As if we clouldn't tell what was going on:
Climate Change ‘Countermovement’ Funded By ‘Dark Money,’ Conservative Donors Spend Billions To Derail Regulation Efforts
By Philip Ross
Conservative donors are driving the climate change “countermovement” by pumping billions of dollars into organizations that actively try to derail efforts to curb global warming, according to new analysis of the financial structure that maintains the denial effort.
The study, conducted by Robert Brulle, an environmental sociologist at Drexel University in Philadelphia, was published Friday in the journal Climate Change. His investigation exposed the vast network of conservative think tanks, foundations, trade associations and advocacy groups that work to undermine public faith in climate change. He found that donors spend $1 billion a year to fight climate change policy, including U.S. government regulations that would limit carbon emissions.
"I call it the climate-change counter movement," Brulle told the Guardian. "It is not just a couple of rogue individuals doing this. This is a large-scale political effort."
While Brulle notes that the anti-climate change movement is still largely bankrolled by a handful of conservative billionaires, the bulk of donations are “dark money,” collected from funders who conceal their contributions by going through third-party foundations like Donors Trust and Donors Capital. The report found that 91 think tanks and industry groups make up the bulk of the climate change opposition movement. Among them are Searle Freedom Trust, the John William Pope Foundation, the Howard Charitable Foundation and the Sarah Scaife Foundation.
So we have counter movement funded by the Koch Brothers and their ultra-greedy oligarchical ilk.
Why am I not surprised?