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The Democracy Initiative The and other “greens” lead an effort to fundamentally transform America

By Michael Bastasch

Summary: Many Americans think of the Sierra Club as a mainstream orga- nization focused on conservation and outdoor life. But it has morphed into a hardcore, radical political organiza- tion dedicated to such causes as leaving two-thirds of all the world’s hydrocar- bon energy “in the ground.” Now it has joined in a coalition with other left-wing groups to pursue an agenda that could change American politics, and change the country, forever. In two articles, Green Watch looks at the new coalition, known as the Democracy Ini- tiative, and at the history and direction of the Sierra Club.

n December, in a building four blocks north of the White House, leaders of During a protest of the Keystone XL pipeline, the NAACP’s the Sierra Club and other environ- Julian Bond and the Sierra Club’s chain themselves I to the White House fence in order to get arrested. (Bond later praised mentalist groups met with representatives of unions and a variety of other left-wing the IRS for its treatment of conservative and Tea Party groups.) organizations to make big plans for the union (CWA) and the National Asso- The big meet second Obama administration and be- ciation for the Advancement of Colored About a month after the November elec- yond. On the agenda: the fundamental People (NAACP) to create a powerful tion, heads of the four organizations— transformation of the United States. new coalition, the Democracy Initia- Michael Brune of the Sierra Club, Phil The dirty little secret of radical envi- tive, the new group’s focus was not on Radford of , Larry Cohen ronmentalist organizations is this: Their the environment or union affairs or the of the CWA, and of the main goal has nothing to do with the en- concerns of African-Americans. Instead, NAACP—convened a meeting at the vironment. Their goal is that fundamental their priorities were to limit the freedom Washington, D.C. headquarters of the transformation, via the elimination of of speech, to block laws that prevent National Education Association. “conservative” and “free market” opposi- vote fraud, and to restrict debate in the tion to the policies of Washington’s ruling U.S. Senate—all as a means to an end, June 2013 elite. If, along the way, the environment the crushing of their political opposition. The Democracy Initiative is cleaned up or preserved, that’s a good In the wake of President Obama’s reelec- Page 1 thing, one supposes, but that’s not the big tion, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and The Sierra Club shifts to the Left prize they’re fighting for. their allies are seizing the opportunity to Page 4 Thus, when the groups alter the political landscape permanently Sierra Club and Greenpeace joined with to favor those who call themselves Pro- Green Notes Page 8 the Communication Workers of America gressives. That lineup brings together organizations Initiative, and the Sierra Club’s Brune membership, whether it is of the forced that occupy key strategic positions in said he expected to have 50 groups in the kind (AFL-CIO) or the imaginary kind American politics—the “greens,” with coalition by Spring. The Mother Jones (NAACP), while others, like the Center their cohorts of privileged college stu- writer, Andy Kroll, who first reported on for American Progress, a George Soros dents and wealthy urban professionals; the Initiative, noted that the groups at the joint, have the piles of cash.” the unions, including the unions that December meeting pledged millions of represent people in the broadcasting/ dollars, but, as Matthew Continetti of the Three main goals, for now cable and newspaper industries; the top Washington Free Beacon commented, Mother Jones, itself one of the organiza- group that purports to speak for African- that “the most cursory glance at the list tions joining in the coalition (in a “non- Americans (giving the coalition the of groups in the Mother Jones story leads editorial capacity”), reported that the power to declare its adversaries “racist”); one to believe that there should be at least Initiative’s goals are “getting big money and the nation’s largest teachers’ union, two high numerals inserted before ‘mil- out of politics, expanding the voting rolls which claims 16,000 offices, a payroll lions of dollars.’ . . . The crack research- while fighting voter ID laws, and rewrit- of $58 million a year, and 3.2 million ers at the Center for American Freedom ing Senate rules to curb the use of the members, and largely controls what our tell me that totaling the reported revenue kids are taught. of only a portion of the groups participat- filibuster to block legislation.” ing in the Democracy Initiative gives you According to the leftist magazine Mother ►The “getting big money out of poli- a figure of around $1.69 billion.” Jones, the meeting also included top tics” goal means restricting the ability officials from environmentalist groups Continetti added: “Somewhat ironic, of conservative, libertarian, Tea Party, such as the League of Conservation Vot- isn’t it, that an association of organiza- pro-taxpayer, and related individuals and ers, Friends of the Earth, and National tions with combined revenue of more groups to fund political campaigns and Wildlife Federation; from unions such than a billion dollars is launching a cam- public-information efforts. The immedi- as the AFL-CIO, SEIU, and the United paign to get ‘big money out of politics’? ate goal in that regard is one that has been Auto Workers; and from Voto Latino, Like all such campaigns, of course, the put forth by the President: overturning the Demos think tank, Piper Fund, Com- Democracy Initiative is less about get- the Citizens United case, in which the mon Cause, Citizens for Responsibility ting money out of politics than it is about government sought to censor a movie and Ethics in Washington, People for getting the wrong sort of money out of critical of Hillary Clinton. In that case, the American Way, Public Campaign, politics—in this case, the sort of money the Supreme Court ruled in favor of the National People’s Action, the Center for dispensed by industries and ideologues First Amendment. (Arguing the govern- American Progress, and Color of Change opposed to the progressive agenda.” ment’s case in Citizens United—arguing (co-founded by anti-capitalism activist in favor of censorship of politics-themed and former Obama “green jobs czar” Writing in FrontPage magazine, Daniel movies and, theoretically, even of po- Van Jones). Greenfield noted that the members of the litical pamphlets—was Solicitor General Initiative are “groups that have little in Elena Kagan, whom President Obama It was reported in December that as many common aside from serving as tentacles subsequently named to the Court.) After as 35 groups had joined the Democracy of the left. As in the unforgettable con- the decision, as some of the Justices sat clusion to Animal Farm, meetings such before President Obama at a State of the Editor: Steven J. Allen as these allow the bosses to take a break Union address, the President rebuked Publisher: Terrence Scanlon from the pretense that they represent a them for their ruling. Address: 1513 16th Street, NW separate constituency or cause, and kick Washington, DC 20036-1480 back as members of the same movement ►The “expanding the voting rolls while Phone: (202) 483-6900 with the same agenda. And the agenda fighting voter ID laws” goal refers to E-mail: [email protected] isn’t really the environment or women’s filling the rolls with people who have Website: CapitalResearch.org rights or workers’ rights; it’s power. extremely little interest in voting and little knowledge about the issues—the Green Watch is published by Capital “The Democracy Initiative assembles a so-called “low information voters” Research Center, a non-partisan education grab bag of the left’s biggest and rich- who, for example, can’t name the Vice and research organization classified by the est front groups, tying together envi- President—and to blocking anti-fraud IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Reprints ronmental, feminist, ethnic and union measures involving photo IDs. Voter ID are available for $2.50 prepaid to Capital groups in a shotgun marriage, with the laws are favored by a wide majority of Research Center. shotgun pointed in the direction of the the American people, including all ethnic American people. Some groups have the groups. And it should be noted that ev-

Page 2 Green Watch June 2013 ery time a vote is cast by a non-eligible dations looking to give money—because passage of a cap-and-trade scheme person, it cancels out the vote cast by a many groups on the left believe they early in the Obama administration when legitimate voter. can’t accomplish their own goals without Democrats had a 60-vote Senate super- winning reforms on the Initiative’s three majority. But a Senate without a filibuster ►The “rewriting Senate rules to curb issues. ‘This isn’t an optional activity would be more likely to pass legislation the use of the filibuster to block legisla- for us,’ Brune tells me. ‘It is mission that don’t like, if Re- tion” goal refers to efforts to take away critical.’” publicans get control of that chamber in the most important mechanism forcing some future election. the Senate to debate major issues and to The group has decided to target specific respect the rights of the Senate minority. groups, including the American Legisla- The Democracy Initiative’s focus on Under current rules, this allows Senators tive Exchange Council (ALEC). Made up ALEC makes sense to environmental- to slow down the process so that a piece of conservative state legislators, ALEC ists. ALEC has recently been targeted by of legislation or the confirmation of a works with pro-business and pro-tax- environmental groups for working with nominee can be properly considered, payer groups to draft model legislation states to scale back or eliminate their and, under certain circumstances, for 40 and promote free-market policies and costly “renewable” energy mandates. or more Senators to block a floor vote. limitations on government power. It has Most states have so-called renewable The importance of the filibuster was been a special target of the Left since the portfolio standards (RPS)—schemes illustrated recently when Senator Rand shooting of Trayvon Martin last summer. that rip off consumers to promote costly, Paul (R-Kentucky) spoke for almost Race-baiting politicians jumped to the inefficient “green” energy, usually to the 13 hours on the Senate floor and forced conclusion that the shooting was unjusti- benefit of wealthy special interests—and, the administration to eschew the use of fied and attempted to blame the shooting in more than half of those states, legisla- drones to kill American citizens on U.S. in part on “Stand Your Ground” laws tors have joined with ALEC in efforts to soil in non-emergency situations. that protect the right to self-defense— repeal RPS, reduce taxpayers’ handouts, laws that ALEC supported. The Martin or otherwise ease the burden. (How big In the view of the Democracy Initiative shooting was the pretext for a campaign a burden? North Carolina’s renewable members, conservatives have tried to by race-based leftist groups to pressure energy mandate alone will cost residents shrink government for four decades and companies into dropping their support for up to $1.8 billion from 2008 to 2021, ac- have changed the rules so they can get ALEC, on the ground that—by twisted cording to the Heartland Institute.) like-minded individuals into positions of left-wing logic—it is racist to back a law “We’re opposed to these mandates, and influence among politicians, bureaucrats, that protected the self-defense right of 2013 will be the most active year ever and judges. Greenpeace’s a Latino man in an altercation with an in terms of efforts to repeal them,” Todd called it “a 40-plus-year strategy by the African-American. Wynn, energy task force director at Scaifes, Exxons, Coors, and Kochs of ALEC, told Bloomberg News. Regard- the world . . . to take over the country.” ALEC is also a target of the Left as a ing changes in RPS to allow greater use (Other than the oil giant Exxon-Mobil, major proponent of Voter ID laws that of natural gas, Wynn said, “Natural gas the references are to members of wealthy protect people from having their votes is a clean fuel, and regulators and policy families whom left-wing conspiracy cancelled out due to fraud. makers are seeing how it’s much more theorists blame for Americans’ failure to What’s in it for the “greens”? affordable than renewable energy.” embrace Progressivism in full.) Given the prominence of environmental- Other reported targets for the Democracy The initial meeting of the Initiative “was ist groups in the Democracy Initiative— Initiative include Chevron, for often sup- so exciting,” the Sierra Club’s Brune as two of the four founding groups, plus porting Republican candidates (for ex- said. “We weren’t just wringing our three others in the initial conclave—the ample, giving $2.5 million to a superPAC hands about the Koch brothers. We were obvious question is: What does this have supporting GOP House candidates) and saying, ‘I’ll put in this amount of dollars to do with ? The Sierra even the strongly pro-Obama company and this many organizers.’” Club’s Brune addressed the issue. “We’re Google, for its continued membership not going to have a clean-energy econ- The issues on the Initiative’s agenda at- in the pro-business U.S. Chamber of omy,” he said, “if the same companies tract money from foundations, Mother Commerce. (Google was the #3 source that are polluting our rivers and oceans Jones reported, and serve as a rallying of funds for the 2012 Obama campaign, are also polluting our elections.” point for diverse liberal interests. The behind the University of California and magazine’s Andy Krull wrote: “The At first glance, getting rid of the filibus- , according to the contribution campaign, Brune says, has since [the ter seems to make sense from a radical monitor OpenSecrets.org. The compa- initial meeting] been attracting other environmentalist perspective because it ny’s executive chairman, Eric Schmidt, is members—and also interest from foun- was the threat of a filibuster that blocked a longtime advisor to President Obama.)

June 2013 Green Watch Page 3 The Democracy Initiative’s top target It took conservative and pro-business has done such a good job taking over the among officeholders up for reelection groups 40 years to shape the U.S., they Congress and the courts,” Greenpeace’s in 2014 is the Senate Minority Leader, say, so they must be willing to put in Radford said. “We’re saying we need to Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), whom decades to reshape society. “The game step back and change the whole game.” the group characterized as “Public En- is rigged against us; the corporate right emy No. 1” for his support of the First Amendment in the debate over campaign finance restrictions (“reform,” in the eyes The Sierra Club’s shift to the Left of the Left). McConnell was recently By Steven J. Allen & Michael Bastasch the apparent victim of a Watergate-style bugging operation when Mother Jones The Sierra Club, the nation’s oldest to green energy companies. As Kevin made public a tape of a strategy session environment-themed organization, was Mooney wrote in the December 2012 in which the Senator and his staff dis- founded in San Francisco in 1892 by Green Watch, the Earthjustice Legal cussed bizarre statements by the actress conservationist John Muir, in order “to Defense Fund—previously called the Ashley Judd, who was then gearing up make the mountains glad.” Muir was a Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund—had to run against him. McConnell’s foes in wilderness explorer whose writings in- net assets of $822,000 and spent $1.8 the media tried to spin the story to make spired President Theodore Roosevelt to million in 2011 on political efforts such McConnell look bad, and were helped establish the national parks system. as its anti-fracking campaign. when CREW (Citizens for Responsibility But Muir’s Sierra Club was not the politi- The Sierra Club has doubled down on and Ethics in Washington) filed an ethics cal force it is today. Back then, the Sierra its political activities in the last decade complaint against him. As RedState blog- Club fought for wilderness preservation. and gotten increasingly involved with ger Mike Vespa noted, “the McConnell In the November 2002 issue of the Capital electing politicians, especially under the bugging story could’ve been a coordi- Research Center’s Organization Trends, leadership of the club’s executive direc- nated ‘hit’ by the institutional left. Both John K. Carlisle wrote that the Sierra tor from 1992 to 2011, Carl Pope. (Pope, Mother Jones and CREW . . . attended Club changed in the 1950s and ’60s when by the way, previously served as politi- the same conference of progressive David Brower took the club from a small cal director of Zero Population Group, organizations last December that spe- hiking association of 7,000 members with a group that promoted the “population cifically targeted the Kentucky Senator a $75,000 budget in 1952 to a 70,000 bomb” theory—a so-called scientific for the 2014 elections. It was called the member political force with a $3 million consensus of the 1970s and ’80s that now Democracy Initiative.” budget by the time he left in 1969. stands revealed as a hoax.) Of course, given that McConnell repre- Carlisle wrote that the Club went beyond painted a picture sents the coal state of Kentucky and has preservation during the Brower years of the role of the Sierra Club and associ- a record of standing up to environmental “arguing that private and voluntary action ated organizations in the 2004 election, extremism, the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, to protect nature was inadequate.” The calling then-executive director Pope one and the others can certainly rationalize Sierra Club became an environmentalist of that election’s most influential opera- their support of the Democracy Initia- group with “a new political ideology that tives: “As executive director of the Sierra tive’s anti-McConnell efforts. did not trust individual stewardship and Club, . . . Pope also controls the Sierra private property but demanded laws and Conclusion Club Voter Education Fund, a 527 [a government regulations to command-and- Environmentalists wage war on hydro- group that promotes political causes and control natural resources and those who carbon fuels, shutting down coal plants candidates indirectly, without expressly use them,” breaking from its earlier tradi- and stopping fracking through litigation calling for a particular election result]. tion of simply trying to preserve nature. and regulation. They use a variety of The Voter Education Fund 527 has raised tactics to fire up their supporters and get Today’s Sierra Club is far removed from $3.4 million this election cycle, with $2.4 media attention, from storming an Arctic what John Muir founded. Once, members million of that amount coming from the oil rig to getting themselves arrested at tried to convince others to voluntarily care Sierra Club. A third group, the Sierra the White House. They are focusing more for the environment; now the group uses Club PAC, has since 1980 given $3.9 than ever before on “the long game”— government force and political activism million to Democratic candidates and achieving their goals by changing the to push its beliefs onto the public. $173,602 to GOP candidates.” nature of the country in which they live. In the 2012 election cycle, the Sierra That was only the tip of the iceberg of Their immediate steps: weaken the First Club and its affiliates spent more than Pope’s political involvement, the Post Amendment, cancel out people’s right $2.3 million on political campaigns and reported. “In 2002-03, Pope helped found to vote, and make it easier to steamroll $800,000 on lobbying for stricter environ- two major 527 groups: America Votes, legislation through Congress. mental regulations and taxpayer handouts which has raised $1.9 million to coordi-

Page 4 Green Watch June 2013 nate the election activities of 32 liberal anti-Bush campaign ads. The group’s Influence Explorer, the group has given groups, and America Coming Together political activity wasn’t solely aimed at $9.2 million to political campaigns since (ACT), which has a goal of raising more bashing Bush. In fact, the Daily Caller 1990. Of that, 58 percent has gone to than $100 million to mobilize voters to reported, the group spent more than Democrats, compared to two percent cast ballots against Bush. Finally, Pope $1 million during the 2010 election that has gone to Republicans (The is treasurer of a new 501(c)(3) founda- cycle. The Caller said environmental- other 40 percent has gone to the “other” tion, America’s Families United, which ist groups on the whole pumped more category, efforts without an official reportedly has $15 million to distribute than $125 million into “political causes, party affiliation.) Of course, the Club’s to voter mobilization groups.” advertising campaigns and lobbying” in influence comes not from its direct contributions but from its ability to set The Sierra Club targeted the George 2009-2010. the political agenda, to paint its friends W. Bush administration, even putting The Club’s movement toward the Left, as heroes and its adversaries as villains, out a “W Watch” that featured articles which pulled it away from opposing il- and to organize grassroots activists in attacking Bush—not just in connection legal immigration, has also affected its the name of saving the planet. with the administration’s environmental relationship with unions that support the record, but on every topic related to Keystone XL pipeline. As the newspaper “As a political force, it’s easily a billion- Bush’s judicial nominations, according The Hill noted in April, “The Sierra Club dollar-a-year enterprise,” said Steve to a 2004 report by Sen. James Inhofe has long worked with organized labor. Hayward of the American Enterprise (R-Oklahoma). Its years-long collaboration with the Institute. Earthjustice (previously the Sierra Club United Steelworkers grew in 2006 into Feeding the crocodile Legal Defense Fund) regularly took the broader BlueGreen Alliance, which Hayward added that “environmental legal action against the Bush adminis- includes a number of environmental groups have a common agenda. There tration—86 actions on different envi- groups and unions. But the debate over is not much diversity among them. So ronmental issues, according to Inhofe. the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline has it’s sort of misleading to say it’s environ- The Sierra Club even spent hundreds of largely split labor and environmental- mental groups versus business groups thousands of dollars attacking the Bush ists, as well as led the Laborers’ Inter- because business groups are on all sides administration in campaign ads during national Union of North America to quit of this question.” the BlueGreen Alliance last year.” the 2000 election. Indeed, business plays both sides. Busi- Interestingly, the Club was the target of The conflict between jobs and environ- nesses often seek to use the government an insurgent campaign in the mid-1980s mental extremism is also apparent in to eliminate their competition at the that would have had the group come regard to the Left’s claims of “environ- expense of consumers. In one case, the out in opposition to illegal immigration. mental racism.” Recently, the Club— Sierra Club was paid $26 million for Why? Because of the wasteful lifestyle which has long been seen correctly as four years by Chesapeake Energy, one of associated, in leftists’ minds, with living an organization that represents the most the country’s largest natural gas drillers, in the United States. The publication privileged people in society—issued a and its subsidiaries to lobby for regula- noted “some members claiming report focusing on industrial facilities in tions against the coal industry. it [an end to illegal immigration] was Detroit that suggested that “minorities” “Back in 2007,” Chesapeake Energy needed to overcome the effects of more in the city are the victims of environ- spokesman Jim Gipson told Time maga- people living more consumptive Ameri- mental racism. Former Detroit News zine, “Chesapeake and the Sierra Club can life styles.” However, “The effort columnist Ben Johnson wrote “This at- had a shared interest in moving our na- fell apart after a pitched battle. Other tempt to link pollution with alleged civil tion toward a clean energy future based environmental groups have historically rights violations puts Detroit in peril.” on the expanded use of natural gas, helped financially support immigration Based on allegations that are “neither especially in the power sector.” reform opponents like Numbers USA and justified nor scientific,” Johnson wrote, Federation for American Immigration “The Sierra Club’s minority-race-based The deal was made under former Sierra Reform.” (Today, entrenched on the Left, analyses of sites limiting new permits Club leader Carl Pope. The Club’s cur- the Sierra Club is a proponent of the sort threatens to forever kill new investment rent leader, Michael Brune, ended the of immigration “reform” that, activists in depressed urban industrial areas.” deal in 2011 and refused an additional $30 million from Chesapeake—before believe, would add to the rolls millions Whatever its position on particular is- turning around and taking $50 million of voters who would dutifully support sues, the Sierra Club and its affiliates from Michael Bloomberg (see below). left-wing candidates.) are strongly tied to the Democratic During the 2004 election, the Sierra Club Party and donate overwhelmingly to As the environmentalist movement reportedly spent at least $350,000 on Democratic candidates. According to works to rid the U.S. of affordable, ef-

June 2013 Green Watch Page 5 ficient hydrocarbon fuels, “Beyond Coal” “We’re going to be preventing new gas among heads of nonprofits (frustrations is the Sierra Club campaign that seeks to plants from being built wherever we with boards of directors, constant pres- shut down one-third of the nation’s 500+ can,” the Club’s Michael Brune told the sure to raise money exacerbated by the coal plants by 2020 and replace most of . Brune got to flex his Great Recession, and relatively low pay), them with primitive, so-called “renew- activist muscles in February when he de- plus the fact that Baby Boomers as a able” sources such as wind and solar. clared that he was willing to get arrested group are at or near retirement age. protesting the Keystone XL pipeline. Recently, the Club has backed a series Ring added: “There’s also a political of lawsuits aimed at shutting down coal Greenpeace has lobbied against the pipe- dynamic: ‘Everybody was hunkered plants. A settlement in January—between line, and the Sierra Club hosted a rally down during the Bush administration, the Warren Buffett-owned MidAmerican in February that attracted 35,000 pro- focused on the fights at hand,’ says an Energy and the Sierra Club over al- tests aimed at getting President Obama environmental-group consultant in Se- leged violations of the federal Clean Air to reject the , which attle. The greener Obama presidency Act—forced MidAmerican to phase out is supposed to bring tar sands oil from creates a better atmosphere for career burning coal at seven coal-fired boilers. Canada to refineries in Texas. moves: Many environmentalist leaders are now working for Obama, and oth- New York City Mayor Michael Bloom- Sierra Club’s president Allison Chin was arrested handcuffing herself to the White ers feel freer to take jobs with different berg chimed in that this was “great groups or retire because they are less news for the people of Iowa and another House fence in protest of the pipeline —breaking the group’s 120-year tradi- worried about abandoning the troops in important victory for the Beyond Coal the middle of a raging battle.” campaign.” His organization gave $50 tion of no civil disobedience. Chin was million to the anti-coal campaign. arrested with other Sierra Club leaders Talia Buford of Politico wrote in Febru- and celebrity activists Robert Kennedy ary that, “After 121 years of lobbying, The utility American Electric Power Jr. and . letter-writing campaigns and law-abiding (AEP) announced in February that it The Sierra Club’s shift to the Left rep- protests, the Sierra Club is retooling itself would no longer be burning coal at three resents a trend in the environmentalist for the flash-mob age—and showing an of its power plants as a result of a lawsuit movement, as an older, more tradition- increasingly aggressive edge.” settlement with the Sierra Club and other minded generation fades away and a Buford noted the arrest of the group’s top environmentalist groups along with the more radical cadre moves to the fore. EPA and eight state governments. The two leaders during that protest against the AEP settlement came on the heels of A new, radical direction Keystone XL pipeline. “The organization an announcement that the building of a Today’s environmentalist leaders tend called it the first time it had suspended its coal plant in Texas would be cancelled to be people who entered the move- decades-long policy against club-sanc- because of litigation costs and strict fed- ment after the country’s most serious tioned civil disobedience. . . . Sierra Club eral environmental regulations. environmental problems had been leaders and supporters say they’re not solved or were well on their way to a undergoing a radical makeover . . . But Overall, the anti-coal campaign has led solution. Most became activists during they also acknowledged increasing frus- since 2010 to 142 coal plant retirements, a period in which the movement came tration with Washington’s paralysis in the or announced retirements—the loss of to rely increasingly on crying wolf—on face of what they call a global climate the equivalent of more than 50,000 mega- exaggerated or nonexistent threats, often emergency. And some say new tactics are watts of coal-fired power. Jason Mark of based on pseudoscientific predictions required in an era when mass protests can the Earth Island Journal noted in 2011 of catastrophe a few decades ahead (far be organized via Twitter. ‘Civil disobedi- that environmentalists had won a series enough ahead so that one can spend an ence is the response of ordinary people to of victories against coal-fired plants entire career promoting a dubious idea extraordinary injustices,’ the group said “and they have done so without having such as Catastrophic Man-made Global in a statement before the protest, casting to rely on a single vote in Congress. The Warming theory, then be safely retired the climate debate as akin to previous anti-coal battle has been won, Brune told before the idea is discredited). Many of struggles over ‘slavery, child labor, suf- me, because it connects so organically these new, more radical leaders are less frage, segregation and inequality for gays to home-front issues like air pollution, interested in making arguments than in and immigrant workers.’” water pollution, and public health.” conducting street theater. Roger Ballentine, a climate adviser to The Sierra Club’s other anti-hydrocarbon In a 2010 article, Ray Ring of the High the Clinton White House who became fuel campaign, “Beyond Natural Gas,” Country News noted that many environ- an advisor to businesses on “green” aims to block new natural gas plants from mental groups active in the West were ex- strategies, told in being built and stop “fracking” across periencing a wave of leadership changes, 2011 that the movement had (in the the country. blamed on the usual reasons for turnover words of Times reporter Leslie Kaufman)

Page 6 Green Watch June 2013 “grown impatient with coaxing incre- ties to the Communist Party and other also known for negotiating pleasantly mental change by engaging with policy pro-terrorism organizations. Bernardine with corporations.” makers and corporations. The old way Dohrn, who became one of the most Politico noted: “Brune’s radical bona was the Sierra Club putting its seal on famous terrorists of the 20th Century, fides were almost certainly one reason ‘green’ Clorox products; the new way had worked at NLG headquarters as the why the club’s elected leadership wanted is suggested by a Greenpeace Internet first leader of the group’s student divi- him aboard, said Christopher Bosso, campaign that wrung a promise from sion. NLG lawyer Lynne Stewart was professor of public policy and urban Facebook last week to use less coal for convicted of aiding the terrorist activities affairs at Northeastern University and its data centers. ‘The failure to address of Al Qaeda spiritual leader Omar Abdel- author of the book Environment, Inc. climate is catastrophic, and young people Rahman (the Blind Shiekh), who once ‘He is reflecting more than pulling the are justifiably outraged,’ Mr. Ballentine plotted a series of attacks on New York organization along,’ Bosso said. ‘I think said, pointing to the next generation in landmarks. After her conviction, NLG the fact that he was hired shows the way the movement. ‘What we have now is President David Gespass declared, “It they wanted to go.’” an antagonized grass roots calling for a is a rare honor for us in the Guild to be radicalized approach.’” among Lynne’s friends and colleagues.” How radical is Brune? In an interview on the program “Democracy Now!,” Brune Three key personnel decisions reflect the ►Among the new, younger leaders of declared that, if catastrophic global Club’s new “radicalized approach.” the environmentalist movement, Sierra warming is to be prevented, mankind Club executive director Michael Brune ►Last year the group hired former EPA must forgo two-thirds of its oil, coal, is the personification of the trend toward regional administrator Al Armendariz as and natural gas resources. “If we want the use of —of protest and “senior campaign representative” for its to keep our temperature increases be- the techniques of so-called “community Beyond Coal campaign. Armendariz, you low three and a half degrees Fahrenheit, organizers” instead of rational debate. may recall, was caught on video suggest- at least two-thirds of the oil, and coal, ing Roman tyranny as a model for en- Brune cut his teeth in the movement and gas that we know about all around forcement of environmental regulations. working for Greenpeace, which was a the world has to stay in the ground,” he “The Romans used to conquer little vil- radical group from the start. Before com- said. “Two-thirds of our fossil fuel [sic] lages in the Mediterranean. They’d go ing to the Sierra Club, he spent 2002 to reserves have to stay in the ground if we into a little Turkish town somewhere, 2010 as head of the Rainforest Action want to have a shot at keeping warming they’d find the first five guys they saw Network, which Politico described as at three and a half degrees Fahrenheit, and they would crucify them. Find people “a group whose activists have rappelled which is a reckless goal considering who are not compliant with the law, and down office buildings and trespassed at that we’ve only had about an increase, a you hit them as hard as you can and you corporate headquarters to get the atten- degree increase so far.” tion of businesses like paper manufactur- make examples out of them, and there is a To Brune, even the abandonment of two- ers, coal mining companies and banks.” deterrent effect there,” Armendariz said. thirds of the world’s hydrocarbon fuels ►Earlier this year, the group hired as The environmentalist publication Grist is insufficient and downright “reckless.” its labor director Dean Hubbard, former reported that “Brune honed RAN’s strat- Gven that perhaps a billion of earth’s senior counsel for the Transport Workers egy of negotiating politely with corporate people live on less than $1.25 a day, the Union, which is one of the few unions to heavyweights such as Bank of America, decision to simply abandon two-thirds oppose the Keystone XL pipeline. , and —and (or more) of the world’s standard energy then, if they don’t clean up their acts, resources would consign hundreds of At Sarah Lawrence College, Hubbard campaigning mercilessly against them. millions, perhaps billions of people to held an endowed chair in public policy The two-pronged approach earned re- grinding poverty—and it would likely named for left-wing activist Joanne sults that belie RAN’s modest size—it lead to armed conflict at a level never Woodward (Mrs. Paul Newman). Hub- helped convince Home Depot to stop seen before in human history. Such bard was described in a Sierra Club selling wood from endangered forests, considerations are presumably beneath document as “the longtime Chair of for example.” the concern of the Sierra Club’s Michael the National Lawyers Guild Labor and Brune. Employment Committee, where he has Upon the selection of Brune to head the organized and led solidarity work for Sierra Club, Ray Ring of the High Coun- Michael Bastasch is a reporter for labor and human rights worldwide.” try News wrote: “Brune has made a career the Daily Caller News Foundation. out of imaginative civil disobedience Dr. Steven J. Allen (JD, PhD) is editor What is the National Lawyers Guild? It is . . . He estimates that he’s been arrested of Green Watch. an organization of radical attorneys that, about a dozen times for trespassing and GW since its founding in 1937, has had close other protest-related offenses, but he’s June 2013 Green Watch Page 7 GreenNotes The Internal Revenue Service blocked or delayed tax-exempt status for groups with words like “Tea Party,” “patriot,” or “Bill of Rights” on their applications, but last year the agency did manage to approve the application of the environmental organization “Air Trees Water and Animals.” ATWA had previously lost its status in 1997, reports Teresa Platt of the National Center for Public Policy Research, because of complaints from families of the victims of ATWA’s founder— Charles Manson. Think the Obama administration’s abuse of conservative and free-market groups stops at the IRS? Think again. The Competitive Enterprise Institute took a look at the way the Environmental Protection Agency waives fees for Free- dom of Information Act requests; CEI found “green” groups received waivers 92% of the time, while critics of “green” policies were rejected 93% of the time. (Under FOIA rules, the fees are supposed to be waived for public-interest groups that regularly provide information to the general public.) Meanwhile, EPA has confessed it gave out personal information on perhaps 80,000 farmers and ranchers to environ- mentalist groups. “The EPA has threatened the health and safety of agriculture producers and their families and has damaged the security of our food system,” said Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.). Confronted on the issue, the EPA an- nounced it had asked the environmentalists to “return the information.” Almost every day the number of ridiculous governmental restrictions and regulations rises. But what happens when a rule isn’t merely ridiculous, but downright impossible? That occurred with a 2007 requirement for the sale, in 2013, of 14 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel—fuel made from wood, grass, and other plants not edible by humans. The problem, notes , is that “this fantasy fuel exists only in a laboratory. It can’t actually be produced in any significant quantities.” TheTimes adds, “Rather than admit defeat, environmentalist bureaucrats set up a system forcing companies to buy the renewable identification numbers to meet their targets”—in effect, forcing them to pay for nonex- istent goods. Currently, the cellulosic fuels sector is 1/200th of the size that the federal government projected it would be back in 2007. (Close enough for government work?) Now a federal appeals court has tossed out the cellulosic require- ment, saying it was based on a “wish” rather than factors that refiners could control. will force women into prostitution, according to a congressional resolution introduced by Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). Lee, joined by Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and 11 other members of Congress, declared that “food insecure women with limited socioeconomic resources may be vulnerable to situations such as sex work, transactional sex, and early marriage that put them at risk for HIV, STIs, unplanned pregnancy, and poor reproductive health.” The resolution cites a United Nations claim that some three billion people—billion with a b—could be pushed into extreme poverty by 2050 unless “environmental disasters are averted by coordinated global action.” According to the resolution, women will be hurt disproportionately, especially such groups as refugees, the HIV-positive, the disabled, and lesbians. Shortly before the last election, Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) declared, “There is no war on coal. Period.” Bill McKib- ben would disagree. McKibben—called “probably the nation’s leading environmentalist” by the Boston Globe—founded the group 350.org, which promotes a belief in Catastrophic Man-made Global Warming. In April, McKibben wrote on the left-wing AlterNet: “Recently, I had a long talk with an administration insider who kept telling me that, for the next de- cade, we should focus all our energies on ‘killing coal.’ Why? Because it was politically feasible. And indeed we should, but climate-change science makes it clear that we need to put the same sort of thought and creative energy into killing oil and natural gas, too.” Many Warmers believe that, if the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is above 350 parts per million—or 1/2,857th of the atmosphere—mankind faces disaster. (The figure is currently around 391 ppm.) The Warmers’ zealotry could cause problems within the Democratic Party. Recently, an extreme environmentalist, Rep. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) ran against Rep. Steven Lynch, a liberal Democrat who supported the Keystone XL pipeline, for the Democratic nomination to replace Sen. John Kerry. McKibben’s organization backed Markey, who received major financial help when, as McKibben put it,“California hedge fund manager and big-time Democratic donor Tom Steyer announced that he was not only going to go after Lynch, but any politician of any party who didn’t take climate change seriously.” Steyer proclaimed that “The goal here is not to win. The goal here is to destroy these people”—destroy anyone, that is, even a liberal Democrat, who deviates from the environmentalist line. Markey won the nomination and heads into the June general election.

Page 8 Green Watch June 2013