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Los republicanos piden a Yellen que investigue si el dinero ruso financió a grupos ecologistas de EEUU
Por Marisa Schultz
Publicado el 12 de marzo de 2022
EXCLUSIVA: El jefe del Comité de Estudios Republicanos (RSC) ha pedido a la secretaria del Tesoro, Janet Yellen, que inicie una investigación sobre si Rusia financió en secreto a grupos ecologistas estadounidenses que abogan contra la producción nacional de petróleo y gas.
El representante Jim Banks, republicano de la India, dirigió el viernes una carta a Yellen en la que cita un informe del Washington Free Beacon de 2015 que sugería que la Sea Change Foundation, California, podría ser un conducto de los intereses petroleros rusos para canalizar dinero a grupos como la Liga de Votantes por la Conservación (LCV), el Consejo para la Defensa de los Recursos Naturales (NRDC), el Sierra Club y el Centro para el Progreso Americano.
Rep. Jim Banks, R-Ind., is chair of the Republican Study Committee.
"Russia spent millions promoting anti-energy policies and politicians in the U.S.," Banks said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Now, thanks to Biden’s war on domestic energy, U.S. oil production has dropped 10%, pushing up prices and enriching and emboldening Putin before he invaded Ukraine."
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Banks continued: "Unlike the Russia hoax, Putin’s malign influence on our energy sector is real and deserves further investigation."
The Treasury Department did not immediately reply to email requests for comment on whether it would investigate.
La carta de Banks coincide con un esfuerzo similar de los republicanos del Comité de Energía y Comercio de la Cámara de Representantes, que están pidiendo a ciertos grupos ecologistas que revelen sus vínculos con una organización no gubernamental que, según el comité, es supuestamente utilizada por ruso Presidente ruso Vladimir Putin para influir en la energía estadounidense energía estadounidense.
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Tres grupos ecologistas -la Liga de Votantes por la Conservación (LCV), el Consejo para la Defensa de los Recursos Naturales (NRDC) y el Sierra Club- supuestamente tienen vínculos con el San Francisco-con sede en San Francisco, llamada Sea Change Foundation, según los republicanos de la comisión.
En una carta enviada a cada uno de los tres grupos, los republicanos preguntaron por la financiación que los grupos han recibido de Sea Change desde 2006 y pidieron que se revelara si los grupos "son conscientes de la preocupación de que Sea Change pueda ser un conducto para la financiación rusa".
La secretaria del Tesoro estadounidense, Janet Yellen, habla durante una rueda de prensa con el ministro irlandés de Finanzas, Paschal Donohoe, en los edificios del Gobierno en Dublín, Irlanda, el 1 de noviembre de 2021. REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne (REUTERS/Clodagh Kilcoyne)
El Center for American Progress afirmó que las acusaciones han sido "completamente desacreditadas", citando un artículo de 2018 en el que los fundadores de Sea Change, Nat Simons y Laura Baxter-Simons, afirman que no han recibido financiación de fuentes externas y que los 500 millones de dólares de la fundación en subvenciones para el clima y la energía limpia se basaron en el dinero de su familia.
"In the midst of a serious national security crisis, this is a disgusting disinformation campaign by unpatriotic Republican extremists who have been actively cheering on Putin throughout the Trump years, and who are now masking that disgrace with lies that have been thoroughly debunked," Center for American Progress said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
Sea Change told Fox News Digital that it has no connection to Russia or Russian funds and wants to put to rest the allegations. A statement from co-Founders and co-Directors, Nat Simons and Laura Baxter-Simons, restates their 2018 position.
"All funding to Klein (now Sea Change Foundation International) has been exclusively from philanthropic contributions by Bermuda-based family trusts of which, I [Nat Simons], my children, and family-related philanthropic organizations are the only beneficiaries," the statement said. "I wish to clarify that press reports speculating that Klein has received funding from outside sources are factually incorrect and have no basis. Neither Klein nor Sea Change Foundation has ever solicited or accepted contributions from non-family related sources."
Similarly, LCV, NRDC and Sierra Club have pushed back hard against these GOP allegations in previous statements to Fox News Digital.
The NRDC said the "allegations are false" and are "rooted in a smear campaign."
"We receive no funding from the governments of Russia or China," Bob Deans, the director of strategic engagement for the NRDC, said. "We answer to our independent leadership, and we don’t do the bidding of any government – foreign or otherwise – in our work to advocate for commonsense environmental protections in the public interest. These allegations are rooted in a smear campaign orchestrated nearly a decade ago by fossil fuel interests and a right-wing think tank. They only serve then, as now, as a distraction."
A statement provided to Fox News from the LCV said the "story is completely false and has been put to rest for years."
"We have no connections to Russia, or China, and have been an effective advocate for environmental protection for over 50 years," the group stated. "These false and poorly researched allegations are rooted in a nearly 10-year-old right-wing think tank and fossil fuel industry-funded smear campaign that gets revived every few years to serve as a distraction."
In a statement shared with Fox News, Melinda Pierce, Sierra Club's legislative director, concluded the allegation of collusion is a "false conspiracy theory."
El presidente ruso, Vladimir Putin , ha promulgado una ley que podría castigar a los periodistas con hasta 15 años de prisión por informar sobre las denominadas noticias "falsas" sobre su invasión militar de Ucrania. (Yuri Kochetkov/Pool)
"This false conspiracy theory, invented by the same deceitful front groups paid to do polluters' and big tobacco’s dirty work, has been repeatedly debunked over its nearly 10-year existence," Pierce said. "The Sierra Club has no connections to Russia or China, and proudly fights for clean energy and climate action because this is what our planet requires, our families deserve, and what the overwhelming majority of Americans across the country demand."
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The Republican Study Committee is the largest group of conservatives in the House. They've been hitting Biden hard for his domestic energy policies they say stifle domestic oil and gas production and led to the U.S. buying Russian oil to fund Putin's war against Ukraine.
Biden announced this week the U.S. will stop importing Russian oil products and said "it's simply not true" that his administration is holding back domestic energy production.
Fox News' Kyle Morris contributed to this report.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-yellen-investigate-russian-money-usa-green-groups