A supposed grassroots social media movement opposing a major oil drilling project in Alaska is largely spearheaded and funded by an environmental group funded by a left-wing billionaire.
In recent weeks, the hashtag #StopWillow has gone viral on social media platforms, including TikTok and Twitter, with users urging President Joe Biden and the Department of the Interior to stop the Willow Project, an oil drilling proposal in northern Alaska whose developer, ConocoPhillips is estimated to produce up to 180,000 barrels of oil per day and create thousands of jobs.
The viral trend, which has garnered at least 650 million views across various platforms, appears to have originated with the group Stop Willow, which is boosting the hashtag on its website and providing advocates with information and resources about the Willow project. Stop Willow’s information – such as the claim that the project would “add more than 280 million tons of climate pollution to the atmosphere” – is frequently quoted in social media posts.
“Willow would emit more climate pollution annually than more than 99.7% of all single point sources in the country,” the group states on its website. “Willow is a climate catastrophe we just can’t afford.”
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Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland is photographed next to President Biden at the White House in October 2021. Haaland is expected to make a decision, either partially approving the Willow project or rejecting it altogether. (AP Photo / Susan Walsh)
In an example of the group’s influence, Earthjustice, a climate-focused law firm that has spearheaded lawsuits to block the Willow project, published a video Thursday with a link to Stop Willow’s website and called on Biden to “no to say to Willow”.
The Biden administration is expected to decide the fate of the controversial project in the coming days.
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However, Stop Willow is not an independent organization, but a project of the Colorado-based Conservation Lands Foundation (CLF). The CLF, which aims to preserve American lands through “community-based” advocacy, regularly receives millions of dollars in contributions from donors whose identities are unknown.
In 2021 alone, the CLF received $7.5 million in contributions and spent $4.6 million on grants and salaries, leaving approximately $3 million for other expenses and internal initiatives, according to the organization’s most recent tax filing, reviewed by Fox News Digital.
Climate activists hold a demonstration on November 17 in Washington, D.C. to urge President Biden to reject the Willow project at the Interior Department headquarters (Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Sunrise AU)
While the donors are largely hidden from public view, Hansjorg Wyss, a Swiss billionaire who has injected hundreds of millions of dollars into liberal organizations and charities over the past decade, was one of the group’s founders. Between 2011 and 2015, Wyss’ personal philanthropic venture – the Wyss Foundation – contributed more than $6 million to the CLF. Wyss also previously served as the chairman and director of the CLF.
CLF has also received funding from dark money groups such as New Venture Fund, the Litterman Family Foundation and the Hewlett Foundation which, like the Wyss Foundation, primarily support liberal causes, additional tax filings showed.
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In addition, Stop Willow’s website includes a link that allows users to “take action against #StopWillow”. The link points to the website of a group called Protect The Arctic, which appears to have no tax returns, no member organizations listed, and no names of its leaders.
Protect the Arctic provides activists with resources, information and a media toolkit to help drive opposition to the Willow Project on social media. The group also created a template for letters that activists can easily fill out and send to the White House informing the federal government of their opposition, and a script that activists can read when they leave a voicemail for the federal government’s switchboard. White House.
Oil pipelines stretch across the landscape outside Nuiqsut, Alaska, where ConocoPhillips operates. (Bonnie Jo Mount/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
“SHARE the #StopWillow campaign on your social media channels,” the website reads. “Find our #StopWillow Toolkit of conversation topics, facts, and a library of photos and videos HERE. Or copy the sample message below and click the images to save.”
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The group then adds a sample social media post for users to copy, which reads, “President Biden is just one step away from approving a massive oil and gas project in #AmericasArctic. Go to ProtectTheArctic.org/stop-willow to quickly submit your comment to the White House, Biden asks for #StopWillow.”
The Daily Caller News Foundation first reported links between CLF, Stop Willow and Protect the Arctic.
Meanwhile, the Willow Project has received support from the entire bipartisan Alaska delegation – Republican Senators Dan Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski and Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola – Alaska Legislature and Governor Mike Dunleavy, Alaska Native communities, labor unions, leaders of the North Slope Borough and the Alaska Federation of Natives.
Proponents have argued that it would bolster energy security in the state and across the country, generate billions of dollars in economic output, and have a minimal environmental footprint compared to alternatives imported from abroad.
Senator Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said that if the Biden administration rejects the Willow project, its claims of racial equality are “frankly bulls—” given the native support for the project. (Al Drago-Pool/Getty Images)
ConocoPhillips said last month that the 30-year project — which was originally approved under the Trump administration before a federal judge ordered the government to conduct a more rigorous environmental review — would “benefit local communities and improve U.S. energy security.”
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“Almost all Alaskans, especially the Native people, are united in this project and how much it means to our country,” Sullivan told Fox News Digital in an interview last week. “If they go with Greenpeace and the Center for Biological Diversity and lower 48 radicals and say to the indigenous people of my state, ‘Sorry, we’re going to listen to lower 48 radicals, not you,’ all their talk about racial justice and racial equality is, frankly, bulls—.”
“These environmental groups are not doing anything based on science,” he added. “The vast majority of their petition fundraising is how to raise more money for poor grandmothers in Connecticut. It’s embarrassing.”
The CLF did not respond to a request for comment.
Thomas Catenacci is a political writer for Fox News Digital.