By SUZANNE DOWNING
Sept. 4, 2026 – Mary Peltola is campaigning for the US Senate as an unabashed supporter of Alaska oil and gas development. But nearly $1 million connected to environmental activists and a climate-focused fundraising network has flowed into her campaign this year, raising questions about which version of Peltola voters should believe.
On the campaign trail, the former Democratic congresswoman says she will promote oil and natural gas production, cut federal permitting delays, support the Alaska LNG project and defend ConocoPhillips’ Willow development on the North Slope.
Her newly released energy plan promises that she will “stand up to anyone” to advance Alaska energy production and create oil and gas jobs.
Yet the people helping finance her return to Washington include wealthy environmental activists, climate philanthropists and employees of organizations that have fought Willow, opposed drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, attacked the Alaska LNG project and sought to block the Ambler Access Project.
A Washington Free Beacon review published Thursday identified at least 23 prominent environmental activists and climate-focused donors who gave Peltola nearly $100,000 during the first half of 2026.
But that is only the most easily identifiable money.
Campaign-finance records reviewed by The Alaska Story show another $855,000 was transferred to Peltola’s campaign through the Fish Family Freedom Fund, a joint fundraising committee promoted through GiveGreen, the environmental movement’s political fundraising platform.
That brings the money associated with the environmental fundraising network and directly identifiable green donors to roughly $953,000 — and the $98,000 figure should be considered a floor, not a ceiling, because it counts only donors with readily identifiable ties to prominent environmental organizations and climate philanthropy.
The Fish Family Freedom Fund was created in January to collect large contributions and divide the money among Peltola’s campaign, the Alaska Democratic Party, her Cache PAC, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.
Its GiveGreen page says it is paid for by the League of Conservation Voters Action Fund and authorized by the committee. GiveGreen tells prospective donors that its mission is to elect candidates who will take “bold action on climate.”
Federal Election Commission records show the Fish Family Freedom Fund raised nearly $1.29 million through June 30 and transferred more than $1.16 million to its participating Democratic committees.
Among Peltola’s direct contributors is Malinda Chouinard, co-founder of Patagonia, who gave $3,500 in April.
Patagonia has been one of the most aggressive corporate opponents of Alaska development. It urged the Biden administration to reject Willow leases, warning that the project would contribute to “truly catastrophic climate change.” The company later filed a legal brief supporting litigation intended to stop the project.
Patagonia has also opposed new drilling in the National Petroleum Reserve-Alaska and warned that the Ambler Road would jeopardize “one of the last great intact ecosystems in our country.”
Daniel Tishman, a real estate heir and former chairman of the Natural Resources Defense Council, gave Peltola $3,500. His wife, Sheryl Tishman, gave $7,000.
NRDC joined litigation against Willow after the Biden administration approved a reduced version of the project in 2023. An NRDC official accused the administration of “green-lighting a carbon bomb” and emboldening an oil industry “hell-bent on destroying the planet.”
The organization has been equally direct about another long-running Alaska priority: “The Arctic Refuge is no place for drilling.”
Other Peltola donors include Peter Lehner and Todd True of Earthjustice, which has been involved in litigation targeting Willow and other Alaska development projects.
Earthjustice has said Willow “lit the fuse on a carbon bomb.”
Wendy Schmidt, president of the Schmidt Family Foundation and the 11th Hour Project, gave Peltola $3,500. The 11th Hour Project has funded efforts aimed at stopping further fossil-fuel development.
James Gamble of Pacific Environment also contributed. Gamble has called for a transition away from all fossil fuels, including liquefied natural gas.
Pacific Environment has attacked the proposed Alaska LNG pipeline as a “climate-wrecking” project tied to a “dirty, dying industry.” The organization said Alaska should stop pursuing what it called an “antiquated pipe dream.”
Other contributors include Alida Rockefeller Messinger, a major environmental donor; Bob Epstein, a co-founder of Environmental Entrepreneurs and an NRDC trustee; Dee and Richard Lawrence, associated with climate philanthropy and the High Tide Foundation; and Catherine Walling, a co-founder of the Fairbanks Climate Action Coalition.
Peltola’s campaign says the contributions will not influence her.
“Mary’s record is clear: She will always put Alaska first, and no one from the Lower 48 will ever tell her how to vote or how to think,” a campaign spokesman told the Free Beacon.
The spokesman said Peltola helped secure approval of Willow and supports oil and gas employment, American energy independence and lower energy costs.
But Peltola’s own previous comments reveal a more complicated position than the full-throated pro-development image she is now presenting to Alaska voters.
During a 2023 podcast appearance with former Bernie Sanders speechwriter David Sirota, Peltola described Alaska oil as a temporary bridge to a renewable-energy future.
“Of course we all want to transition, of course we all want to be on renewables,” Peltola said. “But we recognize we need gap oil.”
Her congressional record also includes a notable reversal involving ANWR.
Peltola served as a Democratic co-lead on the Alaska’s Right to Produce Act, legislation intended to reverse Biden administration restrictions on Alaska oil and gas development. She supported the bill in public but at the same time sent a letter encouraging her Democratic colleagues to vote against it.
When the measure reached the House floor, Peltola simply voted “present.”
The bill passed without her support.
Peltola is also drawing a salary from the campaign being financed by those donors. FEC records show that she paid herself $34,400 from campaign funds during the first half of the year. Federal candidates may legally receive campaign salaries under certain conditions, but the arrangement means a portion of the money supplied by her donors is now being used to provide Peltola with a personal paycheck.
“Mary Peltola betrayed Alaska’s energy industry once behind closed doors, and now she’s taking a paycheck from billionaire far-left climate lunatics who want to completely shut down Alaska,” RNC spokesman Nick Poche said.
The political contradiction is difficult to miss.
In Alaska, Peltola presents herself as the Democrat willing to fight her party and champion Willow, ANWR, Alaska LNG and expanded oil production. Outside Alaska, she is raising money through the same environmental political network whose members and allied organizations are fighting those projects in court and describing them as threats to the planet.
Peltola says Lower 48 interests will never tell her how to vote. Alaskans must now decide why so many of those interests are investing so heavily in electing her.
2 thoughts on “Peltola talks about her pro-oil stance, but take a look at the billionaire greenies behind her”
Peltola is now, and always has been, nothing more a vacuous shill for her party handlers and their big dark money backers.
That is, when she actually shows up for a vote, which isn’t often.
Woe be it to Alaska if this charade is endorsed by the voters.
The Bethel skwa is a two-faced frickin liar. She hates oil companies, but loves the product oil delivers to all of us. Those airplanes don’t fly on solar panels or wind-driven generators. The skwa is also an idiot.