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Ecoterrorist of the Season: Koch Industries Resistance Magazine, Winter 2010 Issue Koch Industries is the second largest privately held company, and the largest privately owned energy company in the United States. Haven't heard much about Koch? Not a huge shock as the company successfully keeps a fairly low profile position. Yet, Koch employs 70,000 people and boasts combined annual sales of $100 billion (U.S.). Koch is run by David H. Koch and Charles G. Koch, who, according to Forbes, are two of the richest people in the U.S., with a combined personal wealth of over $3 billion. Koch Industries operations include refining, chemicals, process and pollution control equipment, technologies, fibers and polymers, commodity and financial trading and consumer products. The company operates crude gathering systems and pipelines across North America and just one of Koch's subsidiaries processes 800,000 barrels of oil daily in its three refineries. Koch Industries is the parent company of: • Georgia Pacific, LLC – based in Atlanta, this company manufactures tissue, packaging, paper, building products, related chemicals, and fluff, filter and market pulp. Georgia Pacific and its affiliates have nearly 300 manufacturing facilities across North America, South America and Europe. In 2005, Koch purchased Georgia Pacific for $21 billion, and with this purchase, Koch acquired the Georgia Pacific brands such as Quilted Northern, Angel Soft, Brawny, Sparkle, Vanity Fair, Dixie Cups, Lotus, Colhogar, Tenderly, Delica, and Vania brand personal care products. Georgia Pacific, on its own, had already been a top air polluter in the United States and the acquisition of the company only added to Koch's dismal environmental record. GP was rated the 15th worst corporate air polluter in the United States in 2006. GP additionally has funded global warming skeptics (Alan Caruba of Center for the Defense of Free Enterprise). • Matador Cattle Company – One of the nation's 10 largest cow/calf operations. Operates three ranches (Montana, Kansas, Texas) that total 425,000 acres and have 15,000 head of cattle. • Invista B.V. – A former Dupont company, Invista and its subsidiaries manufacture various polymers and fibers including PET polymers for soft drinks, bottled water, beer, juice, food and custom container applications. • C. Reiss Coal Company – A leading supplier of coal and related products used on industrial applications or to generation electricity. • Koch Exploration Company – Along with its affiliates, it develops and trades petroleum and natural gas properties in the United States, Canada, and Brazil. • Flint Hills Resources, LP – Operates oil refineries in Alaska, Minnesota, and Texas. • Koch Pipeline Company, L.P. – Along with its affiliates, owns or operates about 4,000 miles of pipeline that transport crude oil, refined petroleum products, natural gas liquids and chemicals. • Koch Alaska Pipeline Company, LLC – Owns a 3 percent interest in the Trans Alaska Pipeline System. In March 2000, Koch was fined $30 million (U.S.) in civil penalties and an additional $5 million to be set aside for environmental projects. This was the largest penalty to date imposed on a company under federal environmental laws in the United States and is based on the spill of at least 41,000 barrels of crude oil and other petroleum. This resulted in over 300 violations in six states of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. The largest single spill, caused from eroded and broken pipelines, was approximately 100,000 gallons of crude oil, which caused a 12-mile oil slick on Nueces Bay and Corpus Christi Bay in Texas. Six of these spills were into ponds, lakes, and rivers. In Minnesota, Koch was fined an additional $8 million for discharging oil into streams. In 1996, a damaged pipeline caused an explosion outside of Dallas, Texas killing two teenagers. As a result, a $376.69 million judgment was returned against the company. During the months leading up to the 2000 presidential elections in the United States, Koch also faced a 97-count federal indictment, charging the company with concealing illegal releases of 91 metric tons of benzene – a known carcinogen – from its refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas. If convicted, the company faced up to $352 million in fines and possible jail time for company executives. Not surprisingly, after George W. Bush because president, the U.S. Justice Department dropped 88 of the charges. Two days before the trial, John Ashcroft allowed Koch to take a plea bargain, in which Koch pled guilty to falsifying documents. All of the major charges were dropped and Koch got away with settling for a fraction of the $352 million. Coincidentally, Koch had contributed $800,000 to the Bush election campaign and other Republican candidates. Koch Industries is one of the largest single sources of funding for conservative organizations in the United States. The company has established itself as an aggressive opponent of climate legislation and a major funder of climate skeptics, including the Cato Institute. Cato was co-founded by Charles Koch in 1977, and in recent years the organization has hosted numerous briefings in Washington, D.C. featuring prominent climate skeptics. A briefing book Cato distributed among members of the 107th Congress dismissed the Kyoto Protocol and asked, "Is the way the planet warms something that we should even try to stop?" In 2008 alone, Koch directly spent $7.4 million to lobby the U.S. Congress on global warming and other issues. Between 2004 and 2006 the Koch Foundation funded global warming skeptic groups to the amount of $5.3 million. Additional recipients of Koch funding include, the Heartland Institute, a leading global warming skeptic organization. The Institute campaigns in support of opposing the Kyoto Protocol and debunking the global warming myth, in favor of genetically engineered crops and products, among other issues. Koch also has funded American's for Prosperity (AFP). In fact, AFP is the third largest beneficiary of Koch funding. AFP opposed a clean indoor air law in Washington, D.C. in 2006, and another in Kansas City, portraying the issue as one of personal liberty and economics rather than public health. During the past year, AFP was one of the conservative groups that organized "Town Hall Protests" and "Recess Rallies" across the United States, where participants opposed to health care reform would shout down members of Congress while they were holding public meetings to inform the public about the health care proposals. In 2009, AFP also organized a "Hot Air Tour" designed to "expose the ballooning cost of global warming alarmism across the United States." AFP representatives were in Copenhagen during December's Climate Summit attempting to convince world leaders of their version of the truth. David Koch is the Chairman of the Board for the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. We proudly present this season's Ecoterrorist award to Koch Industries for the company's horrific environmental record, funding of conservative and global warming skeptic organizations, political corruption, and pursuit of extreme financial gain at the expense of life. Contact Koch and congratulate them on their Ecoterrorist of the Season award – any way that you see fit. Koch Industries |