Follow the Money: California-Based Groups Fund Anti-Ethanol Bold Alliance

Bold Alliance bills itself as “a network of ‘small and mighty’ groups in rural states working to protect land and water.” The group lists a post office box in Hastings, Nebraska, as its headquarters.
The organization, which claims to represent “people from the heartland to the Gulf,” also has offices in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Louisiana.
Since its inception in 2016, Bold Alliance has aggressively opposed the development of domestic sources of energy, including carbon pipelines that will benefit rural communities in Nebraska and Iowa. Bold Alliance has mocked carbon pipelines “as a Holy Grail or Hail Mary.”
Its top grantmakers are the California-based Compton Foundation ($255,000) and Patagonia Org ($25,000). The Compton Foundation provided grants to “coalitions in the rural Midwest to stop the Keystone XL pipeline.”
Patagonia similarly applauded the cancellation of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would have carried crude oil from Alberta, Canada, to Steele City, Nebraska. Pipeline projects that Patagonia attacked as “disastrous” and “unacceptable” would have created thousands of good-paying construction jobs, including many in the Cornhusker State. Ironically, Patagonia needs fuel to get its products to stores and customers to the mall.
Nebraska Democratic Party Chairwoman Jane Kleeb is the president of Bold Alliance. Former Nebraska U.S. Sen. Bob Kerrey (D) recently described the state party under Kleeb as “pathetic.” He also suggested that the state party run candidates who are more “middle of the road.”
It’s clear Kleeb’s extremism is turning off Nebraskans of all political stripes.