Non-profit

True Friends of Coal

Website:

www.truefriendsofcoal.org

Project of:

New Venture Fund

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True Friends of Coal is an environmentalist advocacy group that aims to end the use of coal in the United States. It is a project of the New Venture Fund (NVF), a Washington, D.C.-based left-of-center pass-through funding and fiscal sponsorship nonprofit managed by Arabella Advisors, a consulting firm that controls a multi-billion-dollar “dark money” network that supports left-of-center causes. 1

Background

True Friends of Coal seeks to end the consumption of coal in the United States, claiming that being a “true friend” to coal means leaving it in the ground. 2 True Friends of Coal is a project of the New Venture Fund, a left-of-center group that is fiscally sponsored by the Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Arabella Advisors. 3

The organization’s website states that “true friends of our subterranean carbon-based buddy” are “saying enough of the stripping, pounding, burning and other abuse heaped upon this peaceful compound.” It further calls for an end to “renditions and forced relocations” of coal, calling for the complete abandonment of coal as an energy source. 4

Activities

In a 2012 video, True Friends of Coal spokesman Eric Reece criticized pro-conventional energy supporters who called themselves friends of coal, claiming that they “want to rip it from the ground, set it on fire, and in the process destroy the homes, the air, and drinking water of coal’s closest neighbors, the people of Appalachia. … Who treats a friend that way?” Reece went on to claim that “a true friend would let coal be and start working for a sustainable energy economy,” and the organization has since advocated for left-of-center environmentalist policies. 5

References

  1. District of Columbia Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Search: New Venture Fund: Trade Names. Accessed June 30, 2021. https://corponline.dcra.dc.gov/BizEntity.aspx/ViewEntityData?entityId=2689437.
  2. True Friends of Coal. Accessed July 23, 2021. http://www.truefriendsofcoal.org/
  3. New Venture Fund. Open Corporates. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://opencorporates.com/companies/us_dc/EXTUID_2689437
  4. True Friends of Coal. Accessed July 23, 2021. http://www.truefriendsofcoal.org/
  5. Eric Reece. Lexington, Kentucky. True Friends of Coal. YouTube. Accessed July 23, 2021. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CpS8IhAG6M&t=81s
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