The Environmentalist movement is as well-funded and organized as it is misguided. From pink-haired protesters to paid-for politicians, their war on oil and capitalism has been raging for years. The more they play, the more you pay.
The war on oil has been largely fought on three fronts, and each has cost consumers and taxpayers money.
The protest movement is the cannon fodder. They march, scream, and vandalize. Environmentalism is their religion; they are true zealots.
They’re not the smartest lot. They color their hair with petroleum-based dyes, film their actions with petroleum-based phone, and even stick themselves to walls with petroleum-based glues. They may be idiots, but to environmentalists, they are useful idiots.
#London: This morning, environmentalist protesters hurled a red liquid all over a Van Gogh masterpiece (“Sunflowers”) at the National Gallery and glued themselves to the wall. The frame was damaged but the painting was protected by glass. pic.twitter.com/w5TeQFeda7
— Andy Ngo (@MrAndyNgo) October 14, 2022
From increased insurance premiums to the rare cost of incarceration, morons like these, who operate across the globe, do come at a cost to consumers and taxpayers, but their true value is diversionary. They make headlines and catch public attention while the true war is waged in the shadows.
The true threat to the oil industry comes from an organized two-pronged approach: regulation and litigation. Each costs consumers millions. PACS and non-profit groups fund the election of politicians who are friendly to the cause. When in power, those politicians create laws and regulations intended to cripple the oil and other energy sector industries, like coal. These regulations lead to increased costs to consumers. Even at a local level, when the city of Berkley banned gas appliances in 2019, it created an immediate price increase for their electric counterparts. The city’s ban was eventually overturned in court, but it provides a perfect example of an irresponsible government regulation’s impact on consumers.
They use tax dollars to subsidize ‘Clean Energy’ (Like the EV debacle in the auto industry) and provide grants to some of the same non-profits that helped elect them. The cycle repeats itself every election. Everyone gets a piece of that pie, except the taxpayers whose money is used to bake it.
Who can forget the ‘Throwing gold bars off the Titanic’ kid from the Biden EPA, who said they were trying to get billions out the door before Trump took office and ended the spending?
🚨🚨🚨Huge news! Our awesome team @EPA just located BILLIONS of dollars worth of “gold bars” that the Biden Admin threw “off the titanic”.
Big update coming tomorrow…pic.twitter.com/md5qWEgUgV
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) February 11, 2025
Those ‘Gold Bars’ were paid for with American tax dollars. We’re sure Stacey Abrams was grateful for your contribution. At least until Lee Zeldin became the EPA Chief.
I have ZERO tolerance for ANY waste and abuse of YOUR hard earned tax dollars! The Biden Admin tossed “gold bars off the Titanic”. We found $20 BILLION worth of these gold bars. Now, this treasure MUST be returned and those responsible MUST be held accountable! pic.twitter.com/VkT67YAqke
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) February 21, 2025
Then comes the lawfare. Environmental law firms, funded by environmental non-profits, force the oil industry to perpetually defend itself against an onslaught of lawsuits filed against it. Lawsuits that are based on the laws and regulations created by the politicians who are funded by the same non-profits.
The cost to consumers from the environmental movement’s lawfare game is twofold. The untold millions spent fighting lawsuits, no matter how frivolous, increase the industry’s overhead costs and make petroleum-based products more expensive. Cars, computers, and even the homes we live in cost a little bit more. Then there’s gasoline. Endless lawsuits increase prices at the pump, which consumers pay directly, but also increase prices for the shipping industry, which consumers pay for again at the cash register. The lawyers and their enviro-benefactors get richer while the rest of us get fleeced.
One such law firm is Sher Edling. Created in 2016 and funded by deep-pocketed environmentalist non-profits, the firm solely exists to file suit against the oil industry. They currently represent nine state AGs in suits against Big Oil.
The firm is an attractive partner to the AGs, who incur no up-front costs from Sher edling. Money received from organizations like The Tides Foundation, The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund allows the firm to operate like an ambulance-chasing personal injury firm. A ‘No fee unless we win your case’ deal gives the statist AGs a low risk with the potential for a huge payout. Even if that huge payout could negatively affect their constituents. Pain endured by the people is of no consequence in the world of environmental fleecing.
The enviro-grift is a two-way street, and the landscape has gotten harder since Trump took office. Lee Seldin has been working to roll back the EPA’s regulatory stranglehold, making Sher Edling’s work much more difficult. Which may explain the law firm’s modest donation to help keep those state AGs in office.
At least 9 Dem state attorney general are using taxpayer dollars to have a specific activist law firm sue and harm energy companies, then that same law firm is turning around and donating money to get those AGs re-elected.
Quite the partnership. pic.twitter.com/rvKcpkGzUu
— AG (@AGHamilton29) August 8, 2025
The dollar figures aren’t as high, but the AGs hiring a law firm that donates money to re-elect those same AGs so that they can continue a lawfare campaign against the oil industry has a familiar stench to it.
I feel like this happens a lot, really. Like another USAID but even worse.
— EnthusiasticallyBored (@Verbish75) August 8, 2025
It all does seem similar to USAID. PACS and non-profits that move money to politicians, and in this case, a law firm, which then sends money back to the politicians. It may not even matter to them if they win any of these cases (not that they’d turn down the cash) as long as the money keeps flowing.
This law firm was basically created for this very purpose. https://t.co/6gDgK6XsFu pic.twitter.com/Fd1RBzR45I
— AG (@AGHamilton29) August 8, 2025
Sorry, but that’s not even news in blue states. I could find you 15 examples of this in WA (and probably have in my posts). It’s part of their model.
— Steve Gordon (@stevemgordon67) August 8, 2025
It’s not new at all. Sher Edling has been operating in this fashion since 2016. They may be the latest, but they weren’t the first.
Circular laundering of money and influence are the hallmarks of our modern political system. As we’ve seen with the USAID closure, if you turn off the money spigot, whole sections of the house of cards quickly collapse.
— Senator Tim Whatley (no anti-dentites, please) (@senator_tim) August 8, 2025
For libs, fighting fascism means Democrat attorneys general hiring the left wing dark money soaked law firm Sher Edling to wage climate lawfare
All while Sher Edling donates money to the Democratic Attorneys General Association https://t.co/myTrwIkZXw
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) August 8, 2025
They lost an ally when Trump was elected, so keeping the cash cow AGs in office has become a priority.
If the lawsuits end, so does the need for Sher Edling to exist.
Sher Edling is getting absolutely dog walked in those lawsuits lmaooo
— TomCottonStan69 (@MikeJon28) August 8, 2025
Zeldin needs to continue to deregulate and claw back the ‘Biden Bucks’ that helped fund the frivolous lawfare. If he can take away their money, he could cripple their grift.
The Trump EPA is proposing the largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States, by repealing the 2009 Obama EPA Endangerment Finding, all the GHG regulations on vehicles that followed, and the much despised start/stop feature.
In doing so, we will follow Supreme… pic.twitter.com/3mBgfGA4qA
— Lee Zeldin (@epaleezeldin) July 29, 2025
The rest of the post:
In doing so, we will follow Supreme Court precedent set in cases like Loper Bright, West Virginia, and Michigan, we will claim no statutory authority beyond the plain language of the law, and we will heed the calls of Americans demanding relief from extreme economic pain.
The largest deregulatory action in the history of the United States is a good start, but more will need to be done to defeat the statist environmentalists’ war on oil. The envro-zealots won’t go without a fight. It’s not that they even care that much about the environment; they’ve built a billion-dollar industry that they don’t want to give up.
Until they’re defeated, they will continue to play, and the rest of us will continue to pay.