A nonprofit fossil fuel advocacy group with ties to President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has been targeting environmental organizations, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Democratic governors, including New Mexico’s Michelle Lujan Grisham, with criticism of energy policies it calls “radical” and “disastrous.”
In July, Power the Future attacked Lujan Grisham for participating in a “clean energy conversation” hosted by the Biden campaign.
Larry Behrens, the group’s Western states director, also has published opinion pieces in The New Mexican and other media outlets criticizing the Energy Transition Act, legislation Lujan Grisham signed into law in 2019 to create a timeline for shifting the state to renewable energy.
Behrens, who worked as a communications staffer for former Republican Gov. Susana Martinez, has portrayed Lujan Grisham’s administration as left wing and intent on destroying good-paying jobs in New Mexico’s oil, gas and coal industries.
Behrens declined a request for an interview on his work but defended it in an email.
“I work hard to research issues that are important in the energy conversation both nationally and here in New Mexico,” he said.
Power the Future, classified as a 501(c)(4) “social welfare organization” with the IRS, has been conducting opposition research as well as using blog posts, print media, appearances on Fox News and digital advertising to praise Trump’s energy policies and slam what it calls “the eco-left” narrative and Biden’s energy policies.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Power the Future has spent $157,776 on Facebook ads since it formed in late 2017. In recent months, the group has largely focused on print and TV news organizations and opposition research.
Because of its IRS status, it does not have to disclose its donors — raising concerns among so-called good government groups that advocate for transparency in politics.
Executive Director Daniel Turner declined to say who is funding Power the Future and denied any illegal coordination with the Trump campaign, despite some loose connections.
The group’s mission nationally, in New Mexico and in six other states where it has a presence “is to inform on issues,” Turner said.
“We feel very passionately about the energy space, and we are extremely blunt in our messaging,” Turner said. “I started it for that reason, because sometimes messaging needs to be very clear and precise. … We want to advocate for our issues very, very clearly.”
An IRS form for Power the Future lists Bradley Crate, Trump’s campaign treasurer, as one of the group’s board members. And the firm that prepared the group’s IRS 990 form — Austin-based Atchley & Associates — also filed the tax forms for Trump’s nonprofit Presidential Inaugural Committee.
Source: Santa Fe New Mexican
