Anti-oil pipeline Dakota Resource Council receives lots of money from Chinese front organization

Fox News recently ran a story outlining how The Energy Foundation, a San Francisco-based non-profit with a staff that boasts extensive ties to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is spending millions of dollars promoting groups who oppose oil, natural gas, and coal development in the United States and promoting unreliable wind and solar installations.

One of the groups they are funding is the Dakota Resource Council.

According to the Energy Foundation’s website, the DRC received $100,000 from the Energy Foundation in 2021; the most recent year data are available. This means that the group with CCP-ties was responsible for 14 percent of DRC’s revenue that year.

While receiving money from a group with ties to the CCP is problematic, ultimately, what matters most is the policies that they advocate for. Unfortunately, the DRC’s policy positions weaken America while strengthening China.

DRC wants the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) shut down

Despite the fact that the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) has been operating safely since 2017, the DRC has argued that the pipeline should be shut down.

Shutting down the pipeline would be a major blow to North Dakota’s economy because DAPL transports 750,000 barrels of oil per day, which is roughly 59 percent of all the oil produced in North Dakota in October of 2023, the most recent month data are available.

Shutting down the pipeline would be a massive blow to North Dakota’s economy because there would be few “shovel-ready” solutions to moving that much oil via railcar in a short amount of time. This would result in falling oil prices in the Bakken, causing some producers to shut in wells and delay future drilling.

The State of North Dakota stated that shutting down DAPL would cost the state $1.2 billion in the first year and $116 million annually thereafter, and a report from Elaine Kub, an agricultural economist from South Dakota, stated that shutting down the pipeline would hurt farmers by increasing competition for rail cars.

American Experiment has long argued that the United States should be producing as much energy as possible to reduce the geopolitical clout wielded by murderous regimes like Russia and China, but advocating for the shutdown of DAPL would empower them. Unfortunately, the DRC is advocating for policies that weaken America and help our adversaries.