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Energy is under attack. Not just the energy industry, energy itself.
While we at CARE had a gut feeling about the source of this attack, it was confirmed for us when we completed the first draft of our Environmental Utopia Analysis last summer. Around the same time rumors began to surface about collaboration between numerous extreme environmental groups to end production of oil and gas on government lands.
Since then we received validation through a secret document (link below) given to an industry source that bears out our suspicions. This document was leaked by someone in the environmental movement who grew concerned about the direction the leadership was going.
Like that "informant," we believe there are many well meaning people who simply care about the environment. We share that care and concern.
We trust that, like the informant, once the well meaning people see the truth, they, too, will be alarmed and pressure the leadership to end its campaign to destroy oil and gas production on American soil.
We have learned that there is “a large coalition of NGOs” with a multi-year plan targeting the goal of eliminating oil and gas production in America. The leadership of these groups are using the ideology of global warming to push through government regulation that makes energy production harder, more costly, and ultimately impossible.
This campaign is called NoDOG which stands for No Dirty Oil and Gas. Interestingly, While the only group mentioned in the leaked document has been denying any involvement in the plan and calling the document a fraud, the parent organization recently announced a planned attack called No Dirty Energy with the same basic specifics.
CARE is researching these groups to determine who they are, where they are based, and who are their funding sources. We will post profiles of these energy killing groups as we complete them.
These groups are the ones driving up the cost of your gasoline at the pump! Estimates indicate that 30-50% of the price of gas at the pump can be directly traced to environmental regulations. With gas at $3.00 a gallon, $1.00-1.50 of the price you pay at the pump currently is the result of such new regulations. With an average of $.50 per gallon in local, state, and federal taxes, as little as $1.00 of the $3.00 pump price is really for gas!
Here we invite you to review the original NoDOG memo and a couple of subsequent articles from the American Oil and Gas Reporter magazine.
Original No DOG Memo (DOC)
Oil & Gas Reporter Article 1 (PDF)
Oil & Gas Reporter Article 2 (PDF)
Check out the OGAP Profile
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EARTHWORKS |
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“We try to get in the way”
1612 K Street, NW, Washington, DC 20006
202.887.1872
We selected Earthworks as the second Energy Killer to profile for several reasons. If you have read the introductory comments above, and the previous profile on OGAP, you know that we were alerted to the collaborative efforts of the Energy Killers through the NoDOG memo. We started with OGAP because they were the only group mentioned by name in the NoDOG memo--though they deny any connection and claim that the memo is a fake. (See their comments in a newspaper article in the Daily Times.)
Earthworks is next, because OGAP is a part of Earthworks. If you visit OGAP’s website, you will find that it is a subset of Earthworks.
Additionally, the domain names nodirtyoilandgas.org and .com (“No Dirty Oil and Gas” is what NoDOG stands for) is owned by Earthworks. On November 15, 2006, Earthworks registered the web addresses. While neither address is currently active, it is obvious that Earthworks is behind the NoDOG campaign. In February of 2007, Earthworks registered the domain names nodirtyenergy.com and .org
Who Is Earthworks?
Earthworks came on to the scene in April of 2004, a revised version of the Washington-based anti-mining Mineral Policy Center (MPC)--which started in 1988 with the purpose of repealing the mining law of 1872.
MPC was founded by former Interior Secretary Stewart Udall—-who served under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson from 1961 to 1969. Udall described his nation's ecological attitudes as the “myth of superabundance.” He is largely responsible for the enactment of environmental laws in Johnson's Great Society legislative agenda, including the Clear Air, Water Quality and Clean Water Restoration Acts and Amendments, the Wilderness Act of 1964, the Endangered Species Preservation Act of 1966, the Land and Water Conservation [Fund] Act of 1965, the Solid Waste Disposal Act of 1965, the National Trail System Act of 1968, and Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968. Udall calls himself “a leading architect of the environmental movement in this country.” Stewart Udall is the father of Tom Udall, a member of the Untied States House of Representatives serving New Mexico since 1999. Tom is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC)--which described as “The largest ideological caucus in the new House Democratic majority” Membership includes New York's Charles Rangel, Michigan's John Conyers, and Massachusetts' Barney Frank and a host of leftist chairs of House standing committees. Tom is also the co-founder (2005) of the House Peak Oil Caucus—which was created to educate Congress and the public about the inevitable crisis Americans face regarding the future oil supply. Some of the verbiage from the resolution states, “The United States must move rapidly to … accelerate the transition to renewable fuels and a sustainable, clean energy economy.” Apparently, the apple doesn’t fall very far from the tree.
Under Stewart Udall’s leadership, the MPC pioneered the following new tactics:
• Community Organizing (this is the type of activity in which Barack Obama was engaged prior to his entrance into politics): An individual literally knocks on doors to create a face-to-face outreach that will find like minded people to help advance a specific agenda and build a base of concerned people--in the case of MPC, to fight against mining.
• Community Training: Focusing on developing leadership, planning and managerial expertise within community-based organizations, MPC has used the “community training” model for meetings in homes, local halls & conference centers where they taught the basics of lawsuits, lobbying and pressuring government agencies.
• Community Networking: Realizing that communication and information are increasingly dependent on networked digital information, community activists all over the world are developing computer network systems that are essential to the formulation and the maintenance of a social web. At MPC, everybody’s name, address and phone went into lists so they could be mobilized at a moment’s notice.
• Resource Mobilization: Because organizations do not spontaneously emerge, they require the mobilization of resources. This includes the forming of crowds, groups, and associations for the pursuit of collective goals. MPC effectively used this theory and people became their resource, giving them the weapon of instant response through the power mobilization.
• Circuit Riders: Mimicking the technique of early preachers who moved from state to state, today’s circuit riders can “cross-pollinate,” transmitting insights, tools, and tips as they travel throughout the sector. In addition, training materials and resources can be used at multiple sites thereby spreading out the cost of development. MPC used this technique to pick a state, send in a few paid trainers, then train unpaid locals to train others (unpaid) and ultimately cover every town in the selected state. They “ride the circuit” twice a year.
In 1998, Stephen D’Esposito (former Executive Director of Greenpeace) became Executive Director at MPC. In searching for history on D’Espostio, very little is available--specially considering that his Earthworks biography claims that he “was instrumental in building Greenpeace USA into one of the largest environmental groups in the U.S.” With that claim, one would think his name would pop up over and over in relationship to Greenpeace.
While citations are sparse, one especially interesting insight comes from McLuhan’s Children: The Greenpeace Message and the Media, a book that offers, “an inside look at Greenpeace's rise to global prominence through its savvy use of mass media imagery. From the flamboyant, guerilla-theatre approach to the emergence of environmentalism as a dominant international issue.” In McLuhan’s Children, author Stephen Dale states, “The infighting was so intense that the acting executive director of Greenpeace International, Steve D’Espositio issued an e-mail cryptically threatening to fire anyone who spoke to the media.”
Dale describes D’Esposito’s tenure this way: “In the 1990’s Greenpeace has been having a rough time it both internationally and in Canada, the land of its birth. Its public image has become increasingly tarnished by factional squabbles and generalized discontent. … The refrain heard time and time again was that Greenpeace had become mired in its own bureaucracy and had lost touch with the grassroots, that it had become a cumbersome, sluggish organization that decreased in effectiveness as it increased in size.”
About the same time, a 1995 New York Times article about Greenpeace says, “Greenpeace does not claim fairness. It usually tries to make companies look careless and greedy and chooses issues it can frame as a battle between good and evil.” And quotes D'Esposito, “an American who is executive director of Greenpeace International” as saying “The whole point is to confront; we try to get in the way. Confrontation is critical to get coverage in the press or to reach the public some other way.”
“We try to get in the way.” The motto of D’Esposito and the motto of Earthworks. And it’s you and your economic future they’re getting in the way of.
With these insights into D’Esposito’s background, it is easy to see that D’Esposito brought Greenpeace’s confrontational tactics with him and added them to the effective methods of WPC. Specifically D’Esposito experience included:
• Canvassing--regular door-to-door contacts
• Team Litigation--partnering with non-profit legal groups
• Corporate Campaigns--citizen war targeting one company.
In 2004, roughly 6 years after D’Esposito came to MPC, a grant from the Brainerd Foundation forced MPC to merge with OGAP and precipitated the name change to Earthworks. Paul Brainerd’s (Could brain-nerd really be the given name of a software tycoon?) foundation issued a challenge grant that politely, but firmly, brought about some changes--including using the highly successful anti-mining style campaign against oil and gas.
Earthworks President Stephen D’Esposito said, “The grant changed the way we look at the organization and opened up new possibilities for us.” Notice the buzzwords that alert you to the true intent of their tactics and motives: “new possibilities.” What really happened is that the foundation had redirected their exempt purpose. Now they had the money and the power that D’Esposito lacked in the squabbles and discontent of Greenpeace. Earthworks is now able to bring together activists, organizers, scientists, engineers, and community leaders to achieve their goal: “We try to get in the way.”
Like Greenpeace, Earthworks can’t claim fairness.
Like Greenpeace, Earthworks tries to make companies look careless and greedy.
Like Greenpeace, Earthworks chooses issues it can frame as a battle between good and evil.
“We try to get in the way.”
Earthworks gets in the way of America’s energy supply, and that gets in the way of a healthy economy and that gets in the way of national security.
Earthworks’ “work” with No Dirty Oil and Gas is to destroy the fossil fuel industry.
That’s not in America’s public interest
The NoDOG Prototype: No Dirty Gold
NoDOG is styled after a successful campaign launched by Earthworks called No Dirty Gold (NDG)—which has its own domain name (www.nodirtygold.org) that points to a separate section of Earthwork’s website (as does OGAP). The NDG Campaign literature says, “The No Dirty Gold campaign supports the rights of communities to determine their own future—not to have it decided for them by corporations.” The intent is clearly more about being anti-corporate than pro-environment.
As a result, Earthworks/NDG has launched a campaign which pushes jewelers to sign a pledge and encourages consumers to ask about the source of gold they might buy. An ad for this program says, “Leading jewelry retailers are now urging the gold mining industry to make real reforms that respect human rights and the environment. Ask your favorite jeweler what they’re doing to support responsible gold mining. If they haven’t added their name to the growing list of leading retailers, you can take your business elsewhere. Because when it comes to your gold jewelry, you want nothing but the beauty to shine through.”
It all sounds so wonderful, but the truth behind it is ruined economies, whole communities left jobless, and poverty spread everywhere they go. The No Dirty Gold program doesn’t promote “clean mining,” it only works to stop every gold mining project in the world. Earthworks’ No Dirty Gold project has left a trail of human wretchedness in its path around the world. Read these heartrending articles by noted author Paul Driessen, whose Eco-Imperialism: Green Power Black Death condemns industry-killers like Earthworks.
When you read the No Dirty Gold website, again, you’ll find buzzwords. Watch for phrases like “human rights” and “responsible gold mining.” That’s just a mask. In Earthworks’ view, there is no such thing as “responsible mining.” All of their “recommendations” would impose fatal expenses on mining. Companies that honestly tried to comply would soon find themselves bankrupt and out of business. But it doesn’t even get that far—they just try to shut the operation down.
The NoDOG memo outlines a campaign that is very similar to Earthwork’s successful NDG program—including pressure from consumers to force energy producers into signing a fatal “agreement.” Earthworks is taking its anti-mining success (When you read that 32 jewelry retailers—and only one mining company—support the “golden rules” and press releases and label those retailers who have not signed on as “laggards”) and applying it to oil and gas.
Think about it. Anytime a resource becomes scarcer, the price goes up. For the jewelers who “signed-on,” they are almost creating a monopoly, manipulating the market, and pushing the price of gold up—therefore increasing their profit. (Perhaps these 32 jewelers should be boycotted for price inflation.) Larger mining companies would also benefit, but the independents will get squeezed out of the market. The individual desiring to purchase a cost-effective wedding ring will also be hurt. Translating this to oil and gas, the bigger companies will survive, but the little guys and the consumers will be the ones punished.
Earthworks describes itself as “a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting communities and the environment from the destructive impacts of mineral development, in the U.S. and worldwide. Earthworks stands for clean water, healthy communities and corporate accountability.” Does that sound like what they are doing?
What do they really do? “We try to get in the way.”
That’s all they do.
Get in the way.
Earthwork's Officers, Directors, Trustees, and Key Employees:
(Fiscal Year Ending December 31, 2006)
Stephen D’Espoisito, President and CEO, Salary: $118,827
Kimberlee Dinn, Director of Operations & Development, Salary: $66,000
Payal Sampat, International Campaign Director, Salary: $58,535
Gwen Lachelt, OGAP Program Director, Salary: 53,000
Dr. Karin P. Sheldon, Chairman
Glenn Miller, Ph.D., Vice-Chairman
Sharon K. Benjamin, Ph. D., Secretary/Treasurer
Kerry K. Anderson, Board Member
Chris Wood, Board Member
Jay Halfon, Esq., Board Member
Bill McNeill, D.D.S., Board Member
Michael E. Conroy, Ph. D., Board Member
Gloria Flora, Board Member
Wilma Subra, Board Member
Earthworks is funded by these wealthy foundations:
Alki Fund of the Tides Foundation
Ballantine Family Fund
Boreal Songbird Initiative
Brainerd Foundation
Bullitt Foundation
Coalition for the Valle Vidal
Colymbus Foundation
Ecotrust
Educational Foundation of America
Fanwood Foundation/West
Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation
Maki Foundation
McCune Charitable Foundation
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
MSST Foundation
New-Land Foundation
Norman Foundation
Norcross Wildlife Foundation
Liz Claiborne-Art Ortenberg Foundation
Overbrook Foundation
Patagonia, Inc.
Rocky Mountain Energy Campaign
Scherman Foundation
Sustainable Markets Foundation
True North Foundation
Turner Foundation
Underdog Fund of the Tides Foundation
The Unitarian Universalist Veatch
Program at Shelter Rock
Wianko Family Fund
Wilburforce Foundation
Winky Foundation
Westport Fund
White Cedar Fund of the Tides Foundation
Wolfenson Family Foundation
Working Assets Foundation
Wyss Foundation
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