A national security advocacy group kicked off a six-figure advertising campaign this week, ramping up pressure on Congress to investigate a nonprofit that trains American judges on climate science, citing new concerns about the organization’s alleged links to China and its opposition to the U.S. data center buildout.
State Armor renewed its call to action Tuesday morning, sending a letter to five Republican committee chairmen — two in the Senate and three in the House. The letter follows a previous State Armor letter sent back in June, but this time adds a fresh allegation: that the Environmental Law Institute (ELI) is actively working against America’s rapidly expanding data center industry.
State Armor CEO Michael Lucci did not mince words in the letter, writing that ELI “has positioned itself as a leading voice against the rapid development of data centers and the energy infrastructure necessary to power them.”
Lucci went further, arguing that the institute’s long history of engagement with Chinese institutions means it “is working to impede American development in a strategically critical industry while China races ahead.”
The Environmental Law Institute did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
To back up its claims, the letter points to two items published on ELI’s own website. The first is a July 2025 public webinar on data center water use, which the institute co-hosted alongside the Network for the Digital Economy and Environment. Panelists included representatives from Virginia Tech, the consulting firm WestWater Research and the nonprofit Protect Our Aquifer.
The second is a comment piece published this month in the Environmental Law Reporter, ELI’s own journal, titled “A Call for a National Data Center Moratorium and Policy Framework.” That piece was authored by Bob Sussman, who served as deputy administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under President Bill Clinton. The journal states on its articles page that it welcomes outside submissions and aims to educate the profession while fostering debate.
Still, State Armor isn’t backing down from its broader accusation. “ELI has allowed itself to be a middleman for Chinese influence here in America, and has carried out work that effectively advances the CCP’s [Chinese Communist Party] geopolitical goals,” Lucci said in a statement provided to the DCNF. “Congress needs to take a serious look at ELI’s actions and relationships with Communist China to determine if legal action should be taken.”
The institute, for its part, has previously defended its work. It maintains on its website that suggestions its activities are improper are “without merit,” insisting it provides education rather than advice on how judges should rule in any case. ELI says its curriculum is built on the National Climate Assessment, the National Academies and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, with each module undergoing peer review before release.
The pressure campaign lands just weeks before the Supreme Court is set to hear Suncor Energy v. County Commissioners of Boulder County on October 5 — a case that will determine whether local governments can sue energy companies for climate damages under state law.
