King Coal's "Green" Patron

Thanks to Alternet and some citizen journalists, we now know that Environmental Defense (ED) board member (and billionaire hedge fund manager), Stanley Druckenmiller, is also a major investor in a coal mining company.  And not just any coal mining company, but F*&$ing Massey Energy!  He’s invested roughly $200 million in Massey.  To me this is just outrageous.  Massey- the poster child of mountaintop removal.  Massey- the poster child of profits over worker safety. Massey- a major climate denier.  Massey, the worst of the worst outlaw coal companies,  does business with an Environmental Defense board member.

To add insult to injury, just a couple of weeks ago when Rising Tide North America did an online action demanding that “Big Green” NGO’s stop taking corporate donations and end corporate partnerships, the president of Environmental Defense, David Yarnold, called up a Rising Tide activist and patronizingly told her that ED didn’t take corporate donations and promoted the best environment possible.  Ok, maybe ED takes corporate donations and maybe they don’t.  But I’m guessing as a billionaire board member Mr. Druckenmiller is also a major ED donor.  This is pure speculation on my part, but often board members join organizations because of their donating and fundraising abilities.  If so, then he’s giving them money earned from investing in Massey Energy drenched in the blood of miners, the debris of Appalachian Mountains and a burning climate. 

One of my heroes, Noam Chomsky, dispenses his true ire on the liberal elites in the media, the universities and the government who serve as a smokescreen for some of the worst atrocities.  The liberal elite at well financed green groups definitely falls into that category.  I’m sure I’ll get a call or email about this, but as someone who’s been fighting Massey Energy for a few years now, Environmental Defense needs to be called out for scabbing and crossing that proverbial picket line.