[env-trinity] Stewart Resnick, the Environmentalist?

[Dan Bacher]

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/10/1276455/-Stewart-Resnick-the- 
Environmentalist

Stewart Resnick, the Environmentalist?

Conservation International features Rob Walton and Resnick on board

by Dan Bacher

The Center for Investigative Reporting describes Stewart Resnick, the  
Beverly Hills billionaire owner of Paramount Farms in Kern County, as  
a "one-man environmental wrecking crew.”

The powerful agribusiness tycoon has been instrumental in campaigns  
to eviscerate Endangered Species Act protections for Central Valley  
Chinook salmon and Delta smelt, to eradicate striped bass in  
California, and to build the fish-killing peripheral tunnels.

Yet the wealthy agribusinessman also wears another hat -  
"environmental leader." Yes, Resnick serves on the board of directors  
of Conservation International, a corporate "environmental" NGO, noted  
for its top-down approach to conservation and involvement with  
corporate greenwashing throughout the world.

Conservation International was the top recipient of Walton Family  
Foundation money in 2012, receiving $22,650,774, including $5,725,000  
for the Bird’s Head Seascape, $4,214,881 for the Eastern Tropical  
Pacific Seascape and 12,718,763 for “Other Environmental Grants.”

While serving on the board of Conservation International, Resnick  
become notorious for buying subsidized Delta water and then selling  
it back to the public for a big profit, as revealed in an article by  
the late Mike Taugher in the Contra Costa Times on May 23, 2009.  
(http://www.revivethesanjoaquin.org/content/pumping-water-and-cash- 
delta)

“As the West Coast’s largest estuary plunged to the brink of collapse  
from 2000 to 2007, state water officials pumped unprecedented amounts  
of water out of the Delta only to effectively buy some of it back at  
taxpayer expense for a failed environmental protection plan, a  
MediaNews investigation has found,” said Taugher.

Taugher said the “environmental water account” set up in 2000 to  
“improve” the Delta ecosystem spent nearly $200 million mostly to  
benefit water users while also creating a “cash stream for private  
landowners and water agencies in the Bakersfield area.”

“No one appears to have benefited more than companies owned or  
controlled by Stewart Resnick, a Beverly Hills billionaire,  
philanthropist and major political donor whose companies, including  
Paramount Farms, own more than 115,000 acres in Kern County,” Taugher  
stated. “Resnick’s water and farm companies collected about 20 cents  
of every dollar spent by the program.”

Resnick and his wife, Lynda, own Roll International, Paramount Farms  
and Paramount Citrus Companies, making them the nation's largest  
farmers of tree crops, as well as the floral service Teleflora.  
Dubbed the "POM Queen," Lynda is behind the marketing success of POM  
Wonderful 100% pomegranate juice.

Roll International, one of the largest private water brokers in the  
U.S., makes millions of dollars in profits off marketing subsidized  
public water back to the public, confirmed reporter Yasha Levine.

“Through a series of subsidiary companies and organizations, Roll  
International is able to convert California’s water from a public,  
shared resource into a private asset that can be sold on the market  
to the highest bidder,” said Yasha Levine in “How Limousine Liberals,  
Water Oligarchs and Even Sean Hannity are Hijacking Our Water” on  
alternet.org. (http://www.alternet.org/story/144020/ 
how_limousine_liberals,_water_oligarchs_and_even_sean_hannity_are_hijack 
ing_our_water_supply)

The Resnicks are known for the influence they have exerted over  
California politicians from both the Democratic and Republican  
parties, including former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor  
Jerry Brown, Senator Dianne Feinstein, Senate President Pro Tem  
Darrell Steinberg and others, through campaign contributions. (http:// 
www.indybay.org/newsitems/2010/02/15/18637867.php)

The Resnicks contributed $99,000 to Jerry Brown’s 2010 campaign  
(http://californiawatch.org/dailyreport/brown-and-whitmans- 
contributions-glance-5779?appSession=772187602630348).

The Resnicks exert their influence over California politics in other  
ways besides direct contributions to political campaigns. For  
example, the executives of Paramount Farms have also set up an  
Astroturf group, the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta, that engages  
in green washing campaigns such as one blaming striped bass, rather  
than water exports, for salmon and other fish declines.

Stewart Resnick's position on the board of an "environmental" NGO  
while he and wife promote policies that are devastating fish, rivers,  
the Delta and California's environment provides a glimpse of the  
larger picture of corporate greenwashing that occurs with groups that  
receive grants from the Walton Family Foundation, the organization  
set up by the owners of Walmart.

Walmart, the country’s largest retailer and employer, makes more than  
$17 billion in profits annually, so it has a lot of money to dump  
into “environmental” groups such as Conservation International that  
serve its agenda of privatization of the public trust. The wealth of  
the Walton family totals over $144.7 billion – equal to that of 42%  
of Americans.

The Walton Family Foundation reported “investments” totaling more  
than $91.4 million in “environmental initiatives” in 2012, including  
contributions to corporate “environmental” NGOs pushing ocean  
privatization through the “catch shares” programs and so-called  
“marine protected areas” like those created under Arnold  
Schwarzenegger’s Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) Initiative, as  
well as to groups supporting the Bay Delta Conservation Plan to build  
the peripheral tunnels.

According to a press release from the Walmart Headquarters in  
Bentonville Arkansas, “the foundation awarded grants of more than $91  
million to groups and programs that create benefits for local  
economies and communities through lasting conservation solutions for  
oceans and rivers.”

The foundation directed an overwhelming majority of the grants toward  
its two core environmental initiatives – “Freshwater Conservation”  
and Marine Conservation.”

“Our work is rooted in our belief that the conservation solutions  
that last are the ones that make economic sense,” gushed Scott Burns,  
director of the foundation’s Environment Focus Area. “The foundation  
and our grantees embrace ‘conservationomics’ – the idea that  
conservation efforts can and should bring economic prosperity to  
local communities.”

The foundation donated $38,648,952 to “Marine Conservation,”  
$29,367,340 to “Freshwater Conservation” and $23,683,286 for “Other  
Environment Grants” in 2012.

The Environmental Defense Fund, the second largest recipient,  
received a total of $12,943,017, including $7,800,000 for catch  
shares, $1,881,652 for the Colorado River, $3,032,300 for the  
Mississippi River, $20,000 for the Gulf Of Mexico and $209,065 for  
the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

Environmental Defense Fund  is known for its market-based approach to  
conservation and its push for “catch shares” that essentially  
privatize the oceans. The relationship between the group and the  
retail giant is so close that it operates an office in Bentonville,  
Arkansas, where Walmart is headquartered.

Ocean Conservancy, a strong supporter of the privately funded Marine  
Life Protection Act Initiative to create “marine protected areas” in  
California, received the third largest chunk of money from the  
foundation in 2012, $5,447,354, including $2,112,500 for “Marine  
Conservation” in the Gulf of Mexico and $3,334,854 for the oil spill  
in the Gulf.

Nature Conservancy, Inc. received $4,509,616, the fourth largest  
amount of money, including $1,700,000 for the Colorado River,  
$725,557 for the Mississippi River, $553,148 for the Bird’s Head  
Seascape, $21,000 for Eastern Tropical Pacific Seascape, $350,000 for  
Gulf of Mexico projects, $400,825 for catch shares and $759,086 for  
“other conservation grants.”

The Nature Conservancy is known for its strong support of the Bay  
Delta Conservation Plan (BDCP) to build the peripheral tunnels that  
Resnick and other corporate agribusiness interests so avidly support.

Other recipients of Walton Foundation money in 2012 include American  
Rivers, the Center for American Progress, Environmental Working  
Group, Marine Stewardship Council, National Audubon Society, National  
Fish and Wildlife Foundation, National Geographic Society, Oxfam  
America, Inc., Resources Legacy Fund, World Wildlife Fund and many  
other NGOs.

A complete list of Walton Family Foundation recipients is available  
at: http://www.waltonfamilyfoundation.org/about/2012-grant- 
report#environment.

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