Oligarch: Dem Megadonor Funds Massive Campaign To Shut Down Key American Manufacturing Sector

A Democratic megadonor is funding a large campaign to hamstring the American petrochemical manufacturing industry, The New York Times reported.

Former New York City Mayor and failed 2020 presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has spent tens of millions of dollars on Bloomberg Philanthropies’ “Beyond Petrochemicals” campaign to block the construction of 120 petrochemical projects in the U.S., according to the NYT. The campaign aligns with Bloomberg’s previous, extensive financial support of environmentalist groups and causes, beneficiaries of which include the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, the League of Conservation Voters and numerous other left-of-center organizations.

“If what they’re doing is going to kill everyone, I don’t care how valuable what they do is,” Bloomberg said of petrochemical projects, according to the NYT. “If there’s something that can destroy the Earth and kill all living people, then it’s hard to argue you shouldn’t focus on that.”

Bloomberg gave the Democratic National Committee $18 million in 2022 to help President Joe Biden win that year’s race, and has long been a leading donor to Democrats on the national level, according to The Washington Post.

The campaign, to which Bloomberg committed $85 million in 2022, will seek to block 120 planned plants, most of which are to be located in Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia, according to the NYT.

Several groups of activists and lawyers that receive funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies have already achieved victories by stopping construction of five plants in Louisiana according to the NYT. The facilities and projects that his money will help to target are expected to produce fertilizers, packaging and plastics.

The plastic and resin manufacturing industry employed about 100,000 Americans as of January 2023, according to Statista. While Bloomberg is hoping that his money may help the environment and reduce emissions, it is possible that global demand for petrochemicals will prompt manufacturers in the U.S. to simply move their operations to other parts of the world that have lower environmental and labor standards, according to the NYT.

“Attempts to shut down American chemical manufacturing are a bet against millions of hard-working men and women in our industry,” Chris Jahn, the chief executive of the American Chemistry Council, said in a statement shared with the NYT. Bloomberg’s campaign “would send essential jobs overseas and threaten America’s leadership to innovate and compete with countries like China,” he continued.

Bloomberg has spent $500 million on a similar effort to shut down oil and gas plants in the U.S., and he reportedly expects to spend another $500 million towards that particular campaign, the NYT reported. That particular campaign has helped to shut down more than 370, or 70%, of the country’s coal-fired power plants.

In addition to supporting environmentalist causes, Bloomberg Philanthropies has also funded efforts to support abortion and gun-control, according to InfluenceWatch. Beyond his philanthropic activities and overseeing the business empire that enables them, Bloomberg serves as the special envoy to the United Nations Secretary-General on Climate Ambition and Solutions.

Bloomberg Philanthropies did not respond immediately to a request for comment.