Rio Grande Foundation Uncovers Lujan-Grisham Staffers’ Attendance at Anti-Energy Rockefeller Conference

Paul Gessing

The Rio Grande Foundation today released documents obtained through an open records request by the nonprofit group Energy Policy Advocates (EPA), revealing that despite her public support of the oil and gas industry, political appointees of New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham flew to New York and participated in a July 2019 closed-door conference with wealthy anti-fossil fuels foundations for the explicit purpose of discussing “policy opportunities to reduce and eliminate natural gas.” The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF), convener and funder of the event, are best known for financial support in campaigns against the Keystone XL pipeline, fossil fuel divestment and climate litigation. RBF grantees including Colorado State University, Georgetown University, and the Rocky Mountain Institute were sponsors. The Georgetown Climate Center in particular receives substantial funding from numerous foundations aimed at eliminating fossil fuels. The New Mexico officials who attended the two-day get-together include Sarah Cottrell Propst, Secretary of the New Mexico Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department and Sandra Ely, Director of the New Mexico Environmental Protection Division. The New Mexico officials’ travel and boarding were provided by Georgetown University, which receives grant money from the organizers of the conference. Both the host organization, Georgetown Climate Center, and Interwest Energy Alliance, Cottrell Propst’s former employer, have received multiple grants from the Energy Foundation. Recall that Propst has already faced criticism from fallout from previous open records findings related to Interwest Energy Alliance. The event was hosted behind closed gates at the Pocatino Center, which features “historic buildings, gardens, and collections of decorative and fine art” overseen by a Manager of Collections and Curatorial Projects. The center is “situated on the highest point in Pocantico Hills, overlooking the Hudson River at Tappan Zee,” with views of New York City 25 miles to the south...MORE