Ken Braun’s testimony to the House Natural Resources Committee, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations
Rep. Paul Gosar, Chair
Hearing on “The Profit Engine Driving Environmental Nonprofits”
May 20, 2026
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Thank you Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. CRC is the “follow the money” nonprofit. Today’s subject is right in our area of operations.
Some of the nonprofits I’m about to discuss have an honorable history of preserving the features and creatures Americans love. Examples include creation of the planet’s greatest national parks and rescuing the bald eagle from extinction. We need that conservation movement back.
In 1966 the board of the Sierra Club voted 9-1 to support construction of California’s Diablo Canyon nuclear power station. [1]
This was a no brainer. Nuclear power provides an unrivaled combination of energy safety, reliability, and abundance. It produces no greenhouse gas emissions and it’s easy on the Earth in other ways. The Department of Energy reports that a “typical” nuclear reactor needs a just a bit more than one square mile to operate, while getting the same energy from wind fills up 360 square miles of what we should call “the environment.” [2]
But now the Sierra Club is “unequivocally opposed” to nuclear and falsely claims it is “uniquely dangerous.” They are joined by hundreds of American NGOs with a known history of opposing the continued use of nuclear power, oil, natural gas and coal—88 percent of our energy consumption. In place of this, most if not all of them support unreliable, weather dependent, landscape-clogging wind turbines and solar panels. [3] [4]
This anti-energy movement collectively rakes in an average of $9.3 million per day. [5]
Most of that anti-energy loot comes from deluded philanthropists or the bureaucrats spending the fortunes they left behind. But not all. In their most recent publicly available annual IRS filings, the Environmental Defense Fund, the World Resources Institute, GRID Alternatives, and the Rocky Mountain Institute reported receiving a combined total of $31.7 million in government grants.[6]
Maybe the avowed enemies of American energy should not receive any help from the taxpayers. If those grants aim to answer legitimate public needs, then send the money to more honorable conservationists.
Then there are legal reimbursements, whether from government or other litigants. Last year this committee looked into potential abuses of the Equal Access to Justice Act. This one is trickier, because we need to protect the work of firms that represent plaintiffs who cannot afford representation, particularly those up against the limitless resources of the federal government. [7]
The Pacific Legal Foundation and the Institute for Justice are public-interest property-rights litigators that represent homeowners and landowners in cases involving alleged government overreach. Over the most recent five years covered by available IRS filings, Pacific Legal reported $2.7 million in litigation cost recoveries, equal to 1.7 percent of their total revenue. Over those five years IJ reported $7.2 million in legal cost recoveries, or 3.3 percent of total revenue.[8]
Compare this to some of the anti-energy litigants.
Roughly comparable in total budget to IJ and PLF, the Center for Biological Diversity hit $23.4 million in legal recoveries over those five years, averaging 13.6 percent of their total annual revenue. A smaller NGO, Advocates for the West, reported a whopping 40.5 percent of average annual funding coming from their ostensibly free “legal representation and advice.” [9]
This does not prove anyone is shopping for cases that can get them paid. But these are public interest firms. Perhaps the public deserves some additional transparency about these settlement details.
Back in 1966, when the Sierra Club was still a pro-energy nonprofit, philosopher Eric Hoffer wrote, “Every great cause begins as a movement, becomes a business, and eventually degenerates into a racket.”
Have the climate NGOs already become businesses that profit from opposing the energy that has built and will continue to fuel American prosperity?
A rich nation buys anything it desires. A poor nation accepts scraps. Energy abundance is the difference. We will lose eagles, national parks, and much else if we allow the anti-energy NGOs to become a racket. Government needs to do its part to stop encouraging them. We need those old pro-energy conservatists to return.
Thank you again for the invitation.
[1] Schrepfer, Susan R. “Diablo Canyon and the Transformation of the Sierra Club, 1965-1985.” California History. Summer 1992, Volume LXXI, No. 2. Reposted at FoundSF: The San Francisco Digital History Archive. https://www.foundsf.org/Diablo_Canyon_and_the_Transformation_of_the_Sierra_Club,_1965-1985
[2] “3 Reasons Why Nuclear is Clean and Sustainable.” Office of Nuclear Energy | US Department of Energy. March 21, 2021. https://www.energy.gov/ne/articles/3-reasons-why-nuclear-clean-and-sustainable
[3] “Energy Mix | Energy consumption by source.” Our World in Data. https://ourworldindata.org/energy-mix
[4] “Nuclear Free Future.” Sierra Club. Accessed May 12, 2026. https://www.sierraclub.org/nuclear-free
[5] Braun, Ken. “Anti-nuclear advocates raking in $9.3 million per day.” Capital Research Center. January 8, 2026. https://capitalresearch.org/article/anti-nuclear-advocates-raking-in-9-3-million-per-day/
[6] Grid Alternatives. EIN: 26-0043353. 2024 IRS Form 990. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/260043353/202523019349302702/full
Environmental Defense Fund Incorporated. EIN: 11-6107128. 2023 IRS Form 990. (Covers the year through Sept 2024). https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/116107128/202531909349301613/full
Rocky Mountain Institute. EIN: 74-2244146. 2023 IRS Form 990. (Covers the year through June 2024). https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/742244146/202501349349310640/full
World Resources Institute. EIN: 52-1257057. 2023 IRS Form 990. (Covers the year through Sept 2024). https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/521257057/202512279349302131/full
[7] “Investigating the Abuse of the Equal Access to Justice Act by Environmental NGOs.” (Press release). U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Natural Resources, Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. December 10, 2025. https://naturalresources.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=418503
[8] Pacific Legal Foundation. EIN: 94-2197343. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/942197343
Institute for Justice. EIN: 52-1744337. ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/521744337
[9] Center For Biological Diversity Inc. EIN: 27-3943866. Propublica Nonprofit Explorer. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/273943866
Advocates For The West Inc. EIN: 06-1654062. Propublica Nonprofit Explorer. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/61654062
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