"The environmental group, which has sued the Trump administration over its climate policy rollbacks, also works on clean energy and pollution issues in China."

"Republican leaders of the House Natural Resources Committee have launched a probe into what they describe as potential "undue influence" by the government of China over a leading U.S.-based environmental group.

Their target is the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), an organization with 1.3 million members that works internationally to promote and defend environmental law. NRDC, which has sued the Trump administration repeatedly over its efforts to roll back environmental protections, has worked in China for many years to promote clean energy and a retreat from reliance on fossil fuels.

The letter announcing the inquiry marked an extraordinary escalation in rhetoric by Republican opponents of climate action on Capitol Hill, recalling in miniature the campaign of the late Sen. Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, who wreaked havoc in the 1950s with allegations that communist sympathizers had infiltrated academic institutions, the film industry and even the U.S. military."

Marianne Lavelle reports for InsideClimate News June 6, 2018. [2]

SEE ALSO:

"Does Praise for China Make Group a ‘Foreign Agent’? Republicans Say It Might" (New York Times) [3]