On Wednesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) yet again went off on the Koch brothers, this time blaming them for climate change.
“While the Koch brothers admit to not being experts on the matter, these billionaire oil tycoons are certainly experts at contributing to climate change. That’s what they do very well. They are one of the main causes of this. Not a cause, one of the main causes,” Reid said on the Senate floor.
“The University of Massachusetts, Amherst … ranked Koch Industries as one of the nation’s biggest air and water polluters, period,” he said, adding: “They are the champions.”
In August 2013, the university’s Political Economy Research Institute listed Koch Industries as one of the largest polluters, behind publicly traded corporations like ExxonMobil and Dow Chemicals, among others.
This article has been updated for clarity.
Knock it off, Harry. That’s the kind of off-the-wall, sophomoric hyperbole that will only embarrass those of us who take climate change seriously. As a Democrat, I’m telling you not to undermine our efforts.
The Kochs are big contributors to the problem, and bigger contributors to the effort to bury the issue under millions of dollars. But leave the bogey-man scare tactics to right wing.
“The University of Massachusetts, Amherst … ranked Koch Industries as one of the nation’s biggest air and water polluters, period,” he said, adding: “They are the champions.”
It’s not surprising that the Koch’s are champion level polluters, but I think some science should be applied to the specifics of the pollution emitted by Koch industries to determine just how much of it contributes to global climate change, then determine what percent of the total global climate change-inducing pollutants the Koch’s responsible for, to derive a percent of blame to place upon Koch Industries.
It’s precious how the Kochfucks impose themselves upon every level of our politics, negatively affecting our lives and futures, and then bitch and moan when somebody imposes back.
Well fuck them. They may view themselves as gods, but rest assured, they are mere mortals, a lesson they oughta learn the hard way.
“Give 'em hell, Harry!” But stick closely to the exact fact: one of the largest polluters behind ExxonMobil and Dow Chemicals is damning enough. As Truman said, “I only tell the TRUTH, and it seems like hell.”
Be careful - there are plenty of right-wing sharks circling below who are waiting for you to miss a jump.
hey, steve, do you have ANY idea of just how much of a role the Kochs actually play in the total air, water and ground pollution we suffer from?
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304026304579451464218192556
Are you at all aware of their tar sands holdings, or their extensive coalmine ownership?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/03/20/the-biggest-land-owner-in-canadas-oil-sands-isnt-exxon-mobil-or-conoco-phillips-its-the-koch-brothers/
If you lived near one of their poison plants, you might not be so quick to condemn, especially if one of their chemicals put you kids in the hospital with chronic emphasyma.
http://www.publicintegrity.org/2011/08/26/5980/10-koch-plants-put-most-americans-risk
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/18/business/energy-environment/mountain-of-petroleum-coke-from-oil-sands-rises-in-detroit.html
Do some research before you cast doubts, Harry’s not inaccurate here by any measure, and if you actually looked into the facts instead of emoting, you might be wiser.
The only reason this information is not trumpeted aloud on a daily emergency basis is the industrial strength stranglehold the Kochs have on our media, because they make the soap that grubstakes all the soap operas. And that is not meant to be funny, it is unfortunately true.