For Immediate Release:
July 25, 2016

Contact:
Craig Richardson
[email protected]
703-981-5553

Latest E&E Legal Investigatory Report Details Efforts by Billionaire Tom Steyer to Bankroll Elections and Stifle ‘Climate Change’ Debate to Protect his Solar Investments

Washington, DC – Today the Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal), a non-profit watchdog group, released a report, Buying the Democrat Party Lock, Stock and Barrel, which details how billionaire Tom Steyer’s is seeking to protect his solar energy investments by spending tens of millions of dollars on key 2016 races, buying a plank in the 2016 Democrat platform, and trying to silence debate from those who challenge his view on ‘climate change’ by using select attorneys general to prosecute ‘dissenters.’  E&E Legal also released a short video to accompany the report.

As the report notes, Steyer is a leading mega-donor of both the Democratic Party and the climate change movement, and thus is in a unique position to use his vast wealth to sway the Democratic Party to push his ambitious renewable energy initiative, while lining his own pockets in the process.  He holds major investments in renewable energy and is seeking an advantage for these by eliminating the non-renewable energy competitors, particularly coal. His opposition to coal-based energy ends at the U.S. border and he remains a major investor in coal for other nations.

Stung by polls showing ‘climate change’ a low priority for most Americans, and now faced with a growing and significant body of evidence refuting earlier extreme ‘climate’ modeling, Steyer is encouraging state Attorneys General to silence anyone who disagrees with his views on renewable energy and climate change.

“Free speech is one of the most sacred rights we as Americans possess, and the Founding Fathers sought various ways to protect it, most significantly with the First Amendment,” said David W. Schnare, E&E Legal General Counsel.  “The fact that Tom Steyer not only seeks to buy elections for his personal gain but is actually trying to bankroll efforts to attack freedom of speech is beyond reprehensible, it’s un-American.”

In the 2014 cycle, Steyer emerged as a significant ‘player’ in electoral politics, as the report details, having spent $74 million not to support candidates, but to buy advertising to oppose those who did not favor renewable energy or accept the climate alarmism meme.  This unprecedented spending had no discernable effect on election results, so he moved to a much more leveraged approach.

He began with the White House and EPA, getting their buy-in to organize governors to support the EPA anti-coal agenda at his expense. He then conditioned his political support to Senate candidates on their adoption of his agenda. And, he funded the Democratic National Committee in what now appears to be purchase of the DNC’s 2016 Campaign Platform regarding climate change and renewable energy. The DNC adopted the Steyer agenda word for word. Finally, he is pushing select attorneys general to use the prosecutorial powers of their states to silence critics of ‘climate change.’

“The Democrat Convention began amid the stench of political corruption revealed by the WikiLeaks released e-mails, and Steyer’s purchasing of a Democrat platform plank to shut his critics up is just another chapter in an ugly and out-of-control system” said E&E Legal’s Executive Director Craig Richardson.  “It’s no wonder Americans are fed up with the entire process, particularly crony capitalism’s intersection with electoral politics, and they are demanding authentic change.”

The Energy & Environment Legal Institute (E&E Legal) is a 501(c)(3) organization engaged in strategic litigation, policy research, and public education on important energy and environmental issues. Primarily through its petition litigation and transparency practice areas, E&E Legal seeks to correct onerous federal and state policies that hinder the economy, increase the cost of energy, eliminate jobs, and do little or nothing to improve the environment.

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