Freedom needs a lobbyist

Introducing the Energy Freedom Fund

Last month I created a new organization called the Energy Freedom Fund. Some reporters have recently asked me about it, so I thought now was a good time to make a public announcement.

---

The Energy Freedom Fund is a new, principled advocacy and lobbying organization for energy freedom policies.

I am the founder and President, but I work as a volunteer with no compensation (more on that later).

I founded the Energy Freedom Fund, to quote our motto, “because freedom needs a lobbyist.”

While “lobbyist” is treated as an inherently sinister concept, a “lobbyist” is just anyone who is paid to help shape specific government policies, such as legislation or executive actions. They can lobby on behalf of special interests for government favors at others’ expense, but they can also lobby on behalf of principled people and companies for equal freedom for everyone.

Unfortunately in the industry I study, energy, the most influential lobbyists do not lobby consistently for freedom. There are many good people who often lobby for the freedom of particular sectors of energy when those sectors are under attack, but those people often will also lobby for special preferences at others’ expense.

Witness the leading oil and gas trade associations: they do vital work defending oil and gas from myriad anti-freedom attacks, but they also fight for the IRA subsidies for carbon capture and hydrogen—which are anti-freedom (and not good for the country, in my opinion).

Trade associations—which, I stress again, do vital work—also have another limitation in fighting for energy freedom: they are often unable to take controversial-but-right public positions because of fears that certain members or member shareholders will rebel. For example, during the Biden administration, the largest energy-related associations were unable or unwilling to publicly condemn and fight the “whole of government” climate-based attack on fossil fuels—even though that was the leading destroyer of energy freedom.

As someone who believes in energy freedom on principle, and who has developed detailed, pro-freedom policies for every sector of energy, I decided that there needed to be a well-funded organization that could employ super-talented people to lobby for energy freedom full-time. Fortunately, I was able to convince a variety of high-net-worth individuals and companies of this idea, and I founded the Energy Freedom Fund last month as a 501c-4.

In order to fulfill its mission of advocating for energy freedom across the board in an effective and principled manner, the Energy Freedom Fund follows a variety of rules, many of them unconventional.

• Donors have no control over what positions we take or how we allocate resources. All such decisions are made by me.

• I am not paid, directly or indirectly, so I have zero financial dependence on this organization. (And I am not myself a lobbyist.)

• Our decisions about how to allocate resources are based on “energy freedom ROI”—where we can make the biggest unique impact on energy freedom for the least resources. If some policy is already being handled ideally by others, we won’t spend much time on it.

• We accept policy ideas from anyone who has good, specific, pro-freedom ideas. Send them to ideas@energyfreedom.org.

• All donors contribute a small fraction of our funds so that we are never dependent on one donor.

• Donors are deliberately sought from as many sectors of the energy industry as possible so that we have maximum exposure to different industry perspectives.

• Since I advise politicians, and now employ people who advise politicians, in order to avoid conflicts of interest I do not invest in energy.

• Energy Freedom Fund does not endorse parties or candidates.

• Energy Freedom Fund does not engage in fundraising for parties or candidates.

If you want an idea of what all this looks like in practice, here’s what our lobbyists do day-to-day. They find people in government who want to fight for energy freedom, and they offer to help develop policies, to create messaging, to recommend good people to work with, or to publicly support them for doing the right thing. That’s it.

Energy Freedom Fund currently has two talented full-time employees, Marc Marie (focused on regulatory affairs) and Ted Ellis (focused on Congressional affairs). But we are looking for more! If you love the idea of lobbying on principle for energy freedom, and you have a track record of great accomplishment, email hiring@energyfreedom.org.

---

“Energy Talking Points by Alex Epstein” is my free Substack newsletter designed to give as many people as possible access to concise, powerful, well-referenced talking points on the latest energy, environmental, and climate issues from a pro-human, pro-energy perspective.