Topic archive for "Koch Industries"

Are the Koch brothers teaching you?

For , Koch Brothers Exposed by on January 24th, 2012

What’s happening to academia in Florida demands national attention. Billionaires Charles and David Koch are infringing on intellectual freedom and independence in colleges and universities. It’s an old fashioned quid pro quo where the Koch brothers get allied professors who’ll preach Ayn Rand, supply side economic policies and the values of the 19th century Guilded Age to students and the college gets some funding.

Every year, thousands of individuals move through the Koch-supported classes, lectures and fields of study, which in their totality amount to an ideological assembly line bought and paid for by the Koch brothers. There are Koch-funded agreements at more than 150 American colleges and universities.

“The Koch brothers have paid tens of millions of dollars to get their point of view instilled in classrooms, amongst faculty members and in students,” said Cary Nelson, President of the American Association of University Professors. “Programs they start tend to be one point of view only.”

Help us expose the Kochs by tweeting and asking our friend Ed Schultz to expose the Koch brothers’ psycho talk!

The Koch brothers’ business has annual revenue that are about 200 times the size ($100 billion) in one year than the entirety of Florida State University’s endowment ($423 million). At a time when governors like Florida Gov. Rick Scott are slashing spending on education, colleges and universities are virtually forced into restrictive and ideological funding agreements with questionable sources to meet students’ demands. Instead, they’re meeting the Koch brothers needs and the students are paying the intellectual price.

Enter the Charles Koch Charitable Foundation, which has given more than $14.39 million in grants to universities like Florida State, Auburn, Clemson, West Virginia and Utah State. All five campuses are in financial agreements with Koch-supported groups requiring the university to hire candidates who adhere to defined ideological guidelines. In some cases, the Koch-supported groups recommend candidates to the faculty or have sway over the college’s hiring committee.

Conflicts of interest of this magnitude cannot be ignored, and Florida State students and professors didn’t swallow the Koch agreement willingly. There was an uproar on campus when the Koch brothers began infringing on academic freedom.

A campaign to organize the campus against the Koch brothers and wealthy so-called “philanthropists” who seek to use their wealth to influence academia is under way. Student leaders are fanning out across Tallahassee to organize against the Koch brothers and their ilk who would infringe on academic independence if given the chance. If the students are successful, they’ll have earned enough support to take action against the Koch brothers’ influence.

Their work deserves national exposed. We can do our part if we all tweet @ Ed Schultz and ask expose the Koch brothers’ psycho talk.

I invite you to join the conversation at our Koch Brothers Exposed page on Facebook.

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Are the Koch brothers denying your vote? (VIDEO)

For , Koch Brothers Exposed by on November 8th, 2011

Co-written by Robert Greenwald, President and founder of Brave New Foundation, and Judith Browne Dianis, co-Director of the Advancement Project.

If you live in one of 38 states, billionaire political operatives Charles and David Koch are trying to influence your and your neighbors’ constitutional right to vote. The Koch brothers and their allies have already succeeded in shepherding voter suppression bills through seven states, which amount to about one third of the 270 electoral votes to win the White House.

Through their web of think tanks, nonprofit organizations, family foundations and political donations, the Koch brothers have bought access to democracy’s lifeblood: elections. They’ve used their $42 billion in wealth to support state laws and legislators that erect barriers to the voting booth.

The Kochs’ victims are young people, senior citizens, disabled individuals and people of color– precisely the 99 percent of us who are opposed to the Koch brothers’ political agenda.

In 34 states, the Kochs have supported legislation that makes a photo ID a prerequisite to voting. It’s a Jim Crow poll tax of a different name, and the voter fraud it engenders the Kochs to silence whole communities. These Koch-supported voter suppression laws have the intended effect of transforming constitutional and civic obligations into an endless challenge for the elderly, disabled and young voters alike.

The Kochs enhanced their influence on state capitals through the American Legislative Exchange Council, a 30-year-old organization that brings lawmakers and corporations together to, literally, write model legislation together. The Koch Brothers even provided ALEC with a loan to help the organization start up.

ALEC is an exclusive corporate-legislative hybrid that costs members membership dues in order participate in their secretive meetings. It is estimated that the Kochs have paid over $1 million to the organization and have been board members for years. ALEC has institutionalized and codified the interests of the top 1 percent into laws at city halls, county boards of supervisors and state capitals.

For their investment in ALEC, the Kochs have funded efforts to thwart 21 million Americans from voting. Koch dollars helped write and propose voting suppression bills in Texas, Florida, California, Wisconsin and 34 other states. At the same time the brothers’ Tea Party group, Americans for Prosperity, intents to spend $200 million on local political races with patently false advertisements.

The most decisive and unifying opportunity to deny the Kochs’ power grab at the ballot box is appealing directly to Attorney General Eric Holder. Under the landmark 1965 Voting Rights Act, Holder can deny states like Florida, South Carolina and others from imposing new voter restrictions.

Their history of Jim Crow sets them apart from other states’ voting rights. It’s the responsibility of the Department of Justice to live up to its name and enforce the law, which calls for one person, one vote, not two billionaires and no votes for 21 million American students, seniors, people of color and disabled citizens who could be electorally blacklisted.

These are citizens who could fall through the cracks in our system– cracks exploited by the Koch brothers for their benefit. Rather than supporting politicians who ensure every vote is counted fairly, the Koch brothers have paid more than $245,550 directly to elected officials who support voter suppression laws.

A prime example is Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, whose largest out of state donors were the Koch brothers. In May, he signed a bill that requires voters present a photo ID before casting a ballot. Imposing restrictions on access does not build a more perfect union nor ensure the sanctity of everyone’s vote.

We can stop this by giving Attorney General Holder the support he needs to act. Stand up for democracy and tell him to protect one person, one vote.

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Dear Koch brothers: will you be my guest in Arkansas?

For , Koch Brothers Exposed by on October 26th, 2011

2011-10-11-bouiecloseup.jpgI’d like to introduce David Bouie, who is fighting back against the Koch brothers as an important part of our Koch Brothers Exposed campaign.

I want Charles and David Koch to come visit me first hand and see how their factory and pollution have hurt my neighbors. I have heard from thousands of people all across the country, but I am still looking and listening for a RSVP from Charles and David themselves.

I told the Koch brothers I would take care of them as my guests. My wife and I would prepare pork chops or anything they wished. I simply wanted to walk with them around South Penn Road. Of 15 houses here, about 11 people have died from cancer.

I would tell Charles and David Koch that it would be a memorable experience for all of us. This is an opportunity for them to do something for good and the community here that made their factory prosper. They can stop this with a stroke of a pen.

I’m renewing my invitation to the Koch brothers. I want the Koch brothers to see the effects of their factory on our community. Their company donates to local schools and churches, but it’s poisoning our part of town.

The comments I saw, which responded to our community’s uphill appeal to the Koch brothers, were incredible. And I’m wondering what the Koch brothers themselves have to say about everything that’s happened since we on South Penn Road have gone public with our plight, as well as why they’re hiding from me.

2011-10-11-bouie1.jpgA fog hangs over our homes, and the smell is putrid. You can even smell it three miles away from our neighborhood. The stench comes from streams near my street, and the wind blows it over our homes. How can I describe the scent? It’s like a rotten egg, but a lot of times the smell changes between all four seasons and the hour of day.

My experience with friends, neighbors, strangers, what have you, everyone typically acknowledges an offer of hospitality. But the Koch brothers ignored my olive branch invitation and me.

Instead, I read about the Koch brothers’ website that smeared my integrity. All I wanted was for Charles and David Koch to see with their own eyes what I see everyday.

The Koch brothers need to experience this first hand. I continue to pray that my neighbors and I might convince the Koch brothers to rectify our plight and relocate us like their company, Georgia-Pacific, did for other communities like ours.

A few blocks from here, the neighborhood of Thurman Road was relocated years ago by Georgia-Pacific. Please be a good neighbor to us too. We cannot relocate without some help, and that’s a fact.

Charles and David, if you’re reading this, would you come be my guest in Crossett?

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More Reports of Cancer Near Koch Brothers’ Factory (VIDEO)

For , Koch Brothers Exposed by on October 18th, 2011

Billionaire political donors Charles and David Koch aren’t the only ones who saw our latest investigative film. Thousands of people have posted comments on our Facebook page and have offered additional testimony about the Koch brothers’ pollution in their communities.

In a smear campaign orchestrated in response to our investigation, the Koch brothers attacked almost all of the residents featured in our film. These individuals say they’re suffering from cancer because they live too close to a Koch Industries factory, which pollutes rivers and creeks flowing near their rural homes.

This duality between the haves and have-nots in our society is a big driver of the rising tide of Occupy movement– and for good reason. The Koch brothers personify the top 1 percent and the avarice that’s allowed the richest Americans to profit at the expense of the other 99 percent and those of us who’re hardest hit by the jobs crisis and economic recession.

Thousands of people posted comments that both reflect the goals of the Occupy movement and aid the people of Crossett, Arkansas, who are part of the other 99 percent and have volunteered to hand-deliver these messages to the Kochs. Some viewers, like Lance Blann, reached us directly and shared their personal reactions.

Lance was one of the tens of thousands who saw our video, “EXPOSED: Koch Industries and Cancer Risks” and was activated to speak out against “Crossett Crud,” which is how local doctors describe the sore throats, runny noses, burning eyes and the many other ailments that affect Crossett residents.

Lance went to school in Crossett and spent much of his life. He and his friends nicknamed the brown waterways near their home “Stink Creek.” For as long as he could remember, the smell had stained the community, he said in an interview with Koch Brothers Exposed producers.

“It’s a sickening thought what’s going on in Crossett,” Lance said in an interview. “My parents could be next.”

Lance is an alumni of a school system that ranks in the top 1 percentile of exposure to cancer causing toxins.

For every one Lance, there’s many other individuals who’ve suffered, or continue suffering, so the Koch brothers could profit. But because the Koch Industries factory is the biggest employer in Crossett, many people are reluctant to speak out. The company donates just enough money to the schools, police department, local churches and the Chamber of Commerce that the company is untouchable, even though the company’s pollutants are odorous from the steps of City Hall.

Many of the comments we received from our video at Koch Brothers Exposed were aghast that government regulators allow the Koch brothers’ pollution to harm individuals.

But it’s permitted by the Environmental Protection Agency. The Koch brothers’ billions affords them access to establish or influence politicians, think tanks, family foundations and front groups to weaken oversight and safety laws. The EPA, local agencies and Arkansas state officials are unable to enforce existing laws and precedent in the face of the Koch brothers and their $100 billion Koch Industries.

That’s why we’re trying to help the people of Crossett with comments they can use to confront the Koch brothers. See their stories and take action to fight back.

You might save lives in Arkansas.

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Exposing the Koch brothers’ polluted response

For , Koch Brothers Exposed by on October 13th, 2011

Billionaire political donors Charles and David Koch were among the tens of thousands of viewers of our latest investigative film, and they didn’t like it.

Our film’s protagonists, one of whom is a local minister named David Bouie, made personal appeals for a visit by the Koch brothers. The Kochs do not acknowledge this honest request that David Koch, a cancer survivor himself, spend the night as a guest of Mr. Bouie’s in Crossett, Arkansas, a community harassed by a Koch factory’s pollution.

What are the Koch brothers hiding if they won’t visit one of their own factories and company towns?

The Kochs ignored the invitation, instead resorting to smear tactics and deception, this time attacking David Bouie, a 64-year-old retired factory worker, in an attempt to duck responsibility for their $100 billion multinational corporation.

The Kochs’ defensiveness belies the facts. Rather than relocating the residents whose stories we told, the Koch brothers’ reaction demonstrates they’ve bought the system and they prefer to blame the victims for their illnesses.

Blaming the victims for being victims
Mr. Bouie explained his personal history selling his rights years ago to the Koch brothers’ subsidiary company, Georgia-Pacific, for a few hundred dollars. In Mr. Bouie’s blog, he explained how his neighbors in adjacent communities were compensated by Georgia-Pacific at a higher rate than he and how the polluting factory paid for their relocation.

Mr. Bouie and his neighbors had no such luck reaching the Koch brothers person to person. Instead, the Koch brothers attack his credibility and integrity on a website.

In their smears, the Koch brothers’ message consultants turn their fire toward Cheryl Slavant, another protagonist in our film and the President of the Louisiana Environmental Action Network. She’s rightfully aghast by the terrible conditions surrounding the interstate Ouachita River, which is what’s fouling Mr. Bouie’s neighborhood on Penn Road.

The Koch brothers spin cannot acknowledge what our investigation and countless other credible reports have proven to be true: that the Koch brothers persuade a system to permit and tolerate their practices. The Koch brothers’ nameless spokespeople claim the EPA has debunked all Slavant’s claims so, ergo, the pollution emitted by Koch Industries and Georgia Pacific is safe, harmless and legal.

An EPA influenced by Charles and David Koch
Armed with more than $40 billion each and a private company unaccountable to anyone that generates $100 billion revenue annually, the Koch brothers are able to donate to politicians, foundations, non-profits and think tanks. These Koch supported groups lay the groundwork for incremental policy changes that support the Koch brothers’ increasing corporate profits.

That the EPA is giving the green light to toxic pollution by the Koch brothers, or anyone else, is less a gold star for the Koch brothers than it is an indictment of our political system, which affords the wealthiest 1 percent a blank check at the expense of the bottom 99 percent.

The Koch brothers’ “fact checkers” say that air pollution control engineering expert William M. Auberle’s comments in our film describing GP’s pollution as “a ticking time bomb” is unrealistic. The government permits Koch Industries emissions.

That’s why we’re pleased to see some environmental groups confronting the EPA on these grounds. While the Kochs continue to donate heavily to Congress, there are groups appealing to the notion that we’re a nation of laws not men.

“The Clean Water Act does not allow our streams to be turned into industrial sewers,” says Barry Sulkin, the former Chief of Enforcement and Compliance for the Tennessee Division of Water Pollution Control and a director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.

Or perhaps you could post a comment that David Bouie and Cheryl Slavant can hand-deliver to the Koch brothers and that echoes Mr. Bouie’s direct appeal to David Koch.

As Mr. Bouie wrote:

David, if you’re reading this, I want to be your host at 401 South Penn Road. Come stay with me for one day, seven days, I don’t care. We can camp out, and you can smell what I smell. My wife and I will cook for you. I make great pork chops…

It’d be my hope we can have some time to go for a walk. You can see for yourself- the fog- and smell for yourself- the rotten air- that I live with every day.

And I pray that I might be able to convince you to clean up this mess and relocate us like Georgia-Pacific did for other communities like ours. Indeed, just as Georgia Pacific compensated Thurman Road residents for their relocation years ago, please be a good neighbor to us. We cannot relocate on our own.

We are ground zero.

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Why Do These Koch Industries Neighbors Have Cancer? (VIDEO)

For , Koch Brothers Exposed by on October 11th, 2011

Our ongoing Koch Brothers Exposed video investigation has discovered something so tragic it will haunt Charles and David Koch for years to come.

Is a Koch Industries factory getting away with murder?

While the brothers wage war against safety precautions, every day their factory is dumping millions of gallons of wastewater into streams that flow near a small rural town. It’s this kind of abuse by the top 1% of Americans that’s driving young and old to fight money in politics, occupy Wall Street and protest in the streets. The Koch brothers personify inequality, and people are rising up and have identified the overwhelming corporate influence on democracy as a corrosive stain that harms the rest of us.

Our latest video reflects this as we follow the money and prove the Koch brothers buy a system that makes them richer at the expense of everyone else. Through political donations, think tanks and front groups, the Koch brothers are able to weaken safety and oversight laws, which leaves communities like Crossett, Arkansas behind to suffer.

“The Koch brothers are killing me and my family,” Norma Thompson told us during our investigation. She’s lived near the Koch brothers’ mill for 39 years. Journey to Arkansas and watch her story:

This a community victimized by the Koch brothers. These Americans, almost all of whom are former employees of the factory, are dying because of their proximity to the Koch brothers’ plant. The chemical-heavy factory dumps pollution into streams, and the effects are visible to the naked eye. As the waste flows away from the Koch plant, toxins bubble up into an airborne pollution that spreads through the air and wind.

All the while, the Kochs fight protections that would begin to mitigate living conditions in Crossett. Through their donations, the Koch brothers buy the system, and through their connections, they transform democracy into a self-serving apparatus that grows their corporate profits.

A toxic cloud hangs over Crossett and it is manufactured by Koch Industries.

David Bouie, a minister and a retired Georgia-Pacific employee, informs me the chemicals’ stench reach the town’s Main Street, about three miles away from his home.

Mr. Bouie is a local community leader has volunteered to hand-deliver your comments directly to the Koch brothers. Help save lives and post a message to the Kochs.

This isn’t the first time the Koch brothers’ businesses hurt innocent people. Two teenagers were killed in Texas because a Koch pipeline leaked flammable materials. The Kochs’ businesses also spew benzene into the air–a known carcinogen. For this, the Clinton administration in 2000 charged the Kochs with a 97-count indictment and sought a $350 million fine.

A few months later, the Kochs received help from the Bush administration and the EPA ultimately knocked down the charges to one count and agreed to a $20 million settlement.

Just how bad is that carcinogen emitted by the Koch brothers? Tea Party Sen. Rand Paul said benzene polluters belong in jail.

The Kochs get away with polluting communities, and in some cases–hurting people– because they use their wealth to ensure the EPA is permanently understaffed and underfunded and therefore lacks enforcement. The result is the Kochs can guarantee safety regulations suffer the same fate in Congress that many innocent individuals face in Crossett: a David versus Goliath fight for justice.

Koch Industries’ life-threatening practices are legal. They’ll attack me and cite some gold stars and blue ribbons as proof that they aren’t killing innocent people. But follow the money: Through their wealth, the Koch brothers fund politicians, think thanks and front groups to neuter oversight and safety. The EPA, local agencies and state officials are toothless in the face of the Koch brothers and their $100 billion pollution Goliath, Koch Industries.

Before our Koch Brothers Exposed campaign, before the New Yorker investigation last year and the recent Bloomberg report, David Koch fancied himself as a do-gooder. Almost 20 years ago, David Koch was diagnosed with cancer and he has donated millions to have cancer research centers named after him since then.

David Koch was told he wouldn’t have long to live, but his wealth has afforded him the best treatment, doctors and medical care available. The folks in Crossett have no such access. They don’t even have a recourse to sell their homes and relocate. As the biggest employer in town, Koch Industries donates to the local churches, police stations, schools and is untouchable. While the chemicals spewing from the Koch plant are odorous in downtown Crossett, city, state and federal officials are powerless in the face of Koch billions.

Many people, including me, believe the brothers’ business poisons people with cancer. All the while, David Koch, a cancer survivor, toasts the institutions that bear his name.

Maybe you want to tell David Koch to travel to Crossett and see what his business is doing to the community. The community needs you, so tell the Kochs to save lives in Arkansas.

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To David Koch: Will You Be My Guest in Arkansas?

For , Koch Brothers Exposed by on October 11th, 2011

I want to introduce David Bouie, who is fighting back against the Koch brothers as an important part of our Koch Brothers Exposed campaign.

Charles and David Koch own my rights, and it cost them a few hundred dollars. Now, I’m asking the Koch brothers to come be my guest.

2011-10-11-bouiecloseup.jpgFor the 30 years I’ve lived on South Penn Road in West Crossett, Arkansas, there has been a rotten odor hurting my friends, family and neighbors. It corrodes metal, and you can smell it everywhere on my street. I firmly believe, and have been told by doctors, that it’s giving my community cancer. It drifts across town and is odorous outside our local Chamber of Commerce 2.5 miles away on Main Street.

The Koch brothers’ Georgia-Pacific years ago paid neighbors on other streets to move away. They got out of here on Georgia-Pacific’s dime, but the company opted to settle with us on the cheap, we learned later. We trusted them, needed the money and now we’ve been left behind and left to suffer alone. We cannot access a recourse for our health ailments and property damage, which stems from the chemicals that spew from the Koch brothers’ mill and engulf my community.

The best recourse I have is appealing to the Koch brothers personally. David Koch is a cancer survivor and donates millions to fight cancer.

David, if you’re reading this, I want to be your host at 401 South Penn Road. Come stay with me for one day, seven days, I don’t care. We can camp out, and you can smell what I smell. My wife and I will cook for you. I make great pork chops. For breakfast, whatever you want- or I can whip up some grits and eggs. Whatever you like. You’re my guest.

It’d be my hope we can have some time to go for a walk. You can see for yourself- the fog- and smell for yourself- the rotten air- that I live with every day.

2011-10-11-bouie1.jpgAnd I pray that I might be able to convince you to clean up this mess and relocate us like Georgia-Pacific did for other communities like ours. Indeed, just as Georgia Pacific compensated Thurman Road residents for their relocation years ago, please be a good neighbor to us. We cannot relocate on our own.

We are ground zero. The smell flows from streams near my street. The wind blows it over our homes and the stench is putrid. There’s no describing it. A rotten egg comes close, but the smell changes depending on the season and the time of day.

It scares away my grandchildren when they visit. Like everyone who lives or visits or works in West Crossett, my grandchildren will suffer sore throats, watery eyes and runny noses after one day here. They ultimately stay at a hotel outside of town.

My wife is afraid of going outside, instead living a life of fear and house arrest. The smell outside is too foul and the health consequences of being outside are too severe. She loves to be outdoors, but is afraid of the cancer causing chemicals she inhales. We do not leave the windows open, especially not at night. Sleeping would be impossible. Chances are you couldn’t get any rest, not while inhaling toxic air that causes sneezing sniffling, headaches and more.

Doctors in and out of town refer to our symptoms as the Crossett Crud. It’s an illness that affects our community and other parts of West Crossett near the Georgia-Pacific paper mill, the largest employer in our community of roughly 10,000 people.

Georgia-Pacific gets away with murder, and I have seen no empirical evidence from the EPA or our state environmental protection office that indicates there’s been any testing done to protect us from what doctors tell me are poisonous fumes I inhale day in and day out. I can’t afford to relocate on my own, and who would want to buy my home with the smell here?

My community needs help. The local Chamber of Commerce, police, fire department, schools, churches- you name it- are powerless against the Koch brothers. Their subsidiary Georgia-Pacific donates just enough money that local institutions are afraid to bite the hand that, in a poor state like Arkansas, feeds them.

My wife worked at Georgia-Pacific for 25 years and I put in 10 years there making table napkins. My neighbors and family made Georgia-Pacific what it is today.

We made it successful for you so we could share in the success. David, be my house guest and together we celebrate our achievements and begin a better tomorrow for our families.

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Enviornmental Criminologist on the EPA, Koch brothers and Pollution

For , Koch Brothers Exposed by on October 11th, 2011

BNF: How do the Koch brothers and Big Oil figure into what you do day by day as a criminologist and Professor?

Dr. Melissa Jarrell: I examine a particular form of corporate crime: environmental crime. As a criminologist, I want to make sure that I teach students about corporate and environmental crimes and give them a better understanding of the nature and distribution of these types of crime. People picture criminals as gang members, not corporations that dump pollution into the air or the water. They do not usually picture a wealthy and powerful man in a suit making decisions that affects millions of people in big cities and small towns all over the country

Corporate and environmental crimes are far more responsible for illnesses, injuries and deaths than crimes we think about on TV. My research has looked at environmental crimes committed by the petroleum industry, particularly the refining industry, of which the Kochs are big players.

In addition to teaching and researching, I also make efforts to assist victims of environmental crimes whenever possible. I’m able to produce research to help them fight their victimization in the press, courts and the court of public opinion.

When did you first hear about the Koch brothers and what’d you think?

I first learned about Koch Industries in 2004 and saw Koch Industries was at the top of the list in terms of committing serious environmental crimes (10 criminal cases in 2001-2002). Over the years, Koch Industries has committed multiple environmental crimes that have caused harm to thousands of people. But, even when convicted and punished, its criminal behavior has continued. Corporations, like Koch Industries, are not concerned about paying fines. After all, if you make billions of dollars each year, a few million in fines is pocket change. Big Oil, led by Koch Industries, spends millions of dollars trying to convince the public that the EPA is killing jobs by creating and enforcing environmental laws.

How has the EPA changed the last 10 years, and who’s been responsible?

The EPA has always been underfunded and understaffed, and our environmental laws are watered down versions of what they should be. The EPA has been directly attacked by industry lawyers who argue that the agency lacks authority to enforce legal and important safety protections.

Remember, policies are only as good as their enforcement. While we argue over the scope and nature of a new policy, we often ignore the fact that these measures, if enacted, have little value because they are routinely ignored by industry. The EPA does not have the workforce to monitor the thousands of industries across the U.S. that emit pollution on a daily basis. The standards we have are better than nothing, but much weaker than they should be and will almost always be weakened further by leaders who fear confrontations with business and special interests.

What’s the balance between legality and safety in terms of EPA standards and pollution? What pressures are brought to bear to shift the fulcrum?

As long as people aren’t dropping dead on a daily basis from polluted air and water, I think the tug-o-war will look much the way it does right now. Gain an inch; lose an inch, back and forth. However, one day, when the air and water are so polluted that it affects those with power and wealth, perhaps then something will be done about it. If I were in charge, I would immediately pass a law that states that NO ONE should live within 5 miles of major brick-and-mortar sources of pollution. And I would require corporations like Koch Industries to help relocate affected communities and take better care of their workers.

What’d you think of the Arkansas video?

The Arkansas video is disturbing and frustratingly familiar. Corporations like Koch could do more to protect the people the people in these communities from air, water, and soil pollution. They could install the best pollution controls, provide better monitoring, and help relocate communities. However, corporations like Koch Industries are more concerned about profits and presenting an image of environmental stewardship than actually changing their polluting practices and helping communities.

 

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Are the Koch brothers lying about the Keystone XL oil pipeline?

For , Koch Brothers Exposed by on October 5th, 2011

Billionaire political donors Charles and David Koch have long relied on deceptive tactics and aggressive denials to distance themselves from the dangerous Keystone XL pipeline- the almost 2,000 mile development linking Canadian tar sands fields to Texas oil refineries.

Our Koch Brothers Exposed video investigation and persistently dogged reporting by Inside Climate News has debunked the Koch brothers’ denials.

The reporters have been right about the Kochs and Keystone since February, and our video investigation support the facts: the Kochs are in a position to make a fortune from the pipeline’s construction.

The Koch brothers are no fans of this White House, which could veto construction permits for the pipeline to the Kochs’ chagrin. The Keystone pipeline is single-handedly the greatest environmental issue from now until next year, and the White House can act to stop it without Congress. Demonstrators who were arrested en masse in August and September outside the White House made that abundantly clear.

Meanwhile, the Koch brothers made their feelings on the pipeline’s construction clear. They applied to be so-called “intervenors”–a status that’s granted to companies that have proved they have a business interest in certain development projects.

A Koch subsidiary wrote in an application to Canadian oversight officials that it “is among Canada’s largest crude oil purchasers, shippers and exporters. Consequently, [it] has a direct and substantial interest in [becoming intervenors for pipeline.]”

Coupled with the powerful appeals Wednesday for a Congressional investigation into Koch Industries, there’s a swelling totality of evidence of Koch brother misdeeds and deception.

The Keystone pipeline is dangerous for many reasons, which makes it hard for anyone to report and investigate them all in one report. Earlier this week, new emails expose our government being heavily influenced by lobbyists– a longtime staple of Koch business strategy.

Our video investigation got more attention after the New York Times editorialized against the pipeline Monday.

There is… the larger question of whether this country should keep conducting business as usual — that is, succumbing to the status quo of politics and big oil — or whether it will seriously grapple with the reality of climate change. We again urge Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to say no to the Keystone XL.

At the heart of the email scandal is Paul Elliot, the lobbyist we identified in our video. He was an adviser on Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign and, in emails, he makes use of relationships to advance the profits of Big Oil. Indeed, an existing and mini-Keystone pipeline has a long history of oil spills and generates big profits for the Kochs.

The Koch brothers personify the top 1% and have used their wealth to influence policies, like those surrounding the construction of the Keystone XL oil pipeline, to make more money at the expense of middle class families.

Thankfully the other 99% is making their voices heard with Occupy protests in almost every city.
The Kochs are on notice, and we owe it to the stellar activism we’re seeing. It’s threatening an unnecessary and dangerous oil pipeline and unchecked corporate greed. We must continue the fight.

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Hidden Koch Brother Abuse Exposed in the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline

For , Koch Brothers Exposed by on October 4th, 2011

Uncovered emails between lobbyists and oversight officials in the Obama administration reveal new pay-to-play tactics favored by Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who donate millions to promote an anti-government agenda.

The brothers stand to make a fortune from an international oil pipeline that’s making headlines for its divisiveness and the shady tactics its developers are using. We have been exposing the Koch brothers‘ involvement in the Keystone XL oil pipeline and we continue the fight to protect American homes and farmland.

The Keystone pipeline is dangerous for so many reasons that it’s hard for media reports to capture them all. Through their subsidiaries and refineries, the Koch brothers are positioned to grow their ever-expanding profits if the pipeline is approved.

The New York Times editorialized against the oil pipeline, and new emails expose a government that’s been bought off by lobbyists–a longtime staple of Koch business strategy.

The Keystone XL oil pipeline would traverse almost 2,000 miles of American homes and farmlands, cross six states and has drawn the ire of Democratic and Republican governors for the environmental concerns it poses. It would go straight through one of America’s most important aquifers.

Our investigation rejuvenated interest after the New York Times editorialized Monday against the pipeline.

There is… the larger question of whether this country should keep conducting business as usual — that is, succumbing to the status quo of politics and big oil — or whether it will seriously grapple with the reality of climate change. We again urge Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to say no to the Keystone XL.

The lobbyist at the heart of the email scandal is Paul Elliot, who we identified in our video. In emails, he makes use of relationships he developed while working on Clinton’s presidential campaign. Pay-to-play access is typical of the Koch brothers, who are already benefiting from an existing similar pipeline that has a long history of oil spills.

The Obama administration is on notice. Hundreds of protestors organized sit-ins and mass arrests outside the White House last month, and we see that strategy working again in the Occupy Wall Street movement sweeping our cities today.

The Koch brothers personify the top 1% and a dysfunctional government. Their shady business practices make them richer, and they use their wealth to make more money.

This is not what we think about when economists speak of “economic cycles.” It’s a self-perpetuating process of wealth redistribution upward to the top 1% of Americans, of whom the Koch brothers seek to ideologically dominate by any means necessary.

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