ThinkProgress: How Koch Industries Makes Billions Corrupting Government And Polluting For Free (p 2)

[highplainsdem]

http://thinkprogress.org/2011/03/01/koch-polluter-bailout/

This is Part 2. I posted Part 1 here yesterday:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x534774

REPORT: How Koch Industries Makes Billions Corrupting Government And Polluting For Free (Part 2)

By Lee Fang on Mar 1st, 2011 at 7:00 pm


Much of the entire Koch political machine is geared towards ensuring that Koch Industries never has to compensate the people and ecosystems damaged by Koch Industries pollution. Koch front groups — from Tea Party groups to think tanks — have diligently promoted Koch Industries’ bottom line by denying global warming, fighting regulations on Koch’s cancer-causing chemicals, and snuffing out investigations into Koch’s environmental crimes:

– In 1990, as both Republicans and Democrats proposed a cap and trade system to address acid rain, Koch financed a front group called “Concerned Citizens for the Environment” to battle proposed regulations. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the group “has no citizen membership of its own,” but produced studies arguing that acid rain was a myth and that deregulation would benefit the environment. Koch refineries and factories, top emitters of acid rain-causing toxins, were impacted by the successful cap and trade system. A front group founded by David Koch, Citizens for a Sound Economy (which later changed its name to Americans for Prosperity), also battled regulations designed to combat acid rain, labeling the problem a “myth.”

– Koch Industries vastly expanded its political giving in reaction to revelations that the company had systematically stolen oil from Native American reservations and federal lands. Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS), a personal friend of the Koch brothers and top recipient of Koch money, sponsored legislation to suppress an investigation into the oil thefts. Over 50 Koch Industries employees later testified that indeed the “Koch Method” of manipulating data to surreptitiously take Native American oil resulted in an estimated 300 million gallons of oil the company received for free. Koch later settled for $25 million in penalties.

– Between 1995 and 1997 there were over 300 reported oil spills at pipelines owned and operated by Koch, which caused an estimated three million gallons of oil into lakes and streams in six states. David Koch helped Sen. Bob Dole (R-KS) raise over $150,000 for his campaign, and was rewarded with Dole-sponsored legislation that would have helped Koch Industries avoid serious penalties for the oil spills. On January 13, 2000, the government settled that case for $35 million in fines.

-snip-

[Mnemosyne]

1. Evil is, as evil does. K&R! n/t

[highplainsdem]

2. Thanks for the rec!

[Mnemosyne]

5. Very welcome. Important info that needs spread widely. n/t

[RedCloud]

3. More we know, things go worse with Koch after Koch after Koch

[Hannah Bell]

4. kr