A recent report exposes a coordinated network of nonprofit groups and anonymous funders — which we commonly label “dark money” — wielding their financial might to obstruct a cornerstone Trump administration energy initiative. These shadowy funds, which channel money through donor-advised funds and charitable foundations, fuel an extensive campaign aimed at derailing the administration’s push to expand domestic fossil fuel production and streamline energy development.
This sophisticated web of environmental and advocacy groups links closely to Democratic donors and Obama-era operatives and orchestrates legal challenges, lobbying efforts, and grassroots opposition to stall or outright block critical permits and regulations central to President Donald Trump’s energy agenda.
According to a report from Fox News Digital, this network’s reach is formidable, spanning national green organizations and aligned nonprofits that operate in concert to bog down pipeline approvals, drilling permits, and favorable fossil fuel policies. By exploiting environmental statutes to launch lawsuits and flooding public hearings with orchestrated opposition, these groups create procedural roadblocks designed to inflate costs and delay timelines for energy developers. The financial backing enabling this campaign is substantial, with multi-million-dollar grants and a labyrinth of pass-through funding hiding the original donors’ identities, undermining transparency and raising questions about the proper influence of undisclosed money in shaping national energy policy.
Jason Isaac, CEO of the American Energy Institute, warned during an interview with Fox News Digital that while claiming to stand for the planet, these groups “have prioritized ideology over innovation” and are “driven by green activists and groups deeply tied to the Democratic Party.”
“You follow the money, you’ll see where it leads. It leads straight to partisan mega-donors, foreign interests, and failed climate crusaders,” Isaac said. “This isn’t about the environment. It’s about political control over America’s energy future and our energy dominance.”
Isaac’s comments follow Trump’s signing of several executive orders in May to “usher in a nuclear renaissance” by cutting red tape to accelerate advancements in nuclear technologies. In one of the orders, Trump said that “abundant energy is a vital national- and economic-security interest” and “in conjunction with domestic fossil fuel production, nuclear energy can liberate America from dependence on geopolitical rivals.”
Prominent radical left-wing funds and foundations are quietly shaping America’s energy future, pooling donations and shielding donors from public view. They frame their campaigns as fights for “environmental and public health,” but the goal is to use legal and regulatory tools to obstruct the Trump energy agenda.
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Their tactics are aggressive: federal lawsuits in friendly courts, state and local coordination to exploit permitting choke points, administrative comments, and injunctions that stall projects. Public messaging paints Trump’s plan as a threat to the environment and community health, rallying resistance to advance political objectives.
In late July, the Union of Concerned Scientists published a statement lambasting Trump, saying that “since the Inauguration, the administration has systematically destroyed federal scientific systems.”
UCS published a report that claimed the Trump administration is advancing a “systematic effort to suppress climate science and dismantle actions to address the climate crisis that will increase costs and suffering, particularly for disadvantaged communities, while boosting fossil fuel pollution and profits.”
A Fox News Digital review of UCS donors found that the group has received financial support from left-wing donors like the Tides Foundation, whose 2023 U.S. tax return shows it has helped bankroll anti-Israel protests on college campuses, and the Alliance for Global Justice, which in turn is a fiscal sponsor of the Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, a group the U.S. Department of the Treasury later designated as “a sham charity that serves as an international fundraiser for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) terrorist organization.”
UCS has also received support from the U.S. Energy Foundation, which Fox News Digital previously reported was spun off from the same foundation as the Energy Foundation China.
The report profiles other groups. These nonprofits leverage fiscal sponsorships and 501(c)(3)/(c)(4) structures to conceal their funding sources, while grants line up with key regulatory steps, showing a coordinated campaign to block progress.
“For decades, radical environmental groups have tried to block nuclear energy, despite its unmatched record for safety and reliability,” Steve Milloy, a senior policy fellow at the Energy and Environment Institute, said. “By championing nuclear power, the President is putting science, technology, and common sense ahead of the outdated, anti-energy green agenda pushed by the Left.”
Milloy also served on Trump’s 2016 Environmental Protection Agency transition team.
The stakes are high in the battle for American energy independence. The Trump administration’s push for a nuclear renaissance and expanded domestic energy production faces a well-funded, politically motivated campaign of left-leaning nonprofits and shadowy donors wielding billions to influence policy from behind the scenes. What these groups frame as environmental stewardship is, in reality, a coordinated effort to slow or block America’s energy growth, stifle innovation, and keep the nation dependent on foreign sources of energy.
Exposing these dark-money networks and standing firm against their agenda is essential if America is to secure its energy future, strengthen its economy, and maintain national security.
America’s energy future is under attack by a shadowy coalition of nonprofit groups fueled by dark money to derail Trump’s energy renaissance. Mainstream media stays silent, but PJ Media exposes the truth and stands for energy independence and innovation. Become a PJ Media VIP with the code FIGHT for 60% off and gain access to exclusive content, ad-free reading, and commenting privileges. Don’t let the left control the narrative — join now and defend America’s energy sovereignty.
