For months, rumors have been circulating that Putin’s Russia is secretly backing anti-fracking groups in the US. Thanks to WikiLeaks, we now have proof:
Hillary Clinton talked about Russian-backed environmental groups during a private speech on June 18th, 2014. This is what she said:
“We were up against Russia pushing oligarchs and others to buy media. We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand against any effort, oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you, and a lot of the money supporting that message was coming from Russia.”
As reported by the Washington Free Beacon, a “shadowy Bermudan company” has donated “tens of millions of dollars to anti-fracking environmentalist groups in the United States.”
A January report by the EPA specifically implicates Klein ltd – a company that is believed to be “run by executives with deep ties to Russian oil interests and offshore money laundering schemes involving members of President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.”
Fracking is a violent drilling procedure that allows companies to access hard-to-reach resources of gas and oil. It is controversial because it requires vast amounts of water and can contaminate groundwater at the drilling site.
Fracking has revolutionized the energy industry in the US. It has driven gas prices down, reduced our reliance on imports, and delivered gas security for about 100 years.
But for countries (like Russia) that depend on natural gas as a primary export, fracking is bad news. The fracking bonanza has sent global oil prices below $50 per barrel, and Russia needs a price tag of at least $70 just to break even.
In July 2016, the United States imported 16,473,000 barrels of crude oil and petroleum products from Russia. That number is sure to go down as fracking technology improves.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former head of NATO, argues that Russia is deliberately working against efforts to develop fracking technology: “I have met allies who can report that Russia, as part of their sophisticated information and disinformation operations, engaged actively with so-called non-governmental organizations – environmental organizations working against shale gas – to maintain European dependence on imported Russian gas.”
The EPA report “raises serious questions about the potential for high-level Russian oil and political interests funding attacks on US energy development by the American environmental movement in an effort to diminish international competition for oil production and protect Russian energy assets.”
And Hillary’s comments confirm what green issue campaigners would prefer not to believe: that anti-fracking groups and their campaigners are no more than Russian puppets.
Phelim McAleer and Ann McElhinney, the makers of the movie FrackNation, are now demanding that the State Department release the names of all anti-fracking groups that have received Russian funding.
“They are basically acting as paid agents for a hostile foreign power,” says McAleer. “This is possibly illegal and is most definitely deeply disturbing and unethical. The State Department needs to name and shame these groups now.”
But this won’t happen any time soon, especially because Putin’s anti-fracking interests align so well with those of President Obama and his preferred successor.
Editor’s note: Its seems there is a de facto alliance between the Russians and certain environmental groups. You can bet though, that their goals are not the same. If you dig a bit deeper you will probably find the Saudis and other oil producers supporting anti-fracking as well.