If natural advantages were the determining factor, Louisiana would likely rival Texas as an energy powerhouse among U.S. states. The Pelican State possesses a wealth of advantages: world-class ports and energy infrastructure; a highly skilled and experienced workforce; geology holding not just massive reserves of oil and natural gas, but also ideally suited for carbon capture and storage; and a population that understands the value that the oil, gas, and LNG industries deliver to their state in jobs and economic impact. Yet instead of leading the nation in energy dominance, the state has become a primary target for anti-energy activism and litigation aimed squarely at its oil and gas sector.
The reason has very little to do with any sort of true organic grassroots concern from the public. Instead, it is driven by a coordinated, heavily funded campaign financed almost entirely by out-of-state billionaire foundations determined to throttle America’s fossil fuel production. Data from the Pelican Institute’s recent report “Barriers to Louisiana Energy Dominance” provides a roadmap to the money trail.
Anti-Energy Activism ‘Like Peeling An Onion’
Between 2020 and 2025, the Pelican Institute documents at least $115.5 million in out-of-state funding flowed to a dozen Louisiana-based environmental advocacy groups, more than 98 percent of those groups’ total combined budgets. More than 70 percent of that targeted funding originated in California, Washington, D.C., and New York City. Major donors include Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bezos Earth Fund, the Rockefeller Family Fund, the Tides Foundation, the Waverley Street Foundation, the Windward Fund (tied to the Arabella network), and several others with deep progressive ties.
