The Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF) is a conservative think tank based in Austin, Texas, and a member of the State Policy Network (SPN). The think tank’s funders from 2010 were inadvertently made public a few years ago. According to Al Jazeera America, “A 2010 donor list from the IRS shows the Texas Public Policy Foundation receives funding from groups long associated with big oil, gas, and coal, such as Koch Industries, the electric utility Luminant, and the oil and gas investment company the Permian Basin Acquisition Fund.”

A 2013 report by Progress Texas and the Center for Media and Democracy (CMD) found that TPPF received over 3 million dollars from the Koch brothers or organizations they fund. For example, the Koch family foundations and Koch Industries sent $733,333 to TPPF, and $2,581,258 has been donated from the dark money groups DonorsTrust and Donors Capital Fund. In 2016, the Charles Koch Foundation contributed $612,250. In 2015, the Charles Koch Foundation and the Charles Koch Institute contributed a total of $199,697.

TPPF is also a member of several task forces within the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

In 2015, TPPF was supportive of legislation that would have repealed Texas’ RES. The organization’s support for the legislation comes after its 2015-2016 “Legislators’ Guide to the Issues” recommended that state officials eliminate the policy. The guide was issued October 20, 2014.

Bill Peacock, TPPF’s Vice President of Research, said renewables can compete in the market, and the RES is “no longer needed.”

Posted by Energy and Policy Institute