Hey, have you ever wondered how much money goes into the groups orchestrating opposition to offshore wind (OSW) projects up and down the East Coast? Well, it turns out it's something like $72 million — just between 2017 and 2021!
That's the big figure from a new report out of Brown University's Climate Development Lab called "Against the Wind: A Map of the Anti-Offshore Wind Network in the Eastern United States." It does an excellent job of summarizing and visualizing the anti-offshore wind network with a map that "represents 18 local groups and businesses, 14 climate denial think tanks, 8 coalitions, 11 other established entities, and 16 key individuals."
The "report reveals how these East Coast offshore wind opponents are not solely local – they are embedded in a network of seasoned fossil fuel interests and climate denial think tanks that have perfected obstruction tactics for decades."
So while these "new grassroots-appearing groups… appear to operate organically, in many cases they are directly supported by well-funded, national organizations with ties to the fossil fuel industry and dark money." In practice, they "share legal support, public speakers, leadership, and information and tactical subsidies."
The result is "a facade of local opposition that is actually part of a broader, sustained anti-renewable energy campaign."
Who's putting up the money? They "identified six major fossil fuel and dark money donors – the Charles Koch Foundation, the Charles Koch Institute, DonorsTrust, the State Policy Network, and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers Association – that fund 17 think tanks involved in the anti-OSW network."
Bringing the receipts, they "identify a total of $72,276,593 in contributions from the six major donors to groups in the network between 2017 and 2021." Of that, a worrying $16 million goes to the coalition of astroturf organizations at the center of the anti-OSW movement, known as American Coalition for Ocean Protection (ACOP).
Report co-author Timmons Roberts commented, “States along the east coast have adopted ambitious targets for emissions reductions in line with the science of what we need to do to avoid the worst climate impacts. Offshore wind is the one resource we have at scale to meet those targets. Policymakers, journalists, citizens and coastal residents need to understand the way an anti-renewables movement was designed, and how fossil fuel interests’ talking points and tactics are being deployed by 'local' groups, through a complex web of groups. This map is a major advance in providing the bigger picture of what’s going on.”
Check out the report to dive deeper into the murky depths of the anti-offshore wind movement!