Those of you who watch PBS might be familiar with the name David H. Koch [photo courtesy Koch Industries, Inc.]. His foundation is often given screen credit for supporting PBS programing such as
"The American Experience". But behind the benign facade of charitable giving is the fact that billionaire oilman David Koch and his brother Charles are responsible for a nearly $50 billion campaign to deny climate change and stop policies and regulations intended to reduce global warming. Koch Industries is the second largest privately held company in America behind Cargill. It has a
very poor environmental record according to Greenpeace. In 2000 the EPA fined Koch Industries $30 million for its part in 300 oil spills that leaked more than 3 million gallons of crude into ponds, lakes, streams and coastal waters. Greenpeace has released
a report exposing the connection between the Kochs and the coordinated oil industry campaign to deny climate change and stop or delay any regulation associated with reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Koch out spent Exxon-Mobil in funding front groups opposed to clean energy and climate policy in recent years. From 2005 to 2008 Exxon-Mobil spent $8.9 million compared to Koch Industries and its controlled foundations spending $24.9 million. In 2007 Koch funded a n
on-peer reviewed article by climate denier scientists that concluded western Hudson Bay polar bears are not being threatened by anthropogenic climate change*. The paper was debunked by independent bear experts. You can visualize the web of obsfucation and mis-information weaved by the Koch brothers in support of "market based solutions" to the climate problem by visiting Greenpeace's
interactive chart. It shows the $37.9 million in lobbying activity, campaign financing of $5.74 million since 2006, and the foundations and institutes beholding to Koch Industries Inc. The company and its foundations are the
single largest obstacle to advancing clean energy and climate policy in the US. And you can thank the US Supreme Court for recently guaranteed their right to be so.
* An adult polar bear was found washed ashore alive but totally exhausted on the Scottish island of Mull. The bear was discovered on Wednesday by a Scottish police officer on a routine patrol of the shore. The nearest populations of polar bears live in Greenland and Svalbard archipelago. The bear may have drifted to Mull on an ice floe. The officer took some pictures [link] and went to get help. When he returned to the spot, the bear was gone. A search of the island is underway. It is believed to be the first time a polar bear has been found in UK waters since before the last Ice Age.
