Enviro group that helped lead Keystone Pipeline opposition suspends US operations

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BELÉM, Brazil — Environmental group 350.org, which spearheaded the movement to block the Keystone XL oil pipeline, will “temporarily suspend programming” in the U.S. and other countries amid funding woes, according to a letter obtained by POLITICO.

The move comes as environmental groups have struggled to find their footing and raise money under President Donald Trump, whose threats to investigate left-leaning organizations and rapid-fire dismantling of environmental rules have hamstrung green groups.

The letter to outside organizations from Executive Director Anne Jellema said 350.org had suffered a 25 percent drop in income for its 2025 and 2026 fiscal years, compelling it to halt operations. The group will keep three U.S. staff members in hopes of reviving operations in the future.

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350.org was formed in 2007 and helped recharge the environmental movement after Congress failed to enact a sweeping cap-and-trade law in the early 2010s. The group, whose name refers to the 350 parts per million concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere that was seen as a safer upper limit to keep the planet from overheating, turned the fight over the development of the Keystone XL pipeline into a symbol for climate change. The effort helped generate opposition that ultimately led then-President Barack Obama to deny the permits for the pipeline designed to bring heavy oil from Canada to Texas.

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The group had endured economic hardship over the years, including problems of financial management and several rounds of layoffs that eroded its influence.

“We are moving through these challenging times with our ambition intact, and have immense confidence that we shall rebuild strategically to a full program and team in the US when the political and/or funding environment permits,” Jellema said in the letter.

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