Politics

EXCLUSIVE: Alaska’s Political Battleground Catches Eye Of Dark Money-Tied Environmental Groups

Diego Delso, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

A multi-million dollar Senate race with campaign trail visits from the White House. Lucrative natural gas deals.

Alaska now finds itself in the national spotlight, becoming a crown jewel in the Trump administration’s domestic energy push and a battleground for high-stakes political duels. The Last Frontier’s significance wasn’t lost on environmental groups with dark money ties when they gathered at a luxury ski resort in the state, with planned discussions on ways to build power and the midterms’ potential impacts for the Alaska, materials exclusively obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation show.

President Donald Trump has made Alaska a centerpiece of his energy agenda, signing an executive order to accelerate oil, gas and liquefied natural gas (LNG) development. His latest push came when he announced that Taiwan would purchase 30% of the LNG produced by a proposed Alaska pipeline. Taiwan’s state-owned CPC Corporation is negotiating to buy six million metric tons annually and invest up to $4.4 billion, though final agreements remain pending.

Trump traveled to Wasilla in October to campaign for Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who faces Democratic former Rep. Mary Peltola. Vice President JD Vance also visited Alaska earlier this month to support Sullivan. More than $56 million in advertising had already been spent on the race by late August, according to AdImpact.

Sullivan trails Democratic challenger Peltola by roughly 1.5 percentage points, according to The Hill and Decision Desk HQ’s Oct. 20 polling average.

Months earlier in June, the Biodiversity Funders Group (BFG), an association of environmental, conservation and climate grantmakers, held its annual meeting at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, Alaska. Its agenda featured discussions about “building power,” financing activities grantmakers typically avoid and navigating Alaska’s political environment during an election year.

BFG describes itself as a professional association of more than 75 environmental, conservation, climate and energy grantmakers. The organization also facilitates an Alaska-focused funding network that exchanges information and works to advance conservation, climate resilience and biodiversity policies.

BFG did not respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

‘Building Power’

Alaska’s mountains, salmon and wildlife were not the only subjects on the agenda.

“Mission Creep or Boundary Pushing? Why and when we fund things we say we don’t fund,” one session title at the ski resort confab reads, raising the issue of when grantmakers should finance activities outside their usual funding priorities. Another discussion focused on “Building Power in Old and New Ways.”

The available agenda materials, however, do not establish what participants said during the discussions.

The upcoming high-stakes midterms also made an appearance, with one titled “Alaska Lay of the Land in an Election Year,” though it was labeled as an “optional discussion.” It’s unclear if the topic was actually discussed.

The sessions collectively placed questions about funding boundaries, power-building and elections alongside traditional conservation issues.

The gathering brought together national foundations, environmental funders, nonprofit intermediaries, tribal advocacy organizations and Alaska-based groups involved in conservation and public-policy disputes.

The progressive Alaska-based 907 Initiative, which has targeted Sullivan through its “Yes Man Dan” campaign, was also identified as an organization represented at the environmental gathering through an attendee.

The group was named in a Sept. 8 Federal Election Commission complaint filed by Americans for Public Trust, alleging improper coordination with secondary Republican Senate candidate Daniel J. Sullivan, who happens the incumbent senator’s name, to split the conservative ticket.

The complaint alleges that 907 Initiative board member Amber Lee also worked as a consultant for Daniel J. Sullivan’s campaign. The organization’s executive director, Aubrey Wieber, denied the allegations.

907 boasts ties to liberal dark money, receiving $175,000 from the Tides Foundation in between 2023-2024, tax filings show.

The Wilburforce Foundation, whose executive director serves as president of BFG’s board, has directed hundreds of thousands of dollars to New Venture Fund, a left-wing charity linked to the now-defunct dark money behemoth Arabella Advisors, toward Alaska conservation efforts, according to InfluenceWatch.

New Venture Fund was named in a June 4 Internal Revenue Service complaint filed by the American Accountability Foundation, alleging the nonprofit exploited its tax-exempt status to finance political advocacy and ballot initiatives while obscuring financial disclosures.

SalmonState, one of the fund’s fiscally sponsored projects named in the complaint, states that the arrangement provides administrative, accounting and compliance support, allowing the organization to focus on salmon conservation.

Wilburforce reported giving New Venture Fund $250,000 in 2023 for SalmonState’s transboundary conservation work, $125,000 for Tongass conservation efforts and $30,000 for a project examining lessons from the Bristol Bay campaign, according to the foundation’s tax filing.

The foundation also reported $200,000 for Alaska Venture Fund (AVF) and another $50,000 for its “New Energy Alaska Campaign.”

AVF describes its activities as including grantmaking, project hosting and strategic support. Its portfolio covers climate and clean energy, community resilience, natural systems and Native nation building. New Venture Fund fiscally sponsors the nonprofit, according to its website.

BFG reports reaching more than 1,000 philanthropic staff and trustees whose organizations collectively account for more than $1 billion in environmental grantmaking.

“[BFG is] A distinctive place for leading environmental funders to learn together, establish strong relationships, and engage in deep, productive, and sustained collaboration that strengthens grantees,” its website reads.

Wilburforce Foundation, SalmonState, Alaska Venture Fund, New Venture Fund and the 907 Initiative did not respond to the DCNF’s requests for comment.