A group housed at the New York University School of Law and backed by billionaire climate activist Michael Bloomberg quietly closed its doors in late August amid congressional scrutiny into its funding and operations. The so-called State Energy and Environmental Impact Center's signature initiative involved placing paid, climate-focused "fellows" in Democrat-controlled state attorney general offices nationwide as those offices sued the oil industry and other energy providers.
The center's sudden closure comes as a surprise: It continued to update its public database tracking state attorney general actions relevant to its climate priorities until Aug. 31, the date of its apparent closure. It also released an episode of its in-house podcast, Recharged with the State Impact Center, less than three weeks prior to that date. And in its 2025 "year in review" report released last December, the center indicated that it would continue operating throughout 2026.
But prior to its closure, the center was coming under increased pressure for effectively paying the salaries of state law enforcement agencies that were pursuing lawsuits in line with the center's priority of going after energy providers.
The center, which did not announce the closure in a press release or social media post, now states on its website that it is "historical material as it existed on August 31, 2026." While much of the website remains intact, its contact email is now listed as a private non-NYU address, and a page identifying members of the center's advisory board has been removed. Its now-former executive and deputy directors no longer list the center as their current place of employment on LinkedIn, according to a Washington Free Beacon review.
The disappearance of the center comes as it faced multiple congressional and state-level investigations over alleged ethics issues related to its funding and its practice of paying the salaries of officials it placed in state attorney general offices. Media reports and lawmakers often referred colloquially to those officials as "Bloomberg fellows" because Bloomberg helped found the center in 2017 with two seed grants worth $2.8 million each. Tax filings show that Bloomberg provided the grants through his eponymous charity, the Bloomberg Family Foundation—one of the country's most influential charities—that focuses on climate activism.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee opened an investigation into the center last year, stating that its activities "raise questions as to whether participating state attorneys general are acting on independent judgement to best serve the interests of their states' citizens."
"The Bloomberg-NYU program effectively offers states partisan money from a billionaire to carry out official functions of their offices," the panel wrote at the time. Bloomberg, it continued, "disguises his donations as 'philanthropy'" and uses the impact center as a mechanism "to skirt legislative bodies and effect partisan policy."
In a statement to the Free Beacon, the Oversight Committee's chairman Rep. James Comer (R., Ky.) said he remained concerned that the center "undermined public integrity and pushed radical Democrat policies that increase energy costs for Americans, despite billing itself as ‘nonpartisan.’"
"The Committee is glad to see that this center will no longer be in operation," he added.
Months after Comer initiated his investigation, a group of Wisconsin State Senate leaders opened their own investigation into their state's attorney general for employing a "special attorney general" whose $90,000 a year salary was paid for by the center.
The Wisconsin senate also created a committee to coordinate the investigation. "Outside influence from highly self-interested sources is unacceptable," that committee's chair, Wisconsin State Senate president Mary Felzkowski (R.), said at the time.
In addition to that probe, two Wisconsin groups that represent dairy farmers sued the state's attorney general over his office's arrangement with the center, arguing it gives the center "unique, insider access and influence over DOJ’s work on agricultural and other environmental issues." The February 2025 complaint suggested that the center's fellow had coordinated enforcement actions Wisconsin had taken against dairy farmers. An oral ruling in that case is scheduled for later this month, according to court records.
Overall, since its founding, the center has placed "climate fellows" in attorney general offices in Washington, D.C., and at least 10 states nationwide, including Minnesota, Maryland, and New York. It has exclusively hired fellows to work for Democrats.
The officials it has placed in the state offices have worked on actions targeting the oil and gas industry, favoring wind and solar development, and opposing the Trump administration’s energy agenda.
The Free Beacon reported last year, for example, that Lauren Cullum, the center fellow embedded in the Washington, D.C., attorney general's office, has been behind a number of the office's high-profile climate-related actions since she was hired in 2022. Cullum, whose official title is special assistant attorney general, was listed as a prosecutor on multiple environmental justice lawsuits targeting chemical companies and has represented Washington, D.C., in federal comment letters arguing in favor of green energy initiatives.
And the Free Beacon later reported that the center had expanded by placing fellows in state-level public service commissions, oft-overlooked agencies that regulate utility companies and permit energy infrastructure like pipelines and power plants. That development suggests the center and its funders sought to play a more active role interfering with traditional fossil fuel infrastructure development at the local level.
The center's advisory council, meanwhile, included the CEO of a major wind energy developer and the vice president of the green energy industry group the American Clean Power Association, an archived copy of its website shows. Green energy interests stood to gain from the state-level work conducted by center fellows.
The State Energy and Environmental Impact Center and Bloomberg Philanthropies did not respond to requests for comment.
