Heather R. Zichal

Credentials

• Bachelor’s Degree, Environmental Policy, Rutgers University. [1]

Background

Heather R. Zichal is the former Deputy Assistant to the President for Energy and Climate Change from 2009 to 2013. In that role, she served as President Barack Obama’s top White House advisor on energy and climate change. She also worked as the Policy Director to the Obama Campaign, where she helped to draft the 2008 energy platform. [1] Zichal is currently an advisor to presidential candidate Joe Biden on the issues of climate change and energy.

As noted at the Revolving Door Project, Zichal transitioned to industry employment after the White House, serving on the board of directors of Cheniere Energy where she was appointed as a director in June 2014 and worked until July 2018. During that time period, according to SEC filings, Zichal was compensated a total of $1,081,910 in combined fees or stock awards. [2]

DeSmog reported Zichal met at least twice with Cheniere executives while she was still working for the White House and shortly before her nomination to the Cheniere board. [3]

Zichal has also served on the external advisory council on sustainability for PG&E, named to the position in October 2015. She also worked with PG&E “on policy issues around climate change” while still at the Obama Administration. In a promotional video for the utility company made in June 2016, Zichal said “PG&E as a utility is absolutely committed to getting this right for their customers, and also for the environment.” The company was held criminally liable in June 2020 for sparking the most lethal wildfire in California history in Paradise, California. [4], [5], [6]

Zichal also works as an operating advisor at the capital investment firm Broadscale Group, and on the Board of Directors of the bioenergy company Abengoa Bioenergy. [7] 

Abengoa specializes in cellulosic ethanol, using corn stalks to produce the bioenergy. A Spain-based corporation, Abengoa filed for bankruptcy in February 2016, when Zichal was still on the Board, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in April 2016. The company benefited from a $132 million loan in 2011 from the U.S. Department of Energy under the Obama Administration. The Energy Department said the company’s Kansas-based ethanol plant is “expected to produce enough clean fuel to save 14,900,000 gallons of gasoline and prevent 132,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions each year.” But a 2014 study by University of Nebraska researchers concluded that biofuels derived from crop residue increase carbon emissions, potentially emitting more CO2 than gasoline. That study was funded by the federal government. [8], [9], [10], [11], [12], [13], [14]

Zichal joined Broadscale at least as far back as 2016. Broadscale was founded and backed by the private equity fund Pegasus Capital Advisors in 2012 to “help new technologies in the energy sector move to commercialization.” Broadscale teams up with utility sector companies Duke Energy and Electric Grid, as well as industry trade association Edison Electric Institute, “acting as both an investment firm and one that matches technologies with utility needs,” industry trade publication Energy Power Daily reported. Jim Rogers, former CEO of Duke Energy and chairman of Edison Electric Institute, was a senior advisor for Broadscale until his death in 2018. [15], [16], [17]

The firm has investments in both fracking and in the natural gas exports sector. For fracking, Broadscale is an investor and shareholder in the company TouGas Oilfield Solutions, a German company attempting to pioneer fracking with a manufactured gel instead of water. [18], [19]

“By enabling hydraulic fracturing without freshwater, TouGas can reduce operators’ costs substantially and deliver a game-changing environmental breakthrough,” said Broadscale founder and partner, Andrew Shapiro, in announcing the investment in the company in September 2015. “We look forward to working closely with TouGas to expand its business, particularly in North America.”

According to a 2013 story published in the German publication Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Tougas has ambitions to spread its fracking technology to China and South America. [20]

Shapiro said Broadscale makes money by “taking a stake in every transaction.” [21]

For gas exports, Broadscale has an investment partnership with the company GDF Suez which began in 2014. GDF Suez became ENGIE in April 2015. [22]

“With a deep commitment to innovation and deep expertise across the power generation, natural gas and LNG, and energy services businesses, GDF SUEZ is a great fit,” Shapiro said in a press release. 

“We bring capital to the table with Pegasus and intend to participate in deals to have an aligned interest, to forge a new model of fund advisory,” he further explained. [21]

ENGIE also has had a business relationship with Cheniere. Cheniere signed a five-year Sale and Purchase Agreement with ENGIE in October 2015 to buy exported LNG from the Sabine Pass and Corpus Christi terminals. The LNG was to be shipped primarily to the Montoir-de-Bretagne LNG terminal in France. ENGIE has the largest gas distribution network in Europe and is one of the largest LNG companies in the world, and the largest European LNG importer. [23]

ENGIE also owned a stake in the Cameron LNG export facility located in Hackberry, Louisiana until 2018, when the French company Total purchased ENGIE’s upstream LNG assets for $1.5 billion, including its stake in Cameron LNG and its LNG tankers. Its LNG import business remains in tow. [24]

In 2015, Zichal became a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center. DeSmog has noted that corporate donors to the Atlantic Council, as of 2015, included Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP as well as Cheniere Energy. [25], [26], [27]

The think tank came under scrutiny by The New York Times in a 2016 investigation, which revealed that it had a Corporate Partners Program for donors who gave $50,000 or more per year which offered benefits to the corporations that funded it. Those benefits included an “unprecedented level of information and access,” according to a document obtained by the newspaper. The Atlantic Council then changed that section of the pamphlet to read that the program gives “companies timely information and access to thought leaders. [28], [29], [30]

Cheniere gave the Atlantic Council money at a level of $250,000–$500,000 for 2019, a level which allows for every perk offered within the Corporate Partners Program, including the “opportunity to customize your benefits package” and the chance to “feature a senior executive with relevant experience to the topic as a speaker or introducer” at Atlantic Council events. Christopher Smith, Cheniere’s senior vice president for policy, government, and public affairs and the Assistant Secretary for Fossil Energy at the U.S. Department of Energy for the Obama Administration, presented Cheniere’s 2019 Corporate Responsibility Report before the Atlantic Council in a virtual fireside chat on July 16, 2020. [31]

In January 2018, Zichal became the vice president for corporate engagement for the Nature Conservancy. The global nonprofit has come under criticism for earning money off of an oil well in Texas in exchange for a land conservation deal. The group also supports carbon capture utilization and sequestration (CCUS) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). EOR is a drilling technique in which carbon dioxide is injected into wells to extract the oil still in place under the ground after initial drilling runs dry. [32], [33], [34]

At a February 2020 congressional hearing, Nature Conservancy testified in support of the USE IT Act. Under Zichal’s tenure, Nature Conservancy became a member of the Carbon Capture Coalition, formerly known as the National Enhanced Oil Recovery Initiative, which supports bolstering EOR production. That group’s members include Peabody Energy, Prairie State Generating Company, Glenrock Petroleum, Baker Hughes and Shell, among others. Broadscale Group also manufactures a polymer for EOR to facilitate that drilling process. [35], [36], [37], [19]

Zichal attended the 2019 responsible investment annual briefing hosted by Shell Oil. Like Shell, Nature Conservancy pushes for “natural climate solutions,” or land conservation-based initiatives to store carbon under the ground. Climate justice groups have critiqued nature-based solutions as letting fossil fuel companies off the hook and also potentially leading to issues like land grabs and the commoditization of forestry-based natural ecosystems. They also critique the lack of guaranteed permanence of storing carbon in the ground through land-based carbon sequestration and its ties to offset system protocols like cap-and-trade. When Shell announced its plan to use these solutions and reduce its net carbon footprint, Nature Conservancy praised the corporation in the company’s press release. [38], [39], [40], [41], [42], [43], [44], [45]

Shell had lobbied extensively for Arctic drilling, something granted and then denied by the Obama Administration. Zichal served as the industry point of contact on getting this initiative pushed forward as the head of an interagency group created by a July 11, 2011 Obama Executive Order. Shell Senior Counsel and lobbyist Sara Glenn met 13 times with Zichal, and wrote a 2015 email to Obama Interior Department officials longing for her presence in the White House, writing “Very disappointing to hear from you where the issue stands today. In the old days, Heather Zichal would have moderated to bring matters to a resolution.” Obama would eventually issue a drilling permit to Shell in 2012, then rescind that order and ban Arctic drilling toward the end of his presidency in 2016. [46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51]

Nature Conservancy was also a partner in creating the Climate Leadership Council, which calls for a carbon tax in exchange for an “end to federal and state tort liability for emitters.” The coalition eventually dropped that part of its policy platform. Fossil fuel industry members of the council include ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips and Total. [52], [53], [54]

Just before Zichal left Nature Conservancy, the group entered into the CEO Climate Dialogue, a nexus of major green groups including Environmental Defense Fund and World Resources Institute, alongside major fossil fuel companies such as BP, Shell, Dominion Energy, Dupont, Dow Chemical, and Pacific Gas and Electric. As many climate activists called for a Green New Deal, the CEO Climate Dialogue called instead for a “market-based solution” to the climate crisis. Like the Climate Leadership Council, the group called for a carbon tax as “the best way to use the power of the market to achieve carbon reduction goals in a simple, coherent and efficient manner.” [55]

Obama Years

When she worked for the Obama Administration, E&E News described Heather Zichal as “the White House’s chief ambassador to oil and gas companies,” and noted that she met more than 20 times with industry groups and company executives lobbying for favorable hydraulic fracturing (fracking) rules in 2012. Those groups included the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), along with BP America Inc., Devon Energy Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp. During her time at the White House, Zichal was chosen to head an “interagency working group” requested by API to coordinate drilling policy. [56]

Zichal previously worked as Legislative Director to Senator John Kerry and also managed energy and environmental issues for his 2004 presidential campaign. Prior to that she served as Legislative Director for Reps. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) and Rush Holt (D-NJ). [57]

Fossil Fuel Compensation

The following is based on publicly available disclosures at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission: [2]

Cheniere Energy

Fiscal Year	Fees Earned or Paid in Cash	Stock Awards	Total
2014	$38,397	$403,956	$442,353
2015	$90,000	$90,025	$180,025
2016	$90,000	$90,014	$180,014
2017	$98,750	$120,021	$218,771
2018	$60,747	$0	$60,747
Grand Total	$377,894	$704,016	$1,081,910

Stance on Climate Change

May 10, 2019

In an interview with Reuters, which confirmed Zichal was advising presidential hopeful Joe Biden on climate change, she called for a “middle ground” stance on climate change and added that “unless we find middle ground on these issues, we risk not having any policies.” [58]

“I respect where they (activist groups) are coming from,” Zichal said. “What we learned from the Obama administration is unless we find middle ground on these issues, we risk not having any policies.”

Reuters reported that Zichal gathered “policy advice on Biden’s behalf from experts” for his campaign, including from Ernest Moniz, former U.S. Secretary of Energy under Obama, and Frank Verrastro, former deputy assistant secretary for international energy resources for the U.S. Department of Energy. [58]

Moniz heads up the non-profit group Energy Futures Initiative, which supports a “Green Real Deal” as a counter to a Green New Deal. The group also backs an “all of the above” energy policy through a partnership with labor unions called the Labor Energy Partnership formed on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day. Moniz is also on the Board of Directors of Southern Company, which invests in carbon capture and sequestration and enhanced oil recovery research and development. Additionally, Moniz co-owns an LNG export terminal proposal called G2 Net Zero LNG through his for-profit consultancy, EJM Associates. [87]

Verrastro is the Senior Advisor for the Energy Security and Climate Change Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), and a former oil and gas industry executive for the companies Tosco and Pennzoil. CSIS is funded by the Charles Koch Foundation and oil and gas corporations such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP, Shell, Cheniere, Total, ConocoPhillips, Saudi Aramco and others. He is also on the National Petroleum Council, an advisory council of the U.S. Department of Energy which contains a roster of oil and gas industry CEOs and executives. [88], [89]

Zichal formerly served as a fellow at CSIS. While working for the White House, she spoke at an event moderated by Verrastro at CSIS in February 2013. Verrastro was also visited Zichal in the White House, according to White House meeting log records. [90], [91], [67]

Both Zichal and Moniz are listed on the Policy Advisory Board to the Biden Institute at the University of Delaware. [92]

Key Quotes

June 8, 2016

“That’s the politics of Trump, the politics of Mitch McConnell, and the politics of Big Polluters. It’s their way or the highway. We shouldn’t join them in a burn-it-down march to the ideological sea. But when I close my eyes and listen to some Sanders supporters outrage about the environmental planks of the Democratic Party Platform, I hear echoes of the Tea Party.” [59]

May 4, 2012

“[I]t’s imperative that we develop our natural gas resources in a safe and responsible way. For the Administration, this is a top priority” — Zichal White House blog. [60]

May 4, 2012

“Just think about it: a few years ago, the conventional wisdom was that the United States would need to build more terminals to import natural gas overseas. And today, America is the world’s leading producer of natural gas and we’re actually exploring opportunities for exports.” – Presentation at American Petroleum Institute workshop. [61]

Key Deeds

2019

Zichal attended the 2019 responsible investment annual briefing hosted by Shell Oil. [38]

2012–2013

Zichal met with Cheniere executives while she still worked for the White House, before her board nomination at Cheniere. [3]

As reported at DeSmog and E&E News, Zichal met more than 20 times in 2012 with industry groups and company executives lobbying on the Bureau of Land Management’s proposal for fracking on public land. This was according to a review of White House visitor records. [62], [56]

“Among them were the American Petroleum Institute (API) and the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), along with BP America Inc., Devon Energy Corp. and Exxon Mobil Corp.” E&E News reported. [56]

As part of its 171-page document of rules, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), part of the U.S. Dept. of Interior (DOI), revealed it will adopt the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model bill written by ExxonMobil for fracking chemical fluid disclosure on U.S. public lands. [63]

Cheniere Energy joined ALEC’s Energy, Environment and Agriculture Task Force in 2013 and has since sponsored ALEC meetings. [64], [65]

BLM would use an iteration of ALEC‘s “Disclosure of Hydraulic Fracturing Fluid Composition Act.” The New York Times revealed the bill was written by ExxonMobil. [66]

“The rule really reflects who has had the most access and who is being listened to,” Fran Hunt of the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Gas” campaign told EnergyWire. “They’ve been following the road signs put up by industry.” [56]

April 17, 2013

According to public White House visitor records, Zichal met with Charles Drevna and Jack Gerard among others. Those at the meeting included: [67]

• Craig Felner
• Jack Gerard
• Khary Cauthen
• Theresa Fariello
• Erik Baptist
• Gina Bowman
• Kevin Brown
• Charles Drevna
• Robert GrecoIII
• Gary Heminger
• Michael Jennings
• William Klesse
• John Lipinski
• Misty McGowen
• Geoffrey Moody
• Thomas O’Malley
• Geoffroy Petit
• Jeffrey Reamy
• Patricia Richards
• Dave Sander
• Ann Travis
• Dale Walsh
• Darren Woods
• Lawrence Ziemba

May 14, 2012

Zichal was a keynote speaker at an American Petroleum Institute (API) workshop on “Hydraulic Fracturing Recommended Practices” where she discussed her efforts on fracking during the Obama administration. [61]

“It’s hard to overstate how natural gas — and our ability to access more of it than ever — has become a game-changer and that’s why it’s been a fixture of the President’s ‘All of the Above’ energy strategy,” she told API.

“Just think about it: a few years ago, the conventional wisdom was that the United States would need to build more terminals to import natural gas overseas. And today, America is the world’s leading producer of natural gas and we’re actually exploring opportunities for exports.”

According to Bloomberg, one of Zichal’s tasks on the board of Cheniere “is wooing Jack Gerard, chief executive officer of the oil group who has described administration policies as ‘absurd’ and ‘wishful thinking.’” [68]

According to documents obtained via a freedom of information request (see page 531), sponsoring groups for the workshop included: [69]

• American Gas Association
• America’s Natural Gas Alliance
• American Exploration & Production Council
• The INGAA Foundation, Inc.
• Institute for 3st Century Energy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
• Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA)
• National Association of Manufacturers
• Natural Gas Supply Association
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce

March–April 2012

At a March 12, 2012 White House press briefing, Zichal praised President Barack Obama for giving a permit for the southern leg of the Keystone XL Pipeline. She said she was “encouraged” that “the pipeline will be going forward” and “that’s a portion of the pipeline that’s not controversial.” That section of the pipeline would be subject to months of grassroots resistance in a movement called the Tar Sands Blockade. [70]

Zichal oversaw the Bakken Federal Executives Group, which was created through the signing of Executive Order 13604 on March 22, 2012. That order was part of the same package that called for expedited building of the southern leg of the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline. [71], [72], [73]

On April 13, 2012, the Obama Administration announced that Zichal would head up an Interagency Working Group to Support Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources to promote fracking. On the same day of the announcement, Zichal met with officials from American Petroleum Institute, American Chemistry Council, American Gas Association and America’s Natural Gas Alliance. The American Gas Association praised the creation of the group in a press release days after it was announced, as did the American Petroleum Institute in an article published by The New York Times. [74], [75], [76], [77]

Three days later, the Obama Administration gave Cheniere the first ever LNG exports permit of the fracking era for its Sabine Pass terminal. [78]

2011 – 2012

Emails obtained through public records requests revealed Zichal was closely monitoring an unreleased EPA report concerning groundwater contamination from fracking in Pavillion, Wyoming. [69]

After a 2011 draft report of the EPA’s scientific study appeared to confirm groundwater contamination, intense industry pushback forced the EPA to surrender its unfinished report to regulators in Wyoming, who were known for lax enforcement. The remaining study research was financed by EnCana, “the very drilling company whose wells may have caused the contamination.” According to E&E News, environmental groups contended “that politics might have been intruding on science.” [79]

July 11, 2011

Zichal served as the industry point of contact on getting Arctic drilling for Shell Oil pushed forward as the head of an interagency group created by a July 11, 2011 Obama Executive Order. Shell Senior Counsel and lobbyist Sara Glenn met 13 times with Zichal and even wrote a 2015 email to Obama Interior Department officials longing for her presence in the White House, writing “Very disappointing to hear from you where the issue stands today. In the old days, Heather Zichal would have moderated to bring matters to a resolution.” Obama would eventually hand a drilling permit to Shell in 2012, then rescind that order and ban Arctic drilling toward the end of his presidency in 2016.  [46], [47], [48], [49], [50], [51]

Affiliations

• Broadscale — Operating advisor. [7]
• Biden Institute at the University of Delaware — Member, Policy Advisory Board. [92]
• Abengoa Bioenergy — Board Member.  [7]
• Sensity — Senior advisor.  [7]
• Naturevest — Board member.  [7]
• Cheniere — Nominated as director in April 2014. Appointed in June 2014. Resigned on July 16, 2018. [80], [81], [82]
• Center for Strategic and International Studies — Fellow. [90]
• Atlantic Council “Global Energy Center” — Named senior fellow at Global Energy Center on Jan 12, 2015. [25]
• PG&E — “Independent energy consultant” on PG&E’s National Panel of Advisers. [4]
• Zichal, Inc. — According to a DC corporations search, Zichal Inc’s listed status is “revoked.” It was registered in January of 2014. [83]
• Blue Prosperity Coalition (Waitt Foundation) — Executive Director (June 2019 – Present). [1]
• The Nature Conservancy — Vice President, Corporate Engagement (Jan 2018 – May 2019). [1]
• The Solar Foundation — Member, board of directors (nominated in 2015). Listed as of 2018 990 filing and last listed in the Foundation’s 2017 annual report. [84], [85], [86]

Social Media

• @hrzichal on Twitter
• Heather Zichal on LinkedIn

Publications

Sample Publications:

• Heather Zichal. “Sanders camp should start dealing with facts on democrats’ climate platform,” Bloomberg Government, July 8, 2016.
• Heather Zichal. “Climate Change Deniers Face Growing Rift in GOP,” Roll Call, October 27, 2015.

Resources

1. “Heather Zichal,” LinkedIn. Accessed August 3, 2020.
2. Various SEC Filings for Cheniere Energy, Inc. (CIK 0000003570) via SEC.gov. PDFs on file at DeSmog.
3. Steve Horn. “Revealed: Heather Zichal Met with Cheniere Executives as Obama Energy Aide Before Board Nomination,” DeSmog, June 27, 2014.
4. David Kligman and Tom Schmitz. “PG&E Convenes National Panel of Advisers to Guide Focus on Sustainability,” Currents, January 15, 2016. Archived July 28, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/G11c9
5. “VIDEO: PG&E’s Commitment to Environment Includes Reducing Methane,” Currents, October 20, 2016. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/8YrEp
6. (Press Release). “PG&E Statement on Company’s Guilty Plea Related to 2018 Camp Fire,” PG&E, June 16, 2020. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/lA57g
7. “Heather Zichal,” Broadscale. Archived July 29, 2020. Archive URL: https://archive.vn/rotkq
8. Tom Hals and Tracy Rucinksi. “Abengoa unit files for U.S. bankruptcy with up to $10 billion in debt,” Reuters, February 24, 2016. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/G100K
9. “Abengoa Bioenergy US Holdings, LLC et al., Debtors,” (PDF), United States Bankruptcy Court Eastern District of Missouri. Filed 04/21/2016 (Case 16-41161). Archived .pdf on file at Desmog.
10. “Energy Department Finalizes $132 Million Loan Guarantee to Support the Abengoa Bioenergy Project,” Energy.gov, September 29, 2011. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/leP6I
11. “ABENGOA BIOENERGY,” Energy.gov Loan Programs Office. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/2iGDv
12. Liska, Adam J.; Yang, Haishun; Milner, Maribeth; Goddard, Steve; Blanco-Canqui, Humberto; Pelton, Matthew P.; Fang, Xiao X.; Zhu, Haitao; and Suyker, Andrew E., “Biofuels from crop residue can reduce soil carbon and increase CO2 emissions,” Adam Liska Papers, (2014).
13. “Climate benefit of biofuels from corn residue: Researchers cast doubt,” ScienceDaily, April 20, 2014. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/atJsk
14. AP. “Ethanol made from corn stalks spews more CO2 than gasoline,” CBC News, April 21, 2014. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/c0glH
15. “Heather Zichal,” Broadscale. Archived March 27, 2016. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/0j4WE
16. Tom Tiernan. “Group aims to link utilities, new technologies” (PDF), Electric Power Daily, September 27, 2012. Via Factiva.
17. “Jim Rogers Joins Broadscale as Senior Advisor,” BusinessWire, June 9, 2014. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/nlz3l
18. (Press Release). “TouGas Oilfield Solutions announces Series D Investment with New Investor Broadscale” (PDF), TouGas Oilfield Solutions, September 21, 2015. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
19. “TouGas EP-1F for Hydraulic Fracturing,” TouGas Oilfield Solutions, July 21, 2020. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
20. “TouGas Oilfield Solutions targets fracking products orders,” GERCOL, May 15, 2013. Via Factiva. 
21. Toby Lewis. “New model ventures rise for corporate needs,” Global Corporate Venturing, July 27, 2013. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/HSjJL
22. “GDF SUEZ Joins Broadscale Group to Accelerate Energy Innovations,” PR Newswire, July 22, 2014. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/QXxLE 
23. “Cheniere Marketing and ENGIE Sign 5-Year LNG Sale and Purchase Agreement,” PR Newswire, October 28, 2015. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/hthUY 
24. “TOTAL CLOSES THE ACQUISITION OF ENGIE’S UPSTREAM LNG BUSINESS AND BECOMES WORLD #2 LNG PLAYER,” Total, July 13, 2018. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/vLO0k
25. “Top Presidential Adviser Heather Zichal to Add Strategic Foresight Expertise to Atlantic Council Global Energy Center,” The Atlantic Council, January 12, 2015. Archived July 28, 2020. Archive URL:https://archive.vn/E6Wsu
26. Steve Horn. “Heather Zichal, Former Top Obama Energy Aide, Named Fellow at Industry-Funded Atlantic Council,” DeSmog, January 21, 2015.
27. “Supporters,” Atlantic Council. Archived January 24, 2015. Archive URL: https://archive.is/CFHGh
28. “Atlantic Council and Corporate Donors,” The New York Times, August 7, 2016. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
29. Sharon Kelly. “Thousands of Pages of Confidential Think Tank Documents Detail Corporate Ties, New York Times Reports,” DeSmog, August 9, 2016.
30. “Corporate Program” (PDF), Atlantic Council, October 21, 2013. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
31. “Honor roll of contributors,” Atlantic Council. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/D5lCM
32. “Obama aide joins Nature Conservancy,” Governors’ Wind & Energy Solar Coalition, January 10, 2018. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/muAeC
33. Justin Gillis. “Group Earns Oil Income Despite Pledge on Drilling,” The New York Times, August 3, 2014. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/AM7jY
34. Steve Horn. “This Is the Drilling Method for Most US Oil But Regulators Offer Almost No Oversight,” DeSmog, August 4, 2017.
35. “TESTIMONY OF JASON ALBRITTON DIRECTOR OF US CLIMATE AND ENERGY POLICY BEFORE THE HOUSE ENERGY AND COMMERCE COMMITTEE SUBCOMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENT AND CLIMATE CHANGE” (PDF), The Nature Conservancy, February 6, 2020. Retrieved from Docs.gov. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
36. Amy Harder. “Carbon capture coalition expands & rebrands,” Axios, February 22, 2018. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/fabGF
37. “About the Carbon Capture Coalition,” Carbon Capture Coalition. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/H3YVJ
38. “ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT ANNUAL BRIEFING 2019” (PDF), Shell, April 11, 2019. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
39. “NATURE–BASED SOLUTIONS,” Shell. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/mJMmM
40. “Green Finance Observatory: Five major problems with natural climate solutions,” REDD-Monitor, October 9, 2019. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/C7Dtw
41. “NGOs oppose the oil industry’s Natural Climate Solutions and demand that Eni and Shell keep fossil fuels in the ground,” REDD-Monitor, May 14, 2019. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/J7xt1
42. “New report on human rights violations linked to REDD in Acre, Brazil,” Friends of the Earth, December 8, 2014. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/XF8C2
43. “How additional is the Clean Development Mechanism?” (PDF), OKO-Institut e.V., March 2016. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
44. “Lessons Learned from the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme and the Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism” (PDF), United States Government Accountability Office (GAO), November 2008. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog. 
45. “Shell invests in nature as part of broad drive to tackle CO2 emissions,” Shell, April 8, 2019. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/JlP4A
46. John M. Broder. “New and Frozen Frontier Awaits Offshore Oil Drilling,“ The New York Times, May 23, 2012. Archived August 13, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/FI7ek
47. “Executive Order 13580—Interagency Working Group on Coordination of Domestic Energy Development and Permitting in Alaska” (PDF), National Archives and Records Administration vol. 76, No. 136 (July 15, 2011). Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
48. Ben Geman. “Shell’s Alaskan drilling has DC lobbying roots,“ The Hill, May 24, 2012. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/qXBNT
49. “15-00444” (PDF), DOI.gov. Archived .pdf on file at DeSmog.
50. (Press Release). ” Obama Ignores Huge Dangers in Approving Arctic Drilling Permit for Shell Drilling Set to Begin Immediately Risks Massive Spills, Polar Bears, Walruses, Bowhead Whales,” Center for Biological Diversity, August 30, 2012. Archived August 14, 2020. Archive URL: http://archive.vn/RL41z
51. Steve Horn. “Obama Banned Arctic and Atlantic Offshore Drilling and Big Oil Isn’t Happy,” DeSmog, December 20, 2016.
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Other Resources

• “The Planet Is Heading to Catastrophe and Joe Biden Apparently Wants to Take the ‘Middle Ground’,” Mother Jones, May 11, 2019.
• “Obama’s Aide on Climate Change Seeking Oil, Gas Allies,” Bloomberg, May 29, 2012.
• “Heather Zichal,” Wikipedia.