Climate Lobby, Part II: ClearPath- First Street Foundation-American Flood

The consortium is a good case study in the climate special interest

In preparation for the 2012 election (Obama v Romney), Stephen Colbert gave America lessons on campaign finance in our post-Citizens United nation. On The Colbert Show, Colbert walked viewers through the development of various entities organized around his own brief presidential run.

Colbert’s crash course is considered on point. When I speaking with a colleague about dark money, he recommended I revisit Colbert’s series of clips on the subject. Here are some:

• Creating a SuperPac

• Creating a c4

• Loophole

The way money moves around among non-profits and how one organization does the bidding of another are ways that can obscure sources and extent of influence.

American philosopher of pragmatism, John Dewey, referred to this capture of the policy agenda as an “eclipse of the public,”

Who pulls the strings which move the bosses and generates power to run the [political] machines is a matter of surmise rather than of record, save for an occasional overt scandal.  

Dewey was concerned about the illusion of choice in the monopoly power of political parties. “Political parties may rule, but the do not govern,” said Dewey.

When scandal arises- as in the case of locking into outdated scientific practices into governance- then mapping these social arrangements is an exercise in democratic accountability.

This post builds on my previous post about the climate lobby. The Economist article I open with closes its discussion with a quote from the ClearPath Foundation. This is why this post here starts with ClearPath.

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ClearPath

ClearPath Foundation is an advocacy group that promotes “conservative” climate solutions. It was formed around 2013 by Jay Faison of Charlotte, NC, son of the late Henry Faison, a prominent real estate developer in Charlotte and the southeast.

According to Politico, Jay Faison, a successful business entrepreneur in his own right, invested $165 million, into solar energy and starting ClearPath. Faison also put $10 million into lobbying.

Around 2018, the 990 filings change whereby the bulk of the wealth in the ClearPath Foundation goes on to be called the 2040 Foundation and a separate entity ClearPath Inc becomes the administrative part of ClearPath. The 2040 Foundation boasts about $154 million in total assets and over $77 million is invested in Central America and the Caribbean.

ClearPath is headed up by Rich Powell, formerly of McKinsey, who is now making a not-so shabby over $650k in the non-profit sector. Powell is also a board member of the 2040 Foundation.

The lobbying arm of ClearPath is ClearPath Action for Conservative Clean Energy. Here, in 2018, it is contracting with ClearPath Foundation.

Of course, there is also a super PAC, ClearPath Action super pac which helps elect “Republican clean energy champions.”

First Street Foundation

According to reporting here (see also here), Faison’s ClearPath Action Fund was led by digital marketing expert Matthew Eby of Anthro and formerly, a marketing executive at the Weather Channel.

Around 2017, Eby and Faison start the Seawall Coalition, a 501(c)(4), in order to advocate awareness of and policy for sea level rise. Of its $450k in contributions that year, it put about $380k towards the Miami Forever 501(c)(4) focused on passing a $400 million bond referendum for various infrastructure projects. The group also lobbied the DoD for infrastructure projects.

About a year later, the the Seawall Coalition becomes the American Flood Coalition, a 501(c)(3). Here is its lobbing arm, American Flood Coalition Action 501(c)(4).

Concurrently, Eby created the First Street Foundation, a 501(c)(3), to instill climate change flood risks on homes into financial decisions. Faison is a founder for First Street Foundation.

Early in its establishment, it hit the ground running with a $300k advertising campaign through Facebook and Google. Today, First Street Foundation is wildly successful in political influence and business.

Its patented modeling platform, engages with a wide range of academic experts from nd holds some key partnerships with tech firms, such as Rhodium Group.

The group’s model, Risk Factor, now exists as a wholly owned subsidiary of the non-profit entity, riskfactor.com.

The model is embedded in some important contracts with real estate, investment, and financial firms. It is also embedded in government agencies which is interesting because at least some model developers also advise some of the same government agencies.

And of course, the model is an information generator for the American Flood Coalition.

Let’s close the loop then:

• The 2040 Foundation contracts with Anthro (at least as far back as 2016).

• Clearpath contracts with Rhodium Group (e.g. 2020 and 2021, and here is a 2023 brochure).

• First Street contracts with Anthro and it contracts with Rhodium group.

• In 2020, the 2040 Foundation provided funds to: Clearpath Inc ($3.8M), Schwab Charitable Trusts ($5.6M), Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Fund ($5.6M) and American Flood Coalition ($1.8M).

  • Below, as reported by CauseIQ, is First Street receiving money from a Schwab Charitable Fund and a Goldman Sachs Philanthropy Funds.

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Research for Politics

It is no secret that ClearPath and First Street Foundation are connected, or that they both collaborate with Rhodium Group. It is publicly available information on their websites.

But it is also not discussed. Nor is it discussed that both have lobbing side hustles.

ClearPath, First Street Foundation, and Rodium make regular appearances in Congress. But, their intimate connection suggests these are not different perspectives on a public issue but several faces of the same interest.

It is also not discussed that academic researchers involved with First Street Foundation are stepping into these murky waters of private business and political advocacy.

So, when First Street Foundation and its associated researchers publish in the scientific literature what should a COI statement look like? Something more than nothing is certainly in order.

It not well recognized how prominent organizations work together or are even run by the same person/people then it is hard to recognize where expert panels are ‘stacked’ or how to improve conflict of interest statements.

For instance,

• Federal SLR rates are developed by at least one researcher with connections to First Street where, not to reiterate too much, the founder is also working to elect certain politicians in flood prone states

• An executive of First Street Foundation sits on the Climate related Financial Risk Advisory Committee alongside a Rhodium Group executive… and alongside an EDF representative, an organization in which First Street recently collaborated with… and which the collaborator continues to sit on the First Street Advisory Board

When we think about why questionable practices in climate change science are difficult to clean up we also need to look at the business that climate change science has become and the lobby built atop these very practices.

Have more to add? Let me know!