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Koch Industries and its army of subsidiary corporations operate 57 chemical facilities in the U.S. and have fought in and out of Congress to avoid a comprehensive safety solution that would mitigate fallout from any natural and man-made disasters, according to a new investigation from Greenpeace.
Even though the Koch brothers’ businesses put 4.4 million people at risk with pollutants, the Kochs have poured millions into lobbyists’ coffers and political contributions to ensure their bottom line stays unchanged by the most basic safety precaution.
The latest chapter of the Koch brothers disdain for public service and safety confirms much of what we’ve learned through our Koch Brothers Exposed campaign, which has linked the billionaire right wing brothers to disastrous oil spills, devastating land grabs and attacks on Social Security and public education.
The Kochs’ disregard for chemical safety policy, and their tactics they employ to duck responsibility and fund policy beneficial to their businesses and their bottom line is a well-oiled machine they’ve deployed elsewhere in scores of public policy debates.
But their assault against potential safety legislation is heightened because the brothers are directly pouring money into Congress. Politicians of both parties on key committees in both chambers of Congress with control over safety legislation have been on the receiving end of KochPAC donations. When the Koch brothers can pollute at will and disregard the safety of so many non-billionaires, one has to inform others and take action to stop the sale of our democracy.
That’s exactly what we’re doing. I invite you to join the investigation at our Koch Brothers Exposed page on Facebook, where we’re educating fo
lks about the brothers’ vast influence on our democracy.
The Greenpeace report is a terrific primer. In light of the brothers’ refusal to protect its chemical facilities, the report’s discovery of a Koch subsidiary’s water, air, hazardous waste, pesticide, emergency planning and preparedness violations—680 in all—is beyond belief. But that’s the Koch way. (The brothers’ subsidiary Invista, was ordered to pay $1.7 million for these 680 violations.)
The Koch record is further impugned with their position favoring formaldehyde. The brothers use the carcinogen to make fibers and certain materials. Formaldehyde exposure leads to cancer, and just like the brothers’ position against Social Security or safety regulations, the Koch brothers fought (and lost) the battle to rightfully classify formaldehyde as a cancer causing chemical. If and when a fact like that causes the Kochs to lose a few dollars, we’ve seen them do everything they can to discredit and rewrite history and the public record.
The Koch brothers have billions at their disposal, but by educating others and taking action we can stop the sale of our government. Democracy is not a spectator sport so be part of our movement at our Koch Brothers Exposed page on Facebook.
8 Comments
I am ashamed to live in the state from which the Koch brothers export their perfidious attacks on ordinary Americans (not to mention the current governor, Sam Brownback, whose seat they purchased for him. They seem to go out of their way to damage the environment and the democratic process–even when it does not advantage them financially. They truly represent all that is bad with the Republican Party: Do what hurts Democrats without regard to the cost yourself or the nation you profess to love.
A list of companies they own and popular products they make that maybe unsafe would be nice.
Frankly my dear, the Koch brothers don’t give a damn about what happens to this country or its people as long as they continue to churn out billions of dollars. Making money is the same to them as jacking off is to some people. They just like it it because.
It’s not so much that they “want a toxic disaster” as it is that they don’t want to pay for the ones that they create AND they damn sure don’t want to spend a red cent extra in preventing toxic disasters.
Things, check this short list of products.
All Georgia Pacific products:
Angel Soft toilet paper
Brawny paper toweels
Dixie plates, bowls, napkins, and cups
Mardi Gras napkins and towels
Quilted Northern toilet paper
Soft and Gentle toilet paper
Sparkle napkins
Vanity Fair napkins
Zee napkins
Georgia Pacific paper products and envelopes
All Georgia Pacific Lumber and Building products.
There is more, but that is a start.
DW
and then we have our fool President telling us now that he is a Blue Dog Democrat who is in favor of deregulation.
Well that should surprise no one since deregulation is one of the cornerstones of of the Milton Friedman multilevel marketing scheme that we call the “free Market economy of the USA”– a scheme that works for the upper 20% and fails miserably for the rest of us. Obama, the Clintons and the 44% of the congress who are millionaires embrace this broken economic ideology.
Where is the logic in believing that people like the Koch brothers who have been breaking the environmental law and regulations for 30 years will suddenly stop when these regulations are removed?
You have to be flipping nuts to accept that premise. They will just become worse.
It should come as no surprise that Koch brothers are Republicans. Most corporations are run by Republicans. As Mr. Greenwald’s link states, formaldehyde is used in a lots of things. I’m sure many companies use it. It only causes cancer if you’re exposed to too much of it. I wouldn’t equate the use of formaldehyde with political attacks on Social Security. Basically, this is Greenpeace’s way of getting their hands into your pockets for donor dollars.
DW
Tried to reply to your last post in the conversation we were having but got a data base error message. Communicating through a comments thread is at best inefficient, at worst impossible.
All I got from you were platitudes and advice to never give up when I wanted help.
The Koch brothers exemplify the striver mentality whose recklessness is suicidal. To combat people like the Koch’s we need a huge bottom up network. The problem with attacking hierarchy on a grand scale is that it goes against everyone’s grain. Those on the bottom don’t want the responsibility of decision making while those on the top are unwilling to share authority. I’ve decided to put the question differently.
Can we mount a credible Jane Hamsher (my celebrity nominee would be Bruce Springsteen-why? makes a good story if anyone’s interested) for president campaign in 2012? We face a much worse slate of candidates. Are you willing to help? What do you, or anyone, think might be the first step or is the situation beyond us?
Not platitudes, ekunin, if you want people to consider your thoughts then you MUST share them.
Just as you have done, above.
I agree it starts, if it is to succeed, NOW, from the “bottom”.
However, that is not an online activity, it is an – in the street activity, a face-to-face endeavor, the building of trust and respect on that real and very personal leevel.
Frankly, “celebrity” candidates little impress me, but you might quietly ask Springsteen if he’s interested. Most anyone with capacity and humanity wouldn’t touch the job.
I suspect that the money-power insanity has to play out for a while, simply that those who STILL don’t understand, can feel or witness enough overwhelming pain and loss to ponder whether something better might be worth considering.
Until society collapses, quite utterly, I do not imagine that the changes you, SD, and most of the rest of us, here, envision and understand as necessary to sustainable human society and toward permitting the planet to provide sustenance necessary to the reasonable survival (and thriving) of our species will have the hearing needed to being embraced widely.
As I have indicated, it is my conviction that compelling narratives must be developed NOW, which may be begun to be shared NOW, so that when societal collapse occurs there will be a possibility of being able to share more specific notions of what is to be done of necessity, of reason, and of the possibility for a better human reality.
To be blunt, it is very unlikely that you, SD, or I will live to see a substantially different world, but I do firmly consider that we, and others like us, may well lay the foundation for meaningful change and its eventual realization.
Is that not what we are ALL about?
In such a world, the notion of “top” and “bottom” will be understood as nonsense of the most dangerous and absurd kind, and EVERYONE shall have to be willing to engage in the decisions of responsibility that life, even now, demands.
Notions of “power” and “authority” must, inevitably, change, and NOW, as you indicate, both perceived “extremes” are terrified at the propect.
How shall that be changed? By what means?
Until the potential of every single flesh and blood person on the face of this planet is understood to be equally critical to the survivsl of all, which IS the case, existentially, pragmatically, and in accord with the nature of sentiency itself.
How many human beings can NOW grasp that fundamental truth? How long shall it take until such truth is universally understood?
As you have suggested, when such truth is understood, sufficiently, then the entire human “universe” will be immediately transformed. That is precisely how consciousness “works”, as you, SD, and I know intuitively … when everyone else does as well, we won’t have to “work” at encouraging its realization any longer … then.
We are at “now”.
Which is where we have to begin.
It will take as many human beings as are willing to come up with the ideas and courage to build today, that there might be a better tomorrow.
No one of us has all the answers, that is the “old”, the “current” view of being and suasion.
Together, if we ALL who “understand” are committed and honest, as well as “lucky”, we might come up with “enough” to begin …
Keep talking, ekunin, keep sharing, your example will and does encourage others …
DW