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The Koch's anti-environmentalist lobby
#1
Notable 'successes'...

Quote:President-elect Donald Trump raised eyebrows late last year when he named the head of an obscure right-wing think tank, with close ties to petrochemical billionaires Charles and David Koch, to lead his energy transition team. Since then, officials from the Institute for Energy Research (IER) have been appointed to high-level positions at the Department of Energy where they are playing major roles in implementing pro-fossil fuel, anti-renewable energy policies. Thomas Pyle, who serves as president of IER and its advocacy arm, the American Energy Alliance (AEA), set the tone by drafting a priority list for the new administration; at the top of the list was withdrawal from the Paris climate agreement.

Soon after Trump took office, newly appointed officials across the federal government started a push to prop up the fossil fuel sector, particularly the coal industry. In the spring, Energy Secretary Rick Perry directed his staff to conduct a study of the U.S. electric grid to determine if renewables were harming traditional baseload generation sources, like coal and nuclear. A former IER official, Travis Fisher, was selected to oversee the study. A draft of the study leaked last week concluded that renewables pose no threat to the grid. The leaked draft was completed by DOE career staff, and thus is subject to change by Perry and his team of Trump appointees. A DOE spokeswoman told Bloomberg that “those statements as written are not in the current draft.” The report clarifies that the spokeswoman “wouldn’t say they are incorrect, just the draft is ‘constantly evolving.’”
This is how the Kochs’ anti-renewable agenda becomes White House policy
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#2
Quote:GOP mega-donors Charles and David Koch are pouring money into efforts to kill public transport projects across the country, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.  The Koch-financed conservative group Americans for Prosperity has campaigned against seven local or state-level ballot initiatives for public transit and opposed more than two dozen other transit measures since 2015, according to the report. Those efforts include fighting state proposals to raise gasoline taxes. The majority of these campaigns have been successfulKoch Industries includes companies that produce gasoline, asphalt, seatbelts, tires and other automotive parts and some critics have questioned Americans for Prosperity's motivations for opposing transit projects.
Koch-backed group fighting public transit projects across US | TheHill
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#3
Quote:According to its website, the 60 Plus Association is a 26-year-old “nonpartisan organization working for death tax repeal and advocating for seniors” on issues like affordable prescription drugs and saving Social Security all while “adhering to less government, less taxes approach and the Constitution.” Their newest cause célèbre, however is a bit of a head-scratcher for a group advocating for retirees. In June, along with 25 other groups, 60 Plus filed a letter to the Federal Communications Commission in support of the FCC’s efforts to eliminate rules requiring TV stations to broadcast educational shows for kids. “Broadcasters should have more flexibility in organizing their schedules for children’s TV shows,” the letter says. The other thing, aside from a disdain of state-enforced reruns of Liberty Kids , these groups have in common? Significant amounts of money from Charles and David Koch, two billionaire brothers who have funded an expansive and shadowy network of nonprofit groups that advocate for libertarian and deregulatory politics. 60 Plus Association, Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform (and its tech-oriented subgroup Digital Liberty), Citizens Against Government Waste, Independent Women’s Forum (and its sister group Independent Women’s Voice) all have direct or circuitous financial ties to the conservative mega donors and they’re mad as heck about Saturday morning cartoons (at least, the “educational” ones).
The Next Front in the Kochs’ Deregulatory War Is Saturday Morning Cartoons – Mother Jones
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#4
Quote:A tax incentive for electric vehicles proposed by Nevada Republican Senator Dean Heller — who is currently running for re-election — is under attack by Koch Industries, the company owned and operated by billionaire conservatives (and active mega-donors) Charles and David Koch. According to a letter obtained by Bloomberg, Koch Industries is lobbying against Heller’s proposed bill, introduced earlier this month, to expand a law granting a $7,500 tax credit to people who buy an electric vehicle. The argument presumes that only rich people buy electric cars.
Conservative megadonors don’t like this Nevada Republican’s support for electric vehicles – ThinkProgress
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