Top energy group demands governor take swift action against radical ‘extremists’ crippling power grid

FIRST ON FOX: As Puerto Rico’s power grid continues to fail and put the lives of residents in the U.S. territory at risk, a pro-energy nonprofit organization is calling on the island’s governor to take action to resist “left wing extremists” who the group believes are weaponizing courts to push a disruptive climate change agenda.

“Left-wing extremists tried to muscle the Green New Deal through Congress during your tenure as Puerto Rico’s Resident Commissioner,” American Energy Institute CEO Jason Isaac wrote in a letter to Puerto Rico Gov. Jenniffer González-Colón.

“They failed. Now they have turned to the courts to impose their agenda on our country – and Puerto Rico is participating.”

The letter outlines “three active tracks of litigation” that Isaac labels a “coordinated lawfare attack on our quality” of life, including a lawsuit filed by dozens of Puerto Rico cities and towns blaming energy companies for climate change and seeking damages. 

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“Their goal is to bankrupt energy companies or to leverage the threat of tort damages to force outcomes that would be disastrous for Puerto Rico and the rest of the nation,” Isaac wrote. 

Isaac told Fox News Digital that groups like the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) have been instrumental in the green energy push in Puerto Rico and throughout the United States. 

The Washington, D.C.-based ELI created the Climate Judiciary Project (CJP) in 2018, establishing a first-of-its-kind resource to provide “reliable, up-to-date information” about climate change litigation, according to the group. The project’s reach has extended to various state and federal courts, including powerful appellate courts, and comes as various cities and states pursue high-profile litigation against the oil industry.

Fox News Digital has previously reported on the group, funded by left-wing nonprofits, and how critics say it continues to work with judges and experts involved in climate change litigation despite publicly downplaying the extent of those connections.

“They’re going out and really kind of rigging the game before cases have even been brought to the courts,” Isaac said. “They’ve tainted over 2,000 American judges at the federal and state level using climate education, these so-called climate education modules, modules that had even been debunked by left-leaning organizations like Snopes.”

In a statement to Fox News Digital, ELI communications director Nick Collin said, “ELI has decades of experience providing highly respected judicial education programs. The Climate Judiciary Project offers evidence-based information about climate science and trends in the law so that judges can make informed decisions. It does not participate in litigation, support or coordinate with parties in litigation, and it does not tell judges how to rule in any case or on any issue.”

Gonzalez, a Republican, has signaled that she is open to embracing fossil fuels and Isaac’s letter calls on her to take three key steps to push back on climate activists on the island. 

First, Isaac asks Gonzales to “Direct the Secretary of Justice to withdraw Puerto Rico’s complaint in the Puerto Rico v. Exxon Mobil case filed in the Superior Court of San Juan.”

Second, the letter asks the governor to “file amicus briefs in the San Juan and Puerto Rican municipalities litigation in favor of dismissal with prejudice.”

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The letter also asks for judges to be appointed to the Puerto Rican judiciary who “will respect the separation of powers and leave political issues to the democratically elected branches” and for the government to “discourage state contracts with outside counsel, such as Milberg or Smouse & Mason, who are using public legal engagements to advance far-left political objectives.”

Puerto Rico’s power grid is considered to be barely functional as blackouts have become a part of everyday life, including the most recent grid failure during Holy Week that left more than 1.4 million residents without power for days. 

It has been estimated that power failures cost the island $230 million in lost revenue every day.

Ultimately, it’s the Puerto Rican people who suffer the most when climate litigation hampers the island’s grid, Isaac told Fox News Digital, explaining that residents are living in “energy poverty” with constant rolling blackouts and an unreliable grid. 

“They’re kind of experiencing what the energy transition does, it transitions people from affordable and reliable energy to less reliable energy, economic despair,” Isaac said. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Gonzalez’s office for comment. 

“Climate lawfare threatens to derail your administration’s common-sense approach,” Isaac wrote. “The climate plaintiffs are advancing a fundamentally neocolonial agenda. They are steering Puerto Rico toward a ‘green’ energy future it did not choose – one that ignores the basic needs of its people, who simply require cheap and reliable electricity.”