Bloomberg Philanthropies funds the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center at NYU School of Law, which pays salaries to assistant attorneys working in state attorney general’s offices. This helps advance the climate agenda of the center.

Dairy groups in Wisconsin have sued the state’s Justice Department (DOJ) and Attorney General over an agreement made between the Wisconsin DOJ, and a climate activism center at the New York University School of Law funded by the Bloomberg Foundation.

Bloomberg Philanthropies gave $6 million to NYU in 2017 for the State Energy & Environmental Impact Center. The center was founded in 2017 as a reaction to the first Trump administration’s efforts to deregulate the environment.

According to the website, the organization “supports state attorneys general’s work in defending and enforcing strong laws and policies on climate, environmental justice and protection, as well as clean energy and environmental protection.”

The fellowship program at the center provides “special assistants” to state attorney general offices. E&E News reported that in 2022, the program provided attorneys to at least 10 states as well as the District of Columbia.

There is no free lunch

In an apparent attempt to provide her services free, the program paid a $90,000 salary per year for a special assistant Attorney General within the Wisconsin Attorney General’s Office. The lawsuit claims that “nothing is free in this world” and that the special assistant was hired to advance the climate-focused agenda of the center.

According to the lawsuit, the assistant attorney has the same powers as any other assistant attorney general in the Wisconsin DOJ. The unit where the special assistant is employed is involved in litigation and permitting, as well as regulatory enforcement. This can lead to legal fees and fines for dairy farmers and other industries.

“Such a deal between a special interests group and a Republican attorney general would be equally outrageous and illegal. It’s not hard to imagine the reaction of Gun Owners of America if they deputized a “Second Amendment Fellow” as a SAAG (special assistant attorney general). Or a ‘Anti Abortion Fellow’ who is empowered to act for the State and paid by National Right to Life. The lawsuit claims that the illegal agreement at issue is not different from other similar agreements.

The lawsuit alleges that the arrangement violates state constitution and is illegal.

Beyond private jets

Bloomberg has spent billions to try and stop Americans from using fossil fuels. This is despite the fact that he has a carbon footprint much higher than average American.

Bloomberg invested $10 million in 2011 into the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign. In 2019, he launched his “Beyond Carbon” campaign to end the use of fossil fuels in the U.S. He invested another $500 million in the campaign in 2023. The announcement boasts that the campaign has been able to close 70% of coal plants in the United States and more than 30% planned gas capacity.

In recent years, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (a grid watchdog) has found that the retirement of generators with dispatchable capability is increasing the risk of blackouts in many parts of the United States.

Bloomberg spends billions of dollars to shut down America’s baseload electricity generators. However, Business Insider found that Bloomberg’s jets made more than 1,700 flights between August 2016 and August 2020. They also emitted over 10,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide. This is compared to the average car which emits about 4.6 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide per year.

Rural farmers as a target

Bloomberg Philanthropies, through the NYU Center for Bloomberg Philanthropies, funds state attorney generals in order to promote Bloomberg’s political agenda. It maintains a database on actions taken by state attorneys general to “advance laws and policies related to clean energy, climate change and the environment.”

In 2019, the center published a report that tallied 300 actions taken by state attorneys general since the beginning of the Trump administration. These actions included “fighting climate change, advancing clean energy and defending the bedrock environmental law.”

The Wisconsin lawsuit claims that the legal fellow provided by the center to the state DOJ represents the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in several active cases. This includes an enforcement action taken against a farmer for a “ditching” project that was deemed by the DNR to have impacted wetlands, and required a permit.

According to the lawsuit filed by the DNR, dairy farmers who qualify as “concentrated livestock feeding operations” must obtain certain permits. DNR staff also conduct regular site visits to ensure compliance to regulations governing manure storage and other agricultural regulations.

Regulations add to the costs of operations for an industry struggling to survive.

In 1970, the U.S. had 648,000 dairy farms. By 2022, this number would have dropped to 24470. According to The Bullvine, an industry publication for the dairy industry, the disappearance of dairy farms results in economic and job losses across rural communities.

Just the News contacted the Wisconsin DOJ by email and phone for a comment on the case, but did not receive a reply.

Matt Fisher, a spokesperson for the Wisconsin Republican Party, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in the past that “Wisconsinites are alarmed by the fact that Michael Bloomberg has funded his personal government prosecutor so that he can do his bidding.”

Gillian Drummond is the communications director of Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul. She told The Sentinel, that the special assistant assists the DOJ in enforcing state laws protecting consumers, natural resources, and the environment.

Drummond stated that Attorney General Kaul was committed to protecting the clean water supply and fighting climate change.

National Campaign

In response to the center’s activities, legislation has been introduced in an attempt to stop its operations. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) introduced legislation in 2024 to prevent nonprofits from directly funding state attorneys general.

Minnesota legislators introduced bills in 2021 that would prohibit outside lawyers who are paid privately from working at the Attorney General’s Office. The Minnesota attorney general’s offices hired two assistant attorneys general from the center in 2020. This was brought up during the hearings for the bill.

Minnesota has filed a suit against oil companies, industry groups and other parties alleging damages caused by climate changes. On the complaint, the two special assistant attorney generals from the Bloomberg-funded NYU Center are listed as attorneys.

Legal Newsline reported that in 2023, Minnesota Attorney-General Keith Ellison placed a job advertisement in the Minnesota Star Tribune