Big Environment is a Special Interest? Who Knew?

Ratings firm Charity Navigator lists 225 organizations dedicated to environmental causes, of which 77 have revenues of more than $3.5 million per year. While the list includes smaller organizations like the American Chestnut Foundation which spent some $2 million last year to preserve the evidently threatened American Chestnut tree (who knew?), it also includes behemoths like the Environmental Defense Fund, which raised nearly $55 million in 2010, the Rainforest Alliance that took in $34 million, the Natural Resources Defense Council, which racked up more than $95 million in its last fiscal year and The Sierra Club Foundation which took in over $40 million. (This does not include the Sierra Club’s 501c(4) outfit).  Charity Navigator does not attempt to list or rate organizations that take in less than $1,000,000 per year, so your local group working to preserve open spaces or to clean up ponds – of which there are thousands in the U.S. – would not be included. 

There are also scores of lobbying firms that raise money for environmental causes. Registered lobbyists for green organizations shelled out more than $21 million in 2010.   In the 2008 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets, environmental groups gave $4.5 million to federal candidates and party committees, nearly all of which went to Democrats. They note the interest group’s clout is likely understated since the Sierra Club, the biggest spender, has veered towards financing “issue ads” rather than making political contributions.

Entire article here.

This is not shocking to anyone paying attention. At least some sanity pertaining to light bulbs may have crept into the District of Columbia. The banning of incandescent light bulbs has been postponed.