Investigating Power
A few days after his confirmation, the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD), a national watchdog group, published thousands of pages of emails showing how closely Pruitt worked with the fossil fuel industry in challenging EPA regulations.
Center for Media and Democracy
What They’re Doing
Litigating to uncover EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt’s email traffic with energy companies, from his time as Oklahoma attorney general. Examining disclosures of Trump agency appointees for potential ethics concerns.
His organization has no credibility in public policy. According to the Center for Media and Democracy, a watchdog organization that investigates corruption and the undue influence of corporations on media and democracy, Harris’ organization has direct ties to coal mining companies.
A former general counsel to Freedom Partners, Jorjani was one of the highest-paid employees at both the Charles Koch Institute and the Charles Koch Foundation, according to a 2011 IRS filing obtained by the Center for Media and Democracy.
The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) and the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) are advertising to donors that they will get invitations to events with congressional staff such as chiefs of staff, leadership staffers and committee staffers, the report said, citing documents it and the Center for Media and Democracy obtained.
Climate, Environment, Koch, SPN
The Institute says it is agnostic on energy resources and won’t disclose its donors. But it has financial ties to companies that include coal miner Peabody Energy Corp. and the Koch Industries Inc., according to the Center for Media and Democracy, a non-profit watchdog group.
Climate, Environment, Koch, SPN
The Independence Institute, a self-described “action tank” based in Colorado, wants us to celebrate fossil fuels on Earth Day, April 22. “Enviros celebrate by planting trees but they never celebrate the trucks that deliver the trees, or the gas that powers that truck, or the plastic handles of the shovels they use,” it said in a recent email to ThinkProgress.
If Sunflower decides to proceed with construction, the new Holcomb plant would join an exclusive club. Only four other coal plants are proposed or under construction in the U.S., according to SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media and Democracy.
If Sunflower decides to proceed with construction, the new Holcomb plant would join an exclusive club. Only four other coal plants are proposed or under construction in the United States, according to SourceWatch, a project of the Center for Media and Democracy. Two of these projects have faced major setbacks in recent months, and the other two have stalled. Meanwhile, 251 U.S. coal plants have been retired since 2010.
“The Independence Institute’s position on tackling climate change is about as independent as a fox’s view on protecting the hen-house,” Nick Surgey, research director at the Center for Media and Democracy, told ThinkProgress via email. “It’s really a corporate-backed fake think tank with a track record of opposing renewable energy development in Colorado.”