Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania (CVP) is a left-of-center environmentalist advocacy organization that endorses and supports state and local candidates in the state of Pennsylvania. CVP is affiliated with the League of Conservation Voters (LCV), a national environmentalist organization that has been accused of being a “dark money heavyweight” by the left-leaning Center for Public Integrity. ¹

Since 2017, CVP has been the effective lobbying arm of PennFuture (formerly known as Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future), a similar Pennsylvania-based environmentalist advocacy group. The two groups are closely related and share staff members. ²

Founding and History

Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania was founded in 2009 by Josh McNeil, a Democratic political operative. Formerly the national press secretary for the League of Conservation Voters, McNeil left his role in the national organization to start its Pennsylvania affiliate. ³

In 2017, CVP announced its partnership with PennFuture, another environmentalist organization based in Pennsylvania. Some noted that the partnership would allow PennFuture to lobby more extensively through CVP, a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization. ⁴

PennFuture CEO and long-time environmentalist activist Larry Schweiger told the Philadelphia-based blog Generocity that the partnership was created in response to Pennsylvania state politics being “’inundated with dark money.” ⁵ Nonetheless, CVP’s national organization, the League of Conservation Voters, has been accused of being a “dark money heavyweight” by left-of-center organizations, such as the Center for Public Integrity. ⁶

Present Activities

Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania endorses candidates in state and local elections who promote left-of-center, environmentalist policies on climate change and natural gas drilling. CVP has claimed that non-environmentalist policies perpetrate “environmental racism” and has called for a pause on the issuance of any new natural gas drilling permits in Pennsylvania. ⁷

CVP works closely with PennFuture, a similar Pennsylvania-based environmental advocacy group. The two groups are closely related and share staffers, like Josh McNeil. McNeil is both executive director of CVP and vice president for civic engagement for PennFuture. ⁸

Funding

2020 Election Spending

In the 2020, the Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania spent $855,692 in independent expenditures supporting Democrats and opposing Republicans in the Pennsylvania state legislature as well as the state’s attorney general race. ⁹

CVP targeted 25 races in the Pennsylvania state Senate and House of Representatives, attempting to flip Republican-held seats to their Democratic challengers. No CVP-backed challenger won election. A CVP-backed candidate won election to one open seat previously held by a Democrat (HD-156) who sought election in a different race and so did not appear on the 2020 ballot there. Another CVP-backed Democrat, incumbent Rep. Wendy Ullman (HD-143), lost to Republican challenger Shelby Labs. ¹⁰

A list of races where CVP spent money in independent expenditures is available below: ¹¹

Donors to Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania

Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania has received grants from the following organizations: ¹²

• $10,000 from the Energy Foundation (2016) “to support education and outreach about clean energy”
• $10,000 from the Energy Action Fund (Green Tech Action Fund) (2016) “to support clean energy modeling in Pennsylvania and New Jersey”
• $20,756 from the Federation of State Conservation Voter Leagues (2013)
• $7,500 from the Foundation for Pennsylvania Watersheds (2014) for “Marcellus Money,” presumably referring to the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale formation
• $55,656 from the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (2017)
• $122,238 from the League of Conservation Voters Education Fund (2015)
• $970,863 from the League of Conservation Voters (2018)
• $12,000 from the League of Conservation Voters (2017)
• $26,500 from the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund
•  (2019) for “environmental advocacy”
• $15,000 from the Natural Resources Defense Council Action Fund (2018) for “environmental advocacy”
• $45,024 from the Alaska Wilderness League Action (2017) “to support the campaign against drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge”

Leadership

Josh McNeil is the executive director of CVP. Prior to founding CVP, McNeil was a Democratic political operative. He worked on former Democratic Governor of New Mexico Bill Richardson’s failed 2008 presidential campaign and worked for a now-defunct left-of-center political consulting firm. ¹³

Most of CVP’s staff members have worked with the Democratic Party, with experience ranging from local campaigns up to executive positions in the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. CVP political director Katie Blume, for example, was the deputy political director and organizing director for the Pennsylvania Democratic Party. ¹⁴

1. Michael Beckel. “LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS BECOMING ‘DARK MONEY’ HEAVYWEIGHT.” November 22, 2013. Accessed January 21, 2019. https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/league-of-conservation-voters-becoming-dark-money-heavyweight/
2. Abraham, Tony. “PennFuture Finally Has a Lobbying Arm in Conservation Voters of Pa.” Generocity Philly, January 13, 2017. https://generocity.org/philly/2017/01/13/pennfuture-finally-lobbying-arm-conservation-voters-pa/.
3. McNeil, Josh. “LinkedIn – Josh McNeil .” LinkedIn. Accessed May 4, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-mcneil-192a187/.
4. Abraham, Tony. “PennFuture Finally Has a Lobbying Arm in Conservation Voters of Pa.” Generocity Philly, January 13, 2017. https://generocity.org/philly/2017/01/13/pennfuture-finally-lobbying-arm-conservation-voters-pa/.
5. Abraham, Tony. “PennFuture Finally Has a Lobbying Arm in Conservation Voters of Pa.” Generocity Philly, January 13, 2017. https://generocity.org/philly/2017/01/13/pennfuture-finally-lobbying-arm-conservation-voters-pa/.
6. Michael Beckel. “LEAGUE OF CONSERVATION VOTERS BECOMING ‘DARK MONEY’ HEAVYWEIGHT.” November 22, 2013. Accessed January 21, 2019. https://publicintegrity.org/federal-politics/league-of-conservation-voters-becoming-dark-money-heavyweight/
7. “Pipelines and Fossil Fuels.” Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. Accessed May 5, 2021. https://www.conservationpa.org/issues/pipelines-and-fossil-fuels. ; “Fighting Climate Change.” Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. Accessed May 5, 2021. https://www.conservationpa.org/issues/fighting-climate-change.
8. “Staff.” Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. Accessed May 5, 2021. https://www.conservationpa.org/about/staff.
9. Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth: Campaign Finance: Independent Expenditures (2020). Spending by Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. Search conducted April 5, 2021. https://www.campaignfinanceonline.pa.gov/Pages/IndependentExpenditure.aspx
10. Ballotpedia: Pennsylvania 2020 House and Senate Races. Accessed April 5, 2021. https://ballotpedia.org/Pennsylvania_House_of_Representatives_elections,_2020. https://ballotpedia.org/Pennsylvania_State_Senate_elections,_2020.
11. Pennsylvania Secretary of the Commonwealth: Campaign Finance: Independent Expenditures (2020). Spending by Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. Search conducted April 5, 2021. https://www.campaignfinanceonline.pa.gov/Pages/IndependentExpenditure.aspx
12. Return of Organization Exempt from Income Tax (Form 990). Multiple Groups. Schedule I (List of Grants). See this link: https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/full_text_search?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=%22conservation+voters+of+pennsylvania%22
13. McNeil, Josh. “LinkedIn – Josh McNeil .” LinkedIn. Accessed May 4, 2021. https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-mcneil-192a187/.
14. “Staff.” Conservation Voters of Pennsylvania. Accessed May 5, 2021. https://www.conservationpa.org/about/staff.