being badly hurt by the low cost of oil and natural gas. As are most of the Arab states.


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