American Conservation Coalition (ACC)

Background

The American Conservation Coalition (ACC) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit launched in 2017 by young conservatives who aimed to promote “conservative environmentalism.”¹

In 2021, ACC founder Benji Backer told NBC News: “You have all these groups on the left, and then no groups on the right. That’s the market gap that we fit. We are really the first and only grassroots movement in this space.”²

According to their website, the group believes “we can steward our natural heritage with pro-human policy that promotes responsible development and energy abundance.”³

While ACC describes itself as a conservative environmental group, its policies align closely with fossil-fuel-friendly approaches to climate change, such as carbon capture storage (CCS), nuclear, free markets, pipelines, natural gas, and tree planting.

The group’s financial supporters and leadership have embraced the Trump administration’s so-called “energy dominance” agenda, while its financial supporters include fossil fuel companies and right-wing political networks, including the Koch network.“American Energy Dominance Is Back Under President Trump.”⁴ ⁵

DeSmog reporting in November 2026 found that ACC and its sister group ACC Action were among the groups pushing the Senate’s permitting reform bill alongside AI companies and the fossil fuel industry. The group also publicly backed data centers and held at least three “energy freedom” events alongside Trump Administration officials.⁶

ACC’s board membership includes “ardent Trump supporter” Joe Lonsdale. Lonsdale is the founder of the Cicero Institute, a group which reportedly “commandeered Republican policy on homelessness.”⁷ ⁸ ⁹

The group also partners with far-right groups. In 2026, ACC jointly published a “study guide” with American Moment advocating for “a coordinated strategy for energy dominance” to meet the energy demand of new American data centers.¹⁰

American Moment is a member of Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s policy playbook for Donald Trump’s second presidential administration. As DeSmog previously reported, “Project 2025 is a plan to rapidly ‘reform’ the U.S. government by shuttering bureaus and offices, overturning regulations, and replacing thousands of public sector employees with hand-picked political allies of Trump.”¹¹ ¹² ¹³

According to ACC’s 2025 tax filing, ACC gave the group $374,000 that year to “educate about critical energy dominance issues.”¹⁴

ACC Action “Dark Money”

While ACC operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, it also has a 501(c)(4) counterpart called The American Conservation Coalition Action (ACC Action).

A key difference between the two nonprofit designations is that a 501(c)(4) is permitted some political lobbying while a 501(c)(3) is not. ProPublica described it as a “massive loophole” with (c)(4) nonprofits where they are permitted anonymous donations towards politics, often referred to as “dark money,” “as long as politics isn’t the organization’s ‘primary activity.’”¹⁵

American Conservation Coalition PAC

ACC action has also funneled $968,225 between 2024 and 2025 to its political action committee, American Conservation Coalition PAC, according to IRS tax filings.¹⁶ ¹⁷

Raw disbursement data from the Federal Election Commission shows top recipients of ACC PAC funds in 2026 include¹⁸public affairs firm Rhumb Line Strategies as well as individual campaigns such as Jeff Hurd for Congress, Alfonso for Congress, and Joe Mitchell for Congress.¹⁹

Reporting by DeSmog in November 2026 found some of the recipients of ACC’s PAC donations ran on pro-data center and energy abundance platforms. For example, congressional Colorado candidate Joe Mitchell ran in a district who recently approved a data center.Green, Miranda. “How a Republican Conservation Group Became a Data Center Booster.” DeSmog, 13 Nov. 2026, https://www.desmog.com/2026/11/13/american-conservation-coalition-data-centers-baaja-permitting-reform/.

ACC Campus and The Conservation Coalition

According to IRS tax filings, the American Conservation Coalition was initially called American Conservation Coalition Campus (website: accc.eco), then, as of 2020 filings, became The Conservation Coalition (website: tcc.eco), and finally as of 2022, the American Conservation Coalition.²⁰ ²¹ ²²

The American Conservation Coalition’s archived website as of 2020 described the group as “a youth movement to reform the culture around environmentalism.”²³

According to their archived website, they “advocate for market-driven solutions that work, and celebrate the power of individual action.”²⁴

Permitting Reform

DeSmog reporting found that ACC has been lobbying the U.S. Congress to support permitting reform. According to an October 2026 lobbying disclosure, ACC Action hired lobbyists to lobby congressional offices to pass the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act.²⁵ ²⁶

The group has also invested in digital advertising. After the November 2026 Midterms Election, ACC spent between $5,700 and $7,695 on Facebook ads supporting permitting reform.²⁷

The group pushed a similar message on X.²⁸

Ties to the Trump Administration

November 2026 reporting from DeSmog found the group held numerous events with Trump cabinet secretaries and a group affiliated with Trump megadonor and founder and chairman of Continental Resources Harold Hamm the Energy Freedom Tour In 2025, ACC co-hosted the Energy Freedom Tour with the Hamm Institute for American Energy. From the reporting:²⁹

“The Energy Freedom college tour boasted high profile speakers including Google’s head of energy market development, the CEOs of major power companies Southern Company and Duke Energy, Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum. Burgum reportedly stands to gain from data center build outs and has invested heavily in the AI industry, according to a recent ProPublica investigation.”

In 2025, reporting from Grist found the group has “extensive ties” to the Trump administration: Department of Energy Secretary Chris Wright is a “personal friend” to ACC and hosted a fundraiser for the coalition. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum led a town hall in New Hampshire with Chris Barnard, the organization’s president. And Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has worked on various issues with the ACC.³⁰

Support for Data Centers

In June 2026, ACC published a report entitled “Addressing the Environmental & Community Concerns around Data Centers, Separating Fact from Fiction.” The report claims that the public backlash against data centers is driven by “overblown narratives” that could “jeopardize the buildout of AI infrastructure” and that “water impacts are localized and often overstated.”³¹

The report also argues that “data center companies are already helping finance infrastructure that was going to be needed anyway.” The report concludes that AI/data center technology is “here to stay,” adding that “data centers themselves can and should help drive these solutions forward.” “The challenge ahead is not whether we adopt these technologies, but how we manage their growth in a way that strengthens the grid, supports communities and our natural resources, and ensures the United States leads the rest of the world at the technological frontier.”³²

ACC’s advocacy arm, ACC Action, promoted polling in support of data centers. In an August 28, 2026 social media post, the group wrote that “there’s a lot of misinformation about how data centers work, especially around water use, and that data centers can reuse cooling water for up to 10 years.” The post added, “support for data centers jumps by 31 points when voters learn this,” citing the Rainey Center polling.³³

Event Sponsorships

ACC has received event sponsorships from fossil fuel and AI companies, as well as groups in the Koch network.³⁴ ³⁵ ³⁶

These include:

ExxonMobil
Devon Energy
Hamm Institute for American Energy
Continental Resources
Anthropic
Stand Together Trust

From DeSmog’s reporting: In 2024, it received 100,000 for “special initiatives” from the tech founder David Packard’s family foundation.

Packard’s co-founder, William Hewlett, also financially backed the group through his foundation, giving it $551,500 in grants between 2018 and 2023.³⁷

In June 2026, according to DeSmog reporting, ACC co-hosted the Energy Imperatives Summit in Washington, D.C. From the reporting:³⁸

“The event’s sponsors, alongside renewable energy companies, included gas giant ExxonMobil and AI company Anthropic. Anthropic’s data center energy lead, Google’s head of energy and sustainability policy, and Meta’s principal of energy strategy also spoke on a panel titled ‘Power AI.’ ACC’s president Barnard interviewed gas company CEO Toby Rice of EQT about exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG) and as Rice said ‘win[ning] the race for AI in the West.’”

Stance on Climate Change

April 24, 2023

In 2023, following a Republican presidential debate, ACC said that climate change is real but accepting the “problem doesn’t mean accepting the Left’s big government policies.”³⁹

“Our movement has worked hard to bring climate change to the forefront of the presidential debate. Climate change is real, but accepting the problem doesn’t mean accepting the Left’s big government policies. Data shows that millions of young conservatives and independents are looking for climate-forward candidates.”

April 21, 2020

ACC released “The American Climate Contract,” which it described as “the conservative response to climate change.”⁴⁰

“This groundbreaking proposal is the alternative to unrealistic and ineffective, progressive climate policies. The American Climate Contract lays out a clear vision for success in the fight against climate change by focusing on four key policy areas: Energy Innovation, 21st Century Infrastructure, Natural Solutions, and Global Engagement,” ACC claimed.

ACC hosted the document at climatesolution.eco, where it began:⁴¹

“Climate change is among the most significant challenges facing the United States—and the world — in the 21st century. From rising sea-levels to increased extreme weather events, our health, well-being, and security will be impacted without significant decreases in global greenhouse gas emissions.

“Sound science demonstrates that there is an undeniable link between human activity, particularly greenhouse gas emissions, and climate change. It is vital that the United States government, foreign partners, and the private sector work jointly to reduce global emissions and help communities adapt to the direct and indirect impacts of climate change.”

Under a page on what the Contract would “look like in action,” ACC’s offered climate change solutions included:

“Expand nuclear energy”
“Deploy Carbon Capture and Sequestration technology”
Deregulating state energy markets to “Allow consumers to choose clean energy by opening up energy markets”
“Expand public-private partnerships” and “commercialize” clean energy.

For infrastructure solutions, they suggested building more pipelines:

“Grow pipeline infrastructure. Pipelines are the safest and least carbon-intensive way to transport natural gas,” they wrote.

Under “Natural solutions,” they argue for private land management and planting trees:

“Encourage better public and private land management practices that sequester carbon and better support our wildlife,“ they suggested.

Under “Global Engagement,” they note that “The U.S. accounts for less than 15% of global greenhouse gas emissions” and that “Climate change is fundamentally a global problem.”