Are You Funding Koch Climate Denial?
Are You Funding Koch Climate Denial?
NEWSROOM: Climate Counts
CONTENT: Blog
David and Charles Koch might not be household names, but as major funders of climate denial organizations, they’re directly disrupting clean energy innovation and the future of our climate with your dollars. Let us explain.
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The Washington Post reported that Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan – where Koch is headquartered) whose 2010 campaign received $79,500 from the Kochs, proposed an amendment to the Clean Air Act that would drastically cut funding for an Environmental Protection Agency’s industrial greenhouse gas emissions program. (The amendment passed in a 239-185 vote.)
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The New York Times reported that “Koch donated $1 million to the campaign to pass Proposition 23, the California ballot initiative that would suspend the state's global-warming law” (Proposition 23 failed when Californians demanded clean energy.)
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OpenSecrets.org reports that from 2005 to 2008, Koch Industries spent nearly $25 million funding clean energy deniers and climate-denying organizations in Washington.
Koch owns an array of oil, chemical, and synthetic companies and we realize that it can be mind-numbing for consumers to decipher who’s behind every company. But if you’ve ever purchased paper towels, toilet paper, or tissue paper, you might find this interesting:
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Georgia-Pacific, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, claims that dioxins aren't really toxic or carcinogenic, even as the World Health Organization states that “dioxins are highly toxic and can cause reproductive and developmental problems, damage the immune system, interfere with hormones and also cause cancer” via the World Health Organization
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Georgia-Pacific is fighting the EPA's efforts to tighten water quality standards for stream dumping, specifically in the St. John’s River outside of Jacksonville, FL.
As part of our Green Watching campaign, Climate Counts is encouraging consumers to tweet to Georgia-Pacific demanding more climate action: “Hey @GeorgiaPacific I think @ClimateCounts. Stop funding climate change denial. I spend my $ w/ #climate in mind http://bit.ly/S8JfO”
Not on Twitter? Join our Green Watching Campaign and help us raise our collective voices to businesses demanding corporate climate action.