"A financial analysis reveals that Communist China lurks behind the dark money trail enabling environmental activists to curtail oil and gas production throughout Louisiana.

The Energy Foundation China (EFC), a U.S.-registered nonprofit with primary operations in Beijing, heads up one of the major conduits for this progressive lawfare effort. EFC has teamed up with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a New York City-based nonprofit serving as one of the primary litigators. In an interview, Melissa Landry, director of the Pelican Center for Energy at the Pelican Institute for Public Policy in New Orleans, described how China, the EDF, and other key influencers from inside and outside the U.S. have zeroed in on her state.

"The Energy Foundation China is led by individuals with prior roles in China's state policy climate apparatus and operates within China's broader policy ecosystem," Landry said. "It has received tens of millions of dollars from foreign foundations and distributes funding to organizations working to influence U.S. energy and climate policy."

The EFC was previously an affiliate of the Energy Foundation, a San Francisco based left-of-center grant making institution. In 2019, the two entities separated into independent nonprofits. Although EFC technically maintains a presence in San Francisco, most of its operations appear concentrated in Beijing. That's one reason why the group has come under congressional scrutiny. In June 2025, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Federal Courts, Oversight, Agency Action, and Federal Rights, held a hearing titled "Enter the Dragon — China and the Left's Lawfare Against American Energy Dominance." The hearing focused attention on the EFC and the U.S.-based green groups it finances. In addition to the EFC, these include the Natural Resources Defense Council in New York, The Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado, The World Resources Institute in Washington D.C., and others.
Foreign and Domestic Lawfare Against American Energy

Regarding Louisiana, Landry sees the EDF, and by extension China, leading the charge with abusive litigation practices deliberately designed to hamstring American energy companies. Public filings show that between 2016 and 2023 EDF received grants totaling more than $2.7 million from the Energy Foundation China and the U.S. Energy Foundation.

But China is not going it alone overseas.

Grant data shows the Children's Investment Fund Foundation in the United Kingdom and the Oak Foundation in Switzerland have provided the EDF with almost $20 million. Here in the U.S., the EDF also receives funding from some of the most potent institutional philanthropies in the U.S. environmental advocacy ecosystem. These U.S.-based outfits include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Moore Foundation, and the Packard Foundation.

"These funding streams support a coordinated national strategy that combines research, litigation, and regulatory advocacy, and this strategy is increasingly visible in Louisiana," Landry said. "EDF has backed aggressive lawsuits targeting oil and gas production and has intervened in litigation challenging federal environmental rules, including the state's challenge to EPA toxic air standards."

Landry is particularly concerned with an amicus brief EDF filed supporting the federal government in Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish, a case she says has "far-reaching implications for coastal litigation and energy liability." "

https://restoration-news.com/analysis-china-backed-litigators-crippling-louisiana-energy

Those nice Chinese, operating to secure peaceful transition of energy, overseas only. ::)

Louisiana’s energy sector, particularly fossil fuel and petrochemical operations, causes severe environmental and public health damage concentrated in Cancer Alley, an 85-mile stretch along the Mississippi River between New Orleans and Baton Rouge.  This region hosts approximately 200 fossil fuel and petrochemical plants, the largest concentration in the Western Hemisphere, which have released millions of pounds of toxic chemicals, including benzene and toluene, into the air, water, and land.

Residents in this area face elevated rates of cancer, respiratory ailments, and reproductive harms, with some communities experiencing cancer risk from industrial air pollution more than seven times the national average.  These health impacts are disproportionately borne by Black and low-income residents, who also suffer from higher rates of low-birth-weight and preterm births linked to the pollution.

Recent developments highlight ongoing legal and environmental conflicts:

Legal Shifts: In April 2026, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that energy companies can move coastal erosion lawsuits from state to federal court, a significant victory for firms like Chevron and Exxon Mobil facing multi-billion dollar claims for historical environmental damage.
New Projects: Large-scale Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) projects, such as the Woodside Energy terminal in Calcasieu Parish, are projected to generate massive greenhouse gas emissions, potentially exceeding those of existing refineries and exacerbating climate threats like hurricanes and sea-level rise.
Industry Response: Energy companies have reported refusing to invest in Louisiana until the legal landscape stabilises, citing uncertainty from legacy environmental lawsuits and new regulatory pressures.

And why should China be involved at all? ::)



Quote:

These health impacts are disproportionately borne by Black and low-income residents, who also suffer from higher rates of low-birth-weight and preterm births linked to the pollution.

If it is a Louisiana wide problem why would that be?

BTW - I ooked at the EPA study - Models all the way down. One thing i did notice was Carbontetrachlorode exposure. I was regularly exposed to carbontet when in the Army, it was used for washing down grease on teleprinter parts. No cancer.