As reported in the Daily Caller on Saturday, the Sierra Club received $26 million dollars in donations from Chesapeake Energy between 2007 and 2010 with a large majority of the cash coming directly from the CEO Aubrey McClendon.
Ordinarily, this wouldn’t be that big of a deal. Sure $26 million is a large sum of money, but surely it must be because the CEO really loves animals?
Wrong. It has been brought to light that the money was “donated” at a critical time when the Sierra Club had just launched their “Beyond Coal” campaign, which was an attack on coal-burning power plants. The Sierra Club was on a tight budget and was working hard to close as many power plants as possible.
And all of a sudden, up sneaks Chesapeake Energy, a very large natural gas company whose business would directly benefit from taking down their coal industry competitors. This timing was crucial to the success of the program, and the Sierra Club benefitted greatly from the supposed generosity of CEO McClendon.
By donating millions to a tree-hugger-filled Sierra Club, the energy giant had a way to all but ensure that their initiative would gain national attention.
According to Time magazine blogger Bryan Walsh, who first broke the story, this news “raises concerns about influence industry may have had on the Sierra Club’s independence and its support of natural gas in the past.”
The Sierra Club has a long history of loyal membership and an outwardly-sterling reputation for environmental policy making, so it’s quite shocking to find out that they’re so willing to sell out to an energy company to enhance their own agenda.
The revelation that the Sierra Club funded their anti-coal campaign through contributions from the now politically incorrect Chesapeake Energy is causing untold embarrassment for the sanctimonious left which has taken over the organization.
Now, they are asking whether it was it worth getting into bed with an energy company to further their anti-coal campaign?
Get full story here.
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