WASHINGTON, DC – Sen. James
Inhofe (R-Okla.), Chairman of the Environment &
Public Works Committee (EPW), in a floor speech
yesterday evening outlined the intricate web of
political fundraising and spending by environmental
groups which is detailed in a fifteen page Report to
the Chairman titled, “Political Activity of
Environmental Groups and Their Supporting
Foundations.” Inhofe also released an additional
thirty page report outlining a ten year history of
numerous problems with the management of grant
dollars at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
titled, “Grants Management at the Environmental
Protection Agency - A New Culture Required to Cure a
History of Problems.”
“Environmental organizations have become
experts at deceptive activity, skirting laws up to
the edge of illegality, and burying their political
activities under the guise of non-profit
environmental improvement. These reports demonstrate
this interconnected ‘environmental family
affair’ of non-profits and their benefactors,”
Senator Inhofe said.
In examining how the environmental groups receive
and spend their federal funds, it became apparent
that these groups receive funding from numerous
sources including large foundations. With these
organizations’ political and grass-roots efforts
it became difficult differentiating the sources of
their funds and how they spend them. EPW Committee
staff has examined the funding and expenditures
records of these organizations. This information has
been compiled into a fifteen page Report for the
Chairman to provide some preliminary examples
describing five of the most widely politically
active environmental groups including: the League of
Conservation Voters, The Sierra Club, and the
National Resources Defense Council, a description of
their activity, and the interconnected web among all
those organizations.
The report also contains examples of the
foundations that provide the financial support for
those groups – including the Heinz foundations
which are a few of the largest contributors to these
non-profit environmental organizations – which has
Mrs. Teresa Heinz Kerry as either chairperson of the
board of trustees or member of the board of trustees
on each foundation.
“Interestingly, these environmental groups are
all tax-exempt IRS registered 501(c)(3) charitable
organizations meaning that contributions to these
groups are tax deductible yet all these non-profit
groups are also closely associated and fund their
affiliated 501(c)(4) lobbying organizations and 527
political groups,” Senator Inhofe said. “These
groups profess to be the greatest stewards of the
environment and solicit contributions from a variety
of sources by that claim. But they demonstrate more
interest in hyping apocalyptic environmental
scenarios to raise money for raw Democrat political
purposes, rather than working together to improve
our environment for the benefit of all Americans.”
The Committee has also released a thirty page
Report to the Chairman based on an EPW Committee
oversight hearing held earlier this year where the
Committee heard testimony from the General
Accounting Office and the EPA Inspector General
regarding a ten year history of numerous problems
with the management of grant dollars a EPA Some of
the problems included EPA not requiring grant
recipients to demonstrate real environmental
benefits from grants, EPA not requiring competition
in its grant awards, and a general lack of oversight
of EPA grant officers and recipients.
Both reports can be accessed below:
Political Report: Click
here for link: (.pdf)
Grants: (.pdf) Click
here for link: (.pdf)
