“We’re witnessing right now a systematic campaign against American energy. There is a coordinated assault by the radical left backed and paid for by the Chinese Communist Party.”
That was the warning from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, during a recent hearing of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action and Federal Rights.
The session, titled “Enter the Dragon: China and the Left’s Lawfare Against American Energy Dominance,” focused on what Cruz described as a three-pronged effort by the CCP to weaken U.S. energy production.
Cruz accused the CCP of teaming up with billionaires and environmental groups on legal challenges to energy-friendly regulations. The second prong, he said, involved lawyers who sue to prevent energy infrastructure such as the canceled Keystone XL pipeline. The third involves what Cruz called the indoctrination of federal judges, some of whom attend trainings hosted by progressive nonprofits and later issue rulings favorable to what he termed “the climate lawfare machine.”
Describing it as a “death by a thousand cuts” scenario, Cruz said the CCP uses Energy Foundation China (EF China) as the primary vehicle for the alliance.
The Beijing-based foundation describes itself as a grantmaking group focused on research and capacity building related to climate change and China. Its website features lofty promises of decarbonization in China, low-carbon economic growth, and clean power to limit global warming.
Critics claim EF China is encouraging a shift away from U.S. energy production toward dependence on Chinese-made solar panels, rare earth minerals and battery technology. Run by Ji Zhao, a key member of China’s negotiating team in the Paris Agreement, EF China has ties to multiple U.S.-based nonprofits, including the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation, ClimateWorks Foundation and Hewlett Foundation.
And Influence Watch reports that EF China began as “an affiliate of the Energy Foundation, a left-of-center grantmaking organization which promotes environmentalist energy sources and left-of-center environmental policies that operates in China under the oversight of the Chinese Communist Party.” It has since separated from the U.S.-based Energy Foundation. Still, Influence Watch adds, “EFC’s Beijing office is registered with the city’s Municipal Public Security Bureau, the department responsible for ‘political stability’ and ‘social order.’
These ties have raised concerns among watchdogs about cooperation between environmentalists and the CCP. In 2023, several American nonprofits participated in “China Week,” hosted in China by EF China.
“Whatever their intentions, radical climate activists advocate policy after policy that objectively strengthens China and weakens America,” testified Capital Research Center president Scott Walter, whose nonprofit researches political and philanthropic influence.
EF China is also behind the lawfare being waged against energy producers by cities and states nationwide, according to Walter.
Political officials in blue jurisdictions are suing global fuel companies, claiming violations of local laws such as nuisance ordinances or laws against misleading marketing. The goal is a massive payoff, similar to the landmark settlement with Big Tobacco in the 1990s, which forced the industry to pay billions to government entities.
However, the lawsuits haven’t gone the way many environmentalists and Democrats hoped, even in states with liberal judges. Cases have been dismissed in California, Delaware, Maryland, New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
“None of these lawsuits have been upheld on the merits by a federal appellate court or a state appellate court,” testified Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who has led several state-level legal challenges to progressive climate mandates.
Cruz compared the Big Oil lawsuits to those filed by environmental organizations and Democratic-led states against energy reform. Green groups such as the Natural Resources Defense Council boast about legal challenges targeting the Keystone XL pipeline and oil and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean.
Cruz warned that the lawsuits threaten U.S. energy independence by forcing the country to break up its energy supply chains rather than strengthening them. He blamed progressives for undermining domestic capability while China positions itself for energy dominance.
“If this were really about reducing emissions, wouldn’t we expect Energy Foundation China to give a damn about the worst polluter on the face of the planet, that being communist China?” he asked.
