Billionaire's Network Smuggles the Left's Energy Agenda Into Red States
Washington, D.C. — Today, Power The Future released "The Arnold Pipeline," a new investigative report detailing how billionaire John Arnold's philanthropy, Arnold Ventures, moves extreme energy policies into Republican-led states. According to the report, which draws on IRS filings and grant records, Arnold has sent more than $23.2 million in grants to environmental and clean-energy groups, including roughly $4.2 million to the Energy Foundation. The report traces how Arnold's influence reaches red-state policymaking in states like Ohio, Indiana, and Oklahoma.
"Voters elect their governors and legislators, and yet much of their policy is being influenced by a left-leaning billionaire through his vast financial empire," said Daniel Turner, Founder and Executive Director of Power The Future. "John Arnold got rich trading energy at disgraced Enron, and now he disguises his motivations and intent because he knows selling the agenda of extreme left-wing environmentalists in places like Indiana, Ohio, and Oklahoma would be an absolute non-starter if the public knew."
Key findings from "The Arnold Pipeline" include:
Funding the "transition": More than $23.2 million in identified Arnold grants to environmental and clean-energy groups, including the Energy Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, and Citizens' Climate Lobby. Arnold's own energy program seeks to "reduce emissions" and leaves oil, natural gas and coal off its list of future energy solutions.
Ohio – Validators: Arnold gave the Energy Foundation roughly $4.2 million from 2017 to 2020. In 2024, the Energy Foundation gave $2 million to the Conservative Energy Network, which sent $210,361 to the Ohio Conservative Energy Forum. That group's first "conservative principle" is to "Transition to a Clean Energy Future."
Oklahoma – Partnership: Gov. Kevin Stitt entered a formal partnership with Arnold Ventures in which Arnold matches state spending dollar-for-dollar, up to $10 million, for as much as $20 million combined. Programs are selected with help from a coalition led by a former Arnold Ventures vice president.
Personal stake: John Arnold got his start as an energy trader at Enron. Since then, he has become the co-founder and chairman of Grid United, a high-voltage transmission developer, and an investor in geothermal company Fervo Energy. Those are the same sectors his philanthropy urges government to accelerate.
Bigger than energy: Arnold's advocacy arm put more than $2.8 million behind Alaska's ranked-choice voting effort, and criminal justice made up 31 percent of Arnold Ventures' 2024 grantmaking.
Read the full report here.
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