The Climate Change Denial Industry
... And Who's Paying for It
Koch Industries, that's who.
Guess who blew the whistle? Good old Greenpeace! Whatever you think of their war on whalers (I love it), you've got to admire their courage.
Greenpeace's latest attack is on one of the most powerful, secretive, and rich companies in the world. In an admirable piece of investigative work, they have documented who pays the (huge) tab on denying climate change. And guess what, they are oil men! Surprise!
Here are the boys running Koch Industries:
Koch is a huge, privately-owned company that has nearly a hundred billion a year in revenue. Since it's a private company, they can keep a very low profile. And under that low profile, they outspend Exxon Mobile by three-to-one trying to debunk the truth of climate change. (And you thought Exxon was the bad guy.)
So if you ever wonder how such loony-tunes stuff keeps popping up from climate change denialists, it's because these guys are pumping millions and millions into the Heritage Foundation, the Cato Institute and -worse in my opinion - "Americans for Prosperity," the sludge in the right wing noise sump, for the purpose of clouding the issue, muddying the waters, confusing the credulous and generally stinking up a very important issue. And they have an army of lobbyists just to keep our lawmakers confounded (and con-funded).
Koch money was behind the fake science reports that the Polar Bears actually love global warming, for instance.
They backed a bogus study saying wind power is a scam. All the while, these boys are crapping up the environment, doing dirty deals and even some times getting caught. Here's a bit from Wikipedia's article on Koch Industries:
Environmental fines
In 2000, Koch Industries subsidiary, Koch Pipeline, agreed to a $35 million settlement with the US Justice Department and the State of Texas. This settlement, including a $30 million civil fine, was incurred for the firm's multiple oil spills in Texas and five other states going back to 1990.[10]
In 2001, Koch Industries paid $25 million to the US Government to settle a federal lawsuit that found the company had improperly taken more oil than it had paid for from federal and Indian land. The suit was initiated by William Koch, one of the Koch brothers, who said that the company engaged in "organized crime," and had made more than $230 million in profit from the stolen oil.[11]
In 2009, the US Justice Department and EPA announced in 2009 that Koch Industries' Invista subsidiary would pay a $1.7 million penalty and spend $500 million to fix environmental violations at its facilities in seven states.Oh and Pappa Koch (Fred), founder of the company was also the co-founder of the John Birch Society.
So read the Greenpeace report or the story in Huffington Post.
If truth is your thang, you should worry about these guys.
Koch boys and Windfarm Scam Pix credits: Hard to do; they're all over the 'Net.
Bear pix credit
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