California law firm Sher Edling received more than $3 million in unreported dark money to push high-profile climate litigation on behalf of dozens of Democratic-led cities and states, according to a Monday congressional report obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
Sher Edling, the Senate Commerce Committee and House Oversight Committee report found, received $2.9 million last year from the Collective Action Fund for Accountability, a shadowy group managed by the New Venture Fund. Because the contributions were made in 2023, the New Venture Fund, a Washington, D.C.-based dark money organization, isn't required to disclose them until it files its next annual 990 form with the IRS in mid-November. Sher Edling also received a previously unreported check worth $235,000 in 2022 from the Tides Foundation, a grantmaking organization that wired a staggering $667 million to dozens of progressive causes in 2022, its most recent tax filings show.
The newly uncovered funds shed light on how powerful progressive interests continue to work hand in hand with Democrats to punish oil and gas companies. Sher Edling was founded in 2016 to take up risky first-of-their-kind lawsuits against the oil and gas industry, accusing the industry of causing global warming and arguing it is financially responsible for extreme weather events such as hurricanes and tornadoes.
Most of Sher Edling's cases are working their way through state courts, even as the oil industry has pushed for them to be litigated in federal courts. If successful, the suits could force oil companies to pay billions of dollars in climate damages to local and state governments. Sher Edling would receive a large portion of that settlement money, according to its legal services contracts.
As 501(c)(3) nonprofits, the New Venture Fund and Tides Foundation aren't legally required to disclose their donors. Together, the two groups received $1.3 billion in contributions and grants from anonymous donors in 2022 alone. As a result, it's largely unclear who exactly employed the organizations to send grant money to Sher Edling.
Since it was founded in 2016, Sher Edling has agreed to represent dozens of states and cities in climate-related cases, including Delaware, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Baltimore, and Honolulu. In the cases, Democratic prosecutors have argued the oil and gas industry is responsible for global warming and that it has deceived consumers about the downstream impacts of their petroleum products for decades.
Critics have blasted the litigation, labeling it a backdoor effort to bankrupt oil and gas companies and peg the industry for local emissions. Still, activists say the lawsuits are a critical part of the broader effort to curb reliance on fossil fuels and boost green energy.
"The Committees’ investigation nevertheless revealed left-wing organizations have funded and are continuing to fund the firm’s anti-energy lawfare," the bicameral GOP report issued Monday concluded. "Such funding raises important concerns Congress should consider, like whether there should be transparency in third party litigation funding or restrictions on 'nonprofit' funds’ donations to for-profit companies."
"Elected officials in Congress, as well as the general public, should pay close attention to how organizations, such as those detailed within this memo, are able to exercise their influence over the policies and regulatory environment impacting critical industries and consumers caught in the balance," it added.
Including the funding uncovered in the report, Sher Edling has raised a total of nearly $14 million from dark money nonprofits since 2017. While that funding has come entirely from the Collective Action Fund for Accountability and the Tides Foundation, some of it can, in turn, be traced to the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, MacArthur Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and Rockefeller Brothers Fund. The sources of these groups' funding remain unknown.
The report is the latest development in a yearlong investigation into Sher Edling and its funding mechanism led by Senate Commerce Committee ranking member Ted Cruz (R., Texas) and House Oversight Committee chairman James Comer (R., Ky.).
Cruz initiated the probe after vetting Ann Carlson, President Joe Biden's then-nominee to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in early 2023. Carlson failed to disclose that she had provided pro bono legal services to Sher Edling. Carlson, it was later revealed, secretly raised money for Sher Edling and helped recruit plaintiffs for the firm to represent in court.
The investigation was later expanded over concerns about Sher Edling's anonymous benefactors.
According to the report, Sher Edling was largely dismissive of lawmakers' concerns and repeatedly refused to answer key questions, including whether any of its money came outside of donations or grants. The firm also declined to provide funding agreements it entered into with donors.
Sher Edling didn't respond to a request for comment.