UPDATE: Combined Annual Revenue of Nuclear Energy Opponents Is $3.3 Billion

Two weeks ago, I reported the combined annual revenue of the American nonprofits with known opposition to emissions-free nuclear energy was at least $2.8 billion. But this did not account for 45 subsequently discovered and previously uncounted anti-nuclear nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Adding in those nonprofits vaults the combined annual revenue of the American anti-nuclear movement to more than $3.3 billion.

Why didn’t those get included last month?

Leaders and Fellow Travelers

Nuclear power is the only safe, reliable, carbon emissions–free, and functionally limitless source of energy that we have. It is also the only scalable, emissions-free electricity option. To oppose both nuclear and hydrocarbon fuels such as oil, natural gas, and coal is to oppose 91 percent of all energy used by Americans.

Such a position isn’t merely anti-science, but anti-civilization.

Among the best sources for identifying NGOs opposed to nuclear energy are the open letters sent to politicians. These letters are circulated by the anti-energy, anti-civilization, left-leaning climate policy nonprofits. Those nonprofits, such as the Sierra Club, are the leaders in the movement against nuclear power.

For example, an April 2021 letter from the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) asked then-President Biden to “Phase out nuclear energy.” Among the 520 cosigners on that statement, many were the anti-energy, anti-nuclear leaders, such as 350.org and the Center for International Environmental Law.

But many were not, such as Warehouse Workers for Justice and Feminists in Action Los Angeles. Not primarily involved in climate and energy policy, these nonprofits sign on to anti-nuclear statements because they are left-wing fellow travelers with the strident anti-energy Left. Think of an NGO that has promoted left-leaning public policy of any sort over the past decade, and there is a better than even chance that it has taken a position against nuclear energy.

Fellow travelers can bring valuable supporters to the movement against nuclear energy. Some prominent examples that have cosigned statements against nuclear power include the NAACP and the League of Women Voters.

When I compiled the original revenue list of anti-nuclear NGOs in August 2023, I had not yet discovered the 2021 Center for Biological Diversity letter. One of the most surprising cosigners was the California Teachers Association (CTA), a public employee union that reliably reports annual revenue of well over $200 million.

So without including CTA, I initially reported the combined annual anti-nuclear revenue to be just $2.3 billion. Adding the fellow travelers at the California Teachers Association after finding the CBD letter pushed the combined annual revenue of anti-nuclear NGOs past $2.5 billion.

CTA is so big and rich that it immediately became one of the five wealthiest members of the movement against nuclear power. (A top 10 list is noted below.)

New Discoveries

As I was updating the list for this year, I discovered yet another group letter from one of the leaders in the anti-nuclear movement. This one was organized by People vs. Fossil Fuels in August 2022.

The 650-plus cosigners launched a general attack on virtually all energy that doesn’t trickle out of weather-restricted wind turbines and solar panels:

Relying only on large scale investments in renewable energy and environmental justice alone will not stave off climate disaster if Congress simultaneously puts its legislative foot on the gas to expand fossil fuel production and false solutions like carbon capture, hydrogen, biomass, biofuels, factory farm gas, and nuclear power.

My brief, initial look at this letter revealed that most of the signatories had already been counted on the anti-nuclear list—including leaders such as the Sierra Club and state-level affiliates of the League of Conservation Voters. So I set this list aside for a closer look at a later time.

That closer look has revealed a lot of groups that had not yet been identified with taking positions against nuclear power.

Some of the biggest new examples are fellow travelers such as Church World Service (CWS), which listed revenue of $284.8 million in its most recent IRS report, and Oxfam America, with revenue of $83.1 million. Others were leaders of the anti-energy Left, such as Taproot Earth ($32.8 million), the NDN Collective ($21.6 million), and the Greenlining Institute ($12.2 million).

The Rankings

With these new groups added, the overall list of the 10 richest opponents of nuclear energy, as measured by their most recently reported annual revenue, is as follows:

1. World Wildlife Fund, $8 million
2. World Resources Institute, $8 million
3. Church World Service, $8 million
4. Environmental Defense Fund, $1 million
5. California Teachers Association, $221 million
6. Natural Resources Defense Council, $1 million
7. Sierra Club, $4 million
8. Rocky Mountain Institute, $7 million
9. Oxfam America, $1 million
10. League of Conservation Voters, $5 million

When sorted to exclude fellow travelers and include only the anti-energy leaders of the movement against nuclear power, this is the top 10 richest:

1. World Wildlife Fund, $8 million (ranked #1 overall)
2. World Resources Institute, $8 million (#2)
3. Environmental Defense Fund, $1 million (#4)
4. Natural Resources Defense Council, $1 million (#6)
5. Sierra Club, $4 million (#7)
6. Rocky Mountain Institute, $7 million (#8)
7. League of Conservation Voters, $5 million (#10)
8. GRID Alternatives, $3 million (#11)
9. Southern Environmental Law Center, $8 million (#12)
10. Greenpeace, $2 million (#15)

Finally, sorting the list to include only the fellow travelers produces a top 10 that looks like this:

1. Church World Service, $8 million (ranked #3 overall)
2. California Teachers Association, $221 million (#5)
3. Oxfam America, $1 million (#9)
4. American Friends Service Committee, $2 million (#13)
5. NAACP, $6 million (#14)
6. Movement Strategy Center, $3 million (#20)
7. Center for Popular Democracy, $7 million (#22)
8. CASA, $3 million (#23)
9. Right to the City Alliance, $5 million (#26)
10. Indivisible, $6 million (#40)

The InfluenceWatch profile of all known American opponents of nuclear power and some of the group letters they have endorsed is available here: Opposition to Nuclear Energy.

Source: https://capitalresearch.org/article/update-combined-annual-revenue-of-nuclear-energy-opponents-is-3-3-billion/