Secret Agreement in the Works Between ENGOs and Tar Sands Industry

dru — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 09:16:31 +0000

Will environmentalists continue to allow foundation funding to dictate to the movement?

A slew of recent articles have pointed to the likelihood that some foundation-funded environmental groups and the tar sands extraction industry are getting ready to make peace and sign a deal.

Foundation funding of environmental groups leads to diminished transparency, accountability: New report

dru — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 16:31:16 +0000

Offsetting Resistance: The effects of foundation funding from the Great Bear Rainforest to the Athabasca River

-- For immediate release --

-> Download the report at http://www.offsettingresistance.ca

A movement is building to shut down the tar sands, one of the most
destructive projects in human history. Decisions are being made about
the strategies that will be used and the goals that will be pursued.

But as the number of people opposing the tar sands grows larger, the
number of people making the crucial decisions is getting smaller --
and closer to the oil and gas industry.

A small, secretive group of insiders has been collaborating with large
American foundations and industry to concentrate decision-making power
concerning anti-tar sands campaigns. Headed by Michael Marx, one of
the architects of the Great Bear Rainforest deal in northwestern
British Columbia, these groups have a track record and a documented
trail of funding relationships that steer them--whether they intend to
or not--into closed-door, backroom deals with industry and government.

The lack of transparency, the absence of any democratic structures,
the questionable sources of funding, and the track record of these
corporate and foundation-funded Environmental NGOs are the subjects of
a new report by Macdonald Stainsby and Dru Oja Jay. Offsetting
Resistance: The effects of foundation funding from the Great Bear
Rainforest to the Athabasca River examines the role of ForestEthics
and other Environmental NGOs in the Great Bear Rainforest deal and in
the Northwest Territories Protected Areas Strategy. From there, it
reveals the hidden structures behind the emerging "North American Tar
Sands Coalition," which seeks to keeps its decision-making body
"invisible to the outside," while funnelling millions of dollars to