Are Russians funding anti-oil environmental NGOs? U.S. lawmakers want to know
WASHINGTON — American lawmakers are probing whether Russian oil money is funding anti-oil protest movements in North America, including environmental groups that have fought pipeline projects for Canada’s oilsands.
A U.S. House of Representatives committee already probing the question sent letters last week to online giants Facebook, Twitter, and Google, asking for data for any Russian purchases of anti-oil and anti-fracking ads.
This comes after the same committee requested a deeper investigation by the U.S. Treasury Department about donations from an alleged Russian-linked offshore entity, which provided tens of millions to a set of donors, which later funded smaller environmental groups.
”Russia’s meddling in the U.S. energy market is well documented in the public domain,” said the letters sent Tuesday to the social-media companies by Lamar Smith, Republican chairman of the U.S. House committee on science, space and technology.