CALGARY—Throughout the Alberta election campaign, the leaders of both major political parties have referenced a foreign-funded campaign that has allegedly stalled Canadian pipeline approvals.

And on Saturday, United Conservative Party Leader Jason Kenney even promised to take legal action against that alleged dark money campaign if the UCP forms the next provincial government.

The idea stems from research by Vancouver-based blogger Vivian Krause, who has said as much as 90 per cent of her funding comes from mining and oil and gas companies. She has spent years digging through tax records and financial statements, and says United States-based groups have funded an organized effort — called the Tar Sands Campaign — by several environmental charities to turn people against Alberta’s oil, aimed at landlocking Alberta’s oil and sabotaging its energy industry.

The Tar Sands Campaign is a real effort by dozens of advocacy groups concerned about the environmental impacts of the oilsands, and it has received some funding from U.S. groups. But David Tindall, a sociology professor at the University of British Columbia who researches environmental movements, says there’s no evidence that any such campaign has played a role in Alberta’s current pipeline woes, and that there are foreign dollars on both sides of the pipeline battle.

“The way that some people have been framing this is a little bit incorrect, from my point of view,” he said.

For years, Krause has said millions of dollars have flowed from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, sometimes through intermediaries like the Tides Foundation, to Canadian anti-pipeline groups. She also says the Tar Sands Campaign is responsible for public opposition to pipelines and the lack of new pipelines to tidewater in Canada.

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Many of those who believe Krause’s theories also think the Tar Sands Campaign is meant to strengthen American oil and gas.

“Some have estimated that Alberta is losing up to $16 billion a year in value from the price discount that results from our oil producers being captive to the U.S. market,” said Kenney on Saturday.

“This is a direct result of the campaign to landlock Canadian energy supported by the Tar Sands Campaign, which in the last year has succeeded in delaying the Trans Mountain expansion, Keystone XL, and the Line 3 replacement project.”

In a statement, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund said it supports climate change mitigation efforts to reduce oil and gas emissions across the world. The fund has also divested from its own fossil fuel holdings, the statement said.

“This body of work stems from the fund’s long-standing commitment to the environment and conservation over more than 75 years,” it read. “The Rockefeller Brothers Fund does not, in accordance with the law, engage in or support political activity in any country.”

Michael Marx — the executive director of a campaign strategy company called CorpEthics, who was also the grant adviser for the Tar Sands Campaign from 2008 to 2011 — said the idea that the campaign was used to help U.S. oil and gas is “ridiculous.”

“The campaign did not start in the U.S. or at the request of U.S. foundations,” said Marx in an email. “Rather it started in Canada well before our engagement and the U.S. foundations responded to Canadian groups’ requests for support to address the climate threat.”

Marx, who’s based in California, added that he stepped down in 2011 after the campaign decided its efforts should be led by a Canadian.

Tindall points out that there’s American money on both sides of the pipeline battle. “Some of the big billionaire oil tycoons in the U.S. have been very involved in this and fund think tanks, including in Canada, that push back against the environmental movement,” Tindall said.

Also, the driving force behind anti-pipeline movements isn’t money from environmental groups, which usually use their minimal funds to maintain skeleton crews of staff — it’s grassroots support, Tindall said.

“There have been a lot of mass demonstrations and mass protests with many thousands of people,” he added. “It’s kind of difficult for me to imagine that those people are really just actors that are getting paid by some foreign entity.”

Krause said she is “meticulous about the accuracy” of her work.

“Were it not for The Tar Sands Campaign, we wouldn’t even be talking about pipelines,” she said. “They were out of sight and out of mind until the Tar Sands Campaign began with the explicit purpose of cultivating opposition, especially ‘Indigenous opposition.’”

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Krause also said though she has received money from the energy industry, it only amounts to $200,000 over seven years — an average of about $28,600 per year.

Markham Hislop, a journalist and author who writes about the energy sector, said there are other explanations for why pipelines have been stalled and delayed in Canada. Construction has been blocked by anti-pipeline political leaders like British Columbia Premier John Horgan, or Indigenous groups that feel they haven’t been properly consulted.

However, those explanations are complicated, and have troubling implications for the viability of Alberta oil and gas. It’s much easier for people to latch onto a simpler explanation — one with a clear villain, Hislop said.

“We’re getting all bogged down in ... conspiracy theories,” he said.

Krause questioned Hislop’s credibility, telling Star Calgary that he once told her he was taking money from the National Observer, a news outlet that she says is funded by the Tides Foundation, an intermediary for the Rockefellers. Hislop said he discussed writing a piece for National Observer with one of its editors, but didn’t end up doing so and has never been paid by the outlet. National Observer said it hasn’t received money from the Tides Foundation since 2015, and corporate donors typically sign agreements that protect editorial independence.

(Star Calgary and the writer of this article have co-produced investigations with the National Observer as part of the ongoing Price of Oil project.)

Krause points out that U.S. states like Texas have been able to build pipelines more easily than Alberta, using this as proof that the campaign against the oilsands is working. However, Hislop counters that Texas has a coastline, so it can get oil to tidewater without having to consult stakeholders in multiple jurisdictions. U.S. pipeline projects that do run through multiple states — such as Keystone XL, which is currently stalled — have faced fierce public opposition, like the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion project in Canada.

Hislop also pointed out that Canadians still overwhelmingly support pipelines, even in B.C.

“Activists have had a small role (in pipeline delays), but they can’t even move the needle on public opinion,” he said.

Hislop said the idea that there is foreign money weaponizing the pipeline fight has been “weaponized” during the current election.

Krause has criticized the NDP for not pursuing legal action against the Tar Sands Campaign, which NDP Leader Rachel Notley has said would be a “waste of resources.”

Speaking in Calgary on Monday, Notley said there’s “very little substance” to Krause’s statements.

“We are all concerned about the degree to which foreign actors have influenced economic activity here in Alberta,” Notley said. “And I think that’s a legitimate concern, but the strange attempts to connect those with us are just a reach.”

The UCP said in a statement that Krause’s work is “invaluable.”

“For too long, these American foundation-funded organizations have been able work against the majority interest with impunity,” the statement read. “We encourage all Canadians to read Ms. Krause’s rigorous work.”

Emma McIntosh is an environment, justice and investigative reporter with Star Calgary. Follow her on Twitter at @EmmaMci

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