As Clinton Deals Huge Debate Blow to “Keep-It-In-The-Ground,” Emails Confirm Russians Funding “Phony” Anti-Fracking Groups
Monday October 10, 2016
Keep-It-In-The-Ground activists must have been pretty disappointed last night when presidential candidate Hillary Clinton touted the benefits of U.S. shale development during the second presidential debate.
But that was just the beginning. A number of speeches given by Clinton, which were leaked today, confirm what folks have long suspected – that the Russians have been funding what she calls “phony” anti-fracking efforts across the globe. As Clinton put it in a 2014 speech sponsored by tinePublic:
“We were up against Russia pushing oligarchs and others to buy media. We were even up against phony environmental groups, and I’m a big environmentalist, but these were funded by the Russians to stand against any effort, oh that pipeline, that fracking, that whatever will be a problem for you, and a lot of the money supporting that message was coming from Russia.”
In another speech, Clinton noted the importance of European natural gas production in order to reduce dependence on Russia. As she said in a 2014 speech at the Palais des Congrès de Montréal,
“So how far this aggressiveness goes I think is really up to us. I would like to see us accelerating the development of pipelines from Azerbaijan up into Europe. I would like to see us looking for ways to accelerate the internal domestic production. Poland recently signed a big contract to explore hydraulic fracturing to see what it could produce. Apparently, there is thought to be some good reserves there. And just really go at this in a self-interested, smart way. The Russians can only intimidate you if you are dependent upon them.”
As the Washington Times put it today, “the leaked speeches came as another blow to Mrs. Clinton’s tenuous relationship with environmentalists.” The first blow came last night in the presidential debate when Clinton said,
[Y]ou know that we are now for the first time ...