A secret, heavily funded group of climate change activists is quietly taking on a more prominent role in campaigning against natural gas-powered equipment., Like a stove.
The Gas Leak Action Campaign, first established in late 2021 or early 2022, recently launched a $1 million advertising campaign warning of the dangers posed by natural gas, the first of its kind. It will be the largest scale ever. The group says on its website that natural gas harms the environment, pollutes the air in homes and puts stoves “at constant risk of explosion.”
The group has also spearheaded a campaign against the American Gas Association (AGA), the nation’s largest trade association representing natural gas suppliers. At an event held in Washington, D.C., earlier this month, Gas Leaks hosted Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey and Irish Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, as well as several environmental groups like the Sierra Club. , strongly criticized the AGA’s lobbying efforts.
Markey, an original sponsor of the Green New Deal, said: “Instead of turning off the tap on fossil fuels, our country has flooded the market with gas. If we don’t do something, we’re all going to drown. I guess so,” he said.
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Massachusetts Democratic Sen. Ed Markey spoke at an event hosted by GasLeaks earlier this month. (Screenshot of gas leak/YouTube/video)
AGA President and CEO Karen Herbert said in a statement that natural gas “is fundamental to protecting America’s energy security, achieving our environmental goals, and promoting economic prosperity.” said.
“Despite advocacy groups deliberately spreading misinformation and promoting misinformed energy policies that drive up prices and sacrifice environmental progress, our industry remains committed to delivering on its customers and communities. “We will continue to implement comprehensive solutions to provide essential energy and reduce emissions,” she added. .
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Meanwhile, a review of FOX News Digital’s job site shows that Gas Leaks has appointed multiple positions in the past two years, including executive director, senior communications director, digital manager, and digital designer. Salaries range from $65,000 to $160,000, he said. Adding up these positions means the group’s annual salary and payroll costs could exceed his $465,000.
But even as Gas Leaks has grown and gained influence over Democratic lawmakers and similar climate change-focused organizations, the group shares little about itself online. Its founders, funding, and history are all kept from public view. A Reuters report last month touted Gas Leaks as “formed by climate change advocacy veterans.”
Gas Leaks has led several campaigns targeting gas stoves, labeling them dangerous to the environment and public health. (Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
A search on LinkedIn reveals that these “advocacy veterans” include Caleb Heeringa, a former Sierra Club spokesperson and gas leak campaign director; And he’s Jamie Henn, founder of Fossil Free Media, co-founder of 350.org, and board member of Gas Leaks.
Gas Leaks is supported by the clean energy advocacy group Climate Nexus, which itself is a Rockefeller group, according to an archived Gas Leaks “about page” that appears to have been removed from the group’s site. It is said to be financially supported by a nonprofit organization called Philanthropy Advisors. We regularly funnel donor dollars to progressive initiatives.
The arrangement means Gas Leaks does not have to file its own 990 Taxpayer ID form with the Internal Revenue Service and therefore can operate without publicly sharing information about its internal operations or finances.
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“Senator Whitehouse is conveniently abandoning his black-finance fences when the time has come to befriend the dark-finance groups that are pushing the radical climate change policies he favors,” the nonprofit government watchdog group The Americans said. Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of the Trust for Public Trust, said: group. Sutherland pointed to the contrast between both the White House’s relationship with the gas leak and his high-profile push against underground finance in politics.
“This latest emerging green group is spreading misinformation in a shadowy attempt to ban gas stoves.”
Climate activists march down Madison Avenue while protesting energy policies and fossil fuel use in New York, September 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Brian Woolston)
An analysis of the grants by Fox News Digital revealed that the donor of the gas leak was a single entity, the California-based Heising-Simmons Foundation. The foundation says on its website that it aims to “promote sustainable solutions in climate and clean energy, enable groundbreaking research in science, and improve the quality of society.” . Supporting the education of our youngest learners and human rights for all. ”
In 2022 and 2023, the Heising-Simmons Foundation directed two $150,000 grants to Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisors, both of which were earmarked for anti-gas leak campaigns.
The Heising-Simmons Foundation has reportedly donated more than $3.3 million in recent years to the Rocky Mountain Institute, a climate think tank that last year was involved in an aggressive push to target gas stoves through regulation. The Heising-Simons Foundation was also co-founded by Mark Heising in 2007, of which he still serves as Vice Chairman and is financially involved in a number of green energy companies.
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Tom Pyle, director of the Energy Research Institute, said: “The only green side of today’s environmental movement is the free movement between left-wing billionaires, their green movement operatives, and the politicians who do their bidding.” That’s billions in cash.” A nonprofit organization based in Washington, DC.
“Their campaign to ban natural gas stoves is an attempt to demonstrate ties to self-dealing wealthy elites like Mark Heising, green lobby groups like the Rocky Mountain Institute, and the Democratic Party machine. This is one example.”
Richard Trumka Jr., President Biden’s appointee to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, has repeatedly suggested the agency is considering banning gas stoves, citing health and climate impacts. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call, via Getty Images)
Environmentalists have been seeking to crack down on natural gas and gas appliances for years because of their impact on the climate, but early last year the effort was launched by environmental group member Richard Trumka Jr. reached its peak. U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commissionsaid a ban on gas stoves was “under consideration”. Shortly thereafter, the Department of Energy issued regulations targeting gas stoves.
In a social media post at the time, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm pointed to research funded by the Rocky Mountain Institute and said the government “must solve this problem” by increasing access to electric stoves. Stated. The study, also cited by environmentalists and other officials, linked 12% of childhood asthma cases to gas stoves.
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Gas Leak, Climate Nexus, Rockefeller Charitable Advisors, and the Heising-Simons Foundation did not respond to requests for comment regarding the purpose of this article. Markey and the White House also did not respond to requests for comment.
