Details of a large non-profit’s plans to combat the Keystone XL pipeline have surfaced, and offer some insight into the strategies and tactics of groups looking to combat the use of fossil fuels.
Canadian news channel Sun News uncovered of a PowerPoint presentation from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund detailing its work with other groups to derail the Keystone XL pipeline and other similar projects it deemed parts of “a globally significant threat.”
The presentation, written in 2008, describes the allocation of $7 million to environmental non-profits for tactics that include the use of the legislative and legal systems to delay or derail energy production in the United States and Canada, and to “raise the costs” of energy in both nations.
Here is that presentation in full (click here to view in a new window):
The strategy has some Canadian commentators fuming at what they see as foreign meddling in their affairs.
While Rockefeller and other groups are actively working to dismantle Canada’s energy production infrastructure, polling shows that Canadians overwhelmingly support oil pipeline projects. And for good reason: the energy sector employs 230,000 Canadians, and represents nearly 7 percent of the country’s economy.