Koch Brothers

By Kate Aronoff - New Republic, January 25, 2021

By 1961, Charles Koch had stacked up three engineering degrees and was back home in Wichita, Kansas, to join the family business of oil refining, pipelines, and manufacturing. His father, Fred, was at the time attempting to tackle a different sort of engineering challenge: how to get unions, Communists, and big government off his back. The Nazi sympathizer Koch patriarch fought against unions in Kansas, and when the John Birch Society convened its inaugural meeting in 1958—initially composed exclusively of National Association of Manufacturers members—he enthusiastically attended as a co-founder. According to a 1961 Washington Post profile of Koch’s white supremacist conspiracy-theory club, “leadership of the Birch Society overlaps heavily with the leadership of the organizations that successfully campaigned in 1958 for a right to work amendment to the State’s Constitution.” Fred died in 1967, but Charles eagerly put his education to work carrying on his family’s 60-year war against collective bargaining rights and that pesky concept known as representative democracy. When it comes to right to work, especially, labor and climate campaigners quite literally share a common enemy. 

If those two groups have found it difficult to join forces, their adversaries are elegantly streamlined. During the Obama administration, Koch Industries trained its fossil fuel empire on the twin goals of turning legislatures red and pushing through deceptively named right-to-work statutes, all the while finding time to help kill federal climate legislation. Though no state had enacted right-to-work rules since Oklahoma in 2001, five have taken them up since 2012. This most recent push has focused on sapping public sector workers’ collective bargaining rights, in particular, like the bill that led thousands of union members to peacefully occupy Wisconsin’s capitol dome in 2011. 

That some of the most high-profile targets of anti-labor measures have been swing states with strong union legacies—namely, Wisconsin, Ohio, and Michigan—is no coincidence. As E.J. Dionne pointed out after Michigan enacted its right-to-work measures in 2013, Obama had won 66 percent of the state’s union households a year earlier. He won the state overall by just 1 percent. In 2018, the right’s biggest win against unions came with the decision in Janus v. AFSCME, which made right to work the national standard for public-sector workers. The crux of that case was AFSCME member Mark Janus’s argument—in a case supported enthusiastically by Koch networks—that being forced to pay agency fees—which cover the costs of union representation and contract negotiation—violated his free speech. This was a major blow to unions’ capacity to extract gains from employers, weakening labor’s power overall. That’s the whole point.

For Charles Koch and other captains of industry, the calculation behind crushing unions isn’t complicated: Weaker unions mean a weaker opposition to right-wing policies, including the sort of regressive climate and energy measures they’ve helped push around the country through the American Legislative Exchange Council. The right’s general project of minority rule—whether in weakening small-d democratic institutions like unions, gerrymandering congressional districts, or suppressing votes—is incompatible with climate action and democracy itself. Big business has long understood this. 

By Catalina M. de Onís - The Conversation, September 1, 2017

The Trump administration has made "achieving American energy dominance" a central policy goal. President Trump asserts that "energy dominance" requires expanding nuclear development, increasing coal and natural gas exports, building transnational pipelines and accessing offshore oil and gas deposits. These efforts, Trump contends, will maximize the nation's "boundless capacity" for energy production, including spreading US fossil fuels around the globe, to showcase its independence from foreign oil.

My research studies how expansionist efforts play out in the US unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico. For centuries, Spanish and US colonial governments and corporations have practiced what could be called "energy dominance" by harnessing human labor and fossil fuels to exploit local resources through mining, coffee and sugarcane development, and other industries. Puerto Rico's history makes clear that Trump's policy, which benefits corporations and their political allies to the detriment of local communities, promises more of the same.

Fueling Energy Colonialism

The United States seized control of Puerto Rico in 1898. Like other imperial powers, the United States justified exploiting other people and places by portraying them as backward and promising to modernize them.

Many US government officials, legal experts, researchers and artists assumed that colonized peoples were inferior. In their view, African and indigenous ancestries and prior colonization by Spain marked people who lived in the newly acquired "possessions" as primitive, childlike and weak.

In his 1899 book "Our Islands and Their People," writer and diplomat José de Olivares stated,

"Without our fostering benevolence, this island [Puerto Rico] would be as unhappy and prostrate as are some of the neighboring British, French, Dutch, and Danish islands."

During this same period, Supreme Court justices described US colonies as home to "uncivilized" and "savage" "alien races." Racist claims of US superiority and goodwill drove colonial policy and relationships of dependency.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, June 7, 2017

The reactions to President Donald J Trump's reckless and unstrategic decision to pull the US out of the Paris Agreement are numerous and range from condemnation to disdianful. We present an extensive but far from exhaustive collection here:

Trump's Decision

• As it happened: Trump withdraws from Paris climate deal - By Karl Mathiesen, Climate Change News, June 6, 2017
• EPA Chief Ducks Out of G7 Climate Meeting More Than a Day Early - By Climate Nexus, EcoWatch, June 12, 2017; [related]: U.S. refuses to endorse joint climate statement with other G7 countries - By Mark Hand, ThinkProgress, June 12, 2017 | U.S. Refuses to Sign G7 Climate Pledge - By Climate Nexus, EcoWatch, June 13, 2017.
• FORE! Trump’s Paris speech was an awful mishit - By Rachel Kyte, Climate Change News, June 14, 2017
• President Trump's Announcement on the Paris Climate Agreement - By Stefanie Spear, EcoWatch, June 1, 2017
• Trump pulls US out of Paris Agreement on climate change - By staff, Carbon Brief, June 2, 2017
• Trump Says US Is ‘Getting Out’ of Paris Agreement, But Will Negotiate a Fair Deal - By Jennifer Delony, Renewable Energy World, June 1, 2017
• Trump Wants A New Climate Deal - By Roy L Hales, The EcoReport, June 1, 2017
• U.S. Energy Policy Will Drive Jobs, Clean Energy - By Rick Perry, Breaking Energy, June 12, 2017
• What happens now that Trump pulled the United States out of the Paris agreement? - By Natasha Geiling, ThinkProgress, June 1, 2017
• White House Press Briefing Post Paris Announcement - Posted on EcoWatch

Fact Check

• 'Destructive Fossil Fuel Puppet' Trump Ditches Climate Deal with Fact-Free Speech - By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, June 1, 2017
• EPA chief accused of ‘promoting global warming’ with unwavering support for fossil fuels - By Mark Hand, ThinkProgress, June 6, 2017
• EPA Head Continues to Defend Trump's Historic Mistake - By Michael Brune, EcoWatch, June 4, 2017
• The 5 biggest deceptions in Trump’s Paris climate speech - By David Roberts, Vox, June 2, 2017
• 5 Facts Trump Got Wrong on His Attack of the Green Climate Fund - By Friends of the Earth, EcoWatch, June 2, 2017
• Lawmaker thinks God will ‘take care’ of climate change if it becomes a ‘real problem’ - By Jack Jenkins, ThinkProgress, June 1, 2017
• Pruitt defends Paris decision, advocates fuel diversity in media lap - By Gavin Bade, Utility Dive, June 5, 2017
• Reaction to Trump taunting "Drop Dead, World!" from @wattsupwiththat - By staff, Hot Whopper, June 4, 2017
• Republican ‘climate caucus’ offered little support for Paris deal - By Zack Colman, Climate Change News, June 2, 2017
• Trump cabinet officials propagate soft climate denial on the Sunday shows - By Ned Resnikoff, ThinkProgress, June 4, 2017
• Trump can’t decide whether the Paris agreement is binding - By Mark Hand, ThinkProgress, June 22, 2017
• Trump desire to renegotiate Paris deal ‘incoherent’ and ‘clumsy’ - By Megan Darby, Climate Home, June 1, 2017
• Trump Dumps Paris Climate Accord - By staff, The Revelator, June 1, 2017
• Trump falsely claims Paris deal has a minimal impact on warming - By Joe Romm, ThinkProgress, June 2, 2017
• Trump made some pretty wild claims when announcing the U.S. exit from the Paris Agreement - By staff, Grist, June 1, 2017
• Trump's advisers won't say if he still believes climate change is a 'hoax.' But what does it matter? - By Meteor Blades, Daily Kos, June 3, 2017
• Trump’s argument for withdrawing from Paris agreement contains multi-trillion dollar math error - By Samantha Page, ThinkProgress, June 1, 2017
• Trump’s Promise to ‘Renegotiate’ the Paris Climate Deal Is Pure Political Theater - By Stephen Lacey, GreenTech Media, June 1, 2017
• 22 things Donald Trump got wrong about the Paris Agreement - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 2, 2017

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, September 13, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• Neither the TPP Nor National Sovereignty – By Elliot Sperber, CounterPunch, September 9, 2016; [related]: Leading Economists Oppose TPP Provision Giving Corporations Upper Hand in Investor-State Disputes – Lori Wallach interviewed by Amy Goodman and Nermeen Shaikh, Democracy Now!, September 8, 2016 | As White House Spotlights Conflict With Democratic Presidential and Congressional Candidates by Escalating Toward TPP Lame-Duck Vote, Sen. Warren and Hundreds of Academics Urge Rejection – By Jeffrey Sachs, et. al., Public Citizen, September 7, 2016 | Good News for the People of Europe: The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) Is Dead. Negotiations have Failed – By Peter Koenig, Global Research, September 7, 2016 | Obama’s TPP Would Widen the Divide –  By Manuel Pérez-Rocha, Institute for Policy Studies, September 1, 2016
• Humans have destroyed a tenth of Earth's wilderness in 25 years – By Adam Vaughan, The Guardian, September 8, 2016; [related]: The Sick Ocean – By Robert Hunziker, CounterPunch, September 8, 2016
• Our energy system has changed since 1913; why hasn’t this subsidy? – By Julia Raven, Oil Change International, September 7, 2016
• Frack, Rattle and Roll: Drilling into Oklahoma’s Earthquake Epidemic – By Joshua Frank, CounterPunch, September 6, 2016; [related]: ‘Preemption’ Is Major Obstacle Across the Country as Progressive Laws Like Fracking Bans Passed in Liberal Cities Are Immediately Crushed by Right-Wing State Legislatures –  By Abby Rapoport, The American Prospect, September 2, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• The Clean Power Plan: Justice Delayed — For Whom the Rule Tolls – Joel B. Stronberg, Renewable Energy World, September 9, 2016
• Fox News acknowledged climate change, then promptly took it back – By Katie Herzog, Grist, September 8, 2016
• 13 Academics Who Have Become Shills for Corporate Giants in the Food, Agrochemical and Fossil Fuel Industries – By Lorraine Chow, AlterNet, September 8, 2016
• The Truth Behind The Kochs’ New Fossil Fuel PR Campaign – By Jeremy Deaton, Think Progress, September 8, 2016
• To Fight Clean Power Plan, Fossil Fuel Companies Paid for Private Meetings with Republican State Prosecutors – By Ashley Braun, DeSmog Blog, September 7, 2016; [related]: Confidential Documents Show Fossil Fuel Industry Plotted With GOP AGs to Attack Clean Power Plan – By Climate Denier Roundup, EcoWatch, September 8, 2016 | Fossil Fuel Industry Paid for Meetings With GOP Attorneys General to Plan Attack on Clean Power Plan – By Nick Surgey, PR Watch, September 7, 2016 | Republican State AGs Met With Coal, Electricity Companies Before Filing Against The EPA’s Carbon Rule – By Samantha Page, Think Progress, September 7, 2016
• Hillary Clinton Is Raking In Fossil Fuel Money At An Alarming Rate – By Farron Cousins, DeSmog Blog, September 7, 2016; [related]: Big Oil is backing Hillary Clinton – By Emma Foehringer Merchant, Grist, September 7, 2016
• U.S. companies tout climate policies, fund climate skeptics – By Richard Valdmanis and Grant Smith, Reuters, September 6, 2016; [related]: New Reuters Exposé On Climate Change Denial Aims At Small Fry, Misses The Big One – By Tina Casey, Clean Technica, September 8, 2016 | Major corporations that claim to support climate action are funding politicians who oppose it – By Ben Adler, Grist, September 7, 2016 | U.S. Companies Publicly Support Climate Action, Privately Fund Deniers – By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress, September 6, 2016
• Conservative media bias is inflating American climate denial and polarization – By Dana Nuccitelli, The Guardian, September 6, 2016; [related]: Who's Driving Climate Denial? Big Companies and Conservative Media – By Jax Jacobsen, EcoWatch, September 6, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, August 17, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• US Court Rules in Favor of Chevron in Ecuador Pollution Case - By Reuters, Telesur, August 8, 2016; [related]: Amazon Watch Response to Decision to Uphold Flawed Chevron Retaliatory Lawsuit - By Paul Paz y Miño, Amazon Watch, August 8, 2016 | Chevron won’t have to pay for its own version of Chernobyl - By Katie Herzog, Grist, August 8, 2016
• Brazil’s sewage woes reflect the growing global water quality crisis - By Joan Rose, The Conversation, August 7, 2016
• Why Say No to the TPP? Corporations Already Have Too Much Power - By Sarah van Gelder, Yes! Magazine, August 3, 2016
• Alaskans Witness Collapsing Mountains, Shattered Lives - By Dahr Jamail, Truthout, August 1, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• New Koch-Funded Group ‘Fueling US Forward’ Aims to Promote the "Positives" of Fossil Fuels - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, August 14, 2016
• Republican Politicians Love Oil & Coal Money, Destroy Human Health & Life - By Zachary Shahan, Clean Technica, August 12, 2016
• The Slow Poisoning of Health and the Environment - By Colin Todhunter, CounterPunch, August 12, 2016
• Enron and the power boys played Ralph Klein's government as suckers - By David Climenhaga, Rabble.Ca, August 10, 2016
• The Galileo gambit and other stories: the three main tactics of climate denial - By Stephan Lewandowsky, The Conversation, August 10, 2016
• Colorado Readies for 'All Out War' as Anti-Fracking Measures Advance to Ballot - By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, August 9, 2016
• Exclusive: Documents Show FERC-hired Contractor Did Not Disclose Work on Related Spectra Pipeline in Atlantic Bridge Project - By Itai Vardi, DeSmog Blog, August 9, 2016
• Exxon’s climate fight with ‘green’ states heats up in court - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, August 9, 2016
• Thousands of Pages of Confidential Think Tank Documents Detail Corporate Ties, New York Times Reports - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, August 9, 2016; [related]: NYT Reveals Think Tank It’s Cited for Years to Be Corrupt Arms Booster - By Adam Johnson, FAIR, August 12, 2016 | How Think Tanks Amplify Corporate America’s Influence - By Eric Lipton and Brooke Williams, New York Times, August 7, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• FOIA Request Probes Extent of Government Spying on Climate Protesters - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, August 11, 2016; [related]: Public Records Sought Over Federal Surveillance of Climate Protesters - By Taylor McKinnon, Center for Biological Diversity, August 11, 2016 | Right-Wing Group Continues to Diligently Stalk Environmental Leaders - By Climate Denier Roundup, EcoWatch, August 9, 2016 | Embarrassing Photos of Me, Thanks to My Right-Wing Stalkers - By Bill McKibben, New York Times, August 5, 2016
• A Deadly Shade of Green: The Dangerous Situation Facing Environmental Defenders in Latin America - By staff, Global Justice Ecology Project, August 10, 2016
• State AGs and Groups Defy Lamar Smith's Subpoena Over Exxon Climate Probes - By David Hasemyer, Inside Climate News, July 27, 2016; [related]: Exxon Sues a Second Attorney General To Fight Off Climate Fraud Probe - By David Hasemyer, Inside Climate News, June 16, 2016

Greenwashers:

• California Regulators Sued Over Plan To Turn Aquifer Into Permanent Oil Waste Dump - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, August 10, 2016
• Exxon’s Latest Campaign to Stymie Climate Action - By Elliott Negin, EcoWatch, August 10, 2016
• Fact-Checking The Biomass Lobby’s New Website - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, August 10, 2016
• What's Fishy About the Feds' Salmon Promises? - By Judith Lavoie, DeSmog.Ca, August 10, 2016
• BP Greenwashes the Olympics … Again - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, August 8, 2016
• New Subsidy Loophole Will Boost Profits for Unsustainable Corn Biofuel Industry - By Almuth Ernsting, Independent Science News, August 8, 2016
• Wake Up: These Unneeded Instruments Can Wreck Mass Destruction - By Ralph Nader, CounterPunch, August 8, 2016
• Why the UK government’s fracking payout claim is just not true - By Damian Kahya, Greenpeace, August 8, 2016; [related]: Opposition Grows to UK Government’s Fracking “Bribe” - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, August 8, 2016

Disaster Capitalism:

• Louisiana Floods: A “classic signal of climate change” - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, August 15, 2016
• Flint’s lead-poisoned water cost the city nearly 100 times as much as it was supposed to save - By Katie Herzog, Grist, August 9, 2016

Other News:

• “Why don’t people demand action on climate change?” - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, August 11, 2016
• Insane Trump Energy Policy Would Put Entire World At Risk - By Steve Hanley, Gas2, August 10, 2016
• Hundreds of oil and gas-related spills affected water sources in 2015 - By Jesse Prentice-Dunn, Center for Western Priorities, August 8, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, August 10, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• Cities Need More Public Transit, Not More Uber and Self-Driving Cars - By Kevin Cashman, Truthout, August 2, 2016
• On Trade, Our Choices Aren’t Only Xenophobic Nationalism Or Neoliberal Globalization - By Leon Fink, In These Times, August 2, 2016
• Post-Paris Climate Talks: implementation at any price - By Simon Fischer, New Internationalist, August 2, 2016
• "You Can't Handle the Truth!" - By Richard Heinberg, Post Carbon Institute, August 1, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• In California Clean Air Fight, Environmental Justice Takes a Leading Role - By David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News, August 5, 2016
• Will Happer Drills For Support With Lamar Smith, Ted Cruz And Texas Public Policy Foundation - By John Mashey, DeSmog Blog, August 5, 2016
• The right now wants a “Clexit,” because Brexit went so well - By Katie Herzog, Grist, August 4, 2016 [related]: After Brexit, Climate Science Denialists Form New Group to Call for a Clexit - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, August 3, 2016
• Koch Bros’ Summer Reading List for Donors Promotes Freedom, Fossil Fuels, and Matt Ridley - By Kyla Mandel, DeSmog UK, August 3, 2016
• The Kochs, Big Oil Are Taking Their War With The EPA To The Ballot Box - By Josh Israel and Samantha Page, Think Progress, August 3, 2016
• Behold, the death of memes at the hand of the fracking lobby - By Cody Permenter, Grist, August 2, 2016
• Climate Denier Jim Inhofe Goes Full Conspiracy Theorist In Unhinged Rant About Global Warming - By Farron Cousins, DeSmog Blog, August 2, 2016
• Fastest-Growing Source Of Electricity ‘Not Working So Good,’ Trump Claims - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, August 2, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• How America Rising Ties the GOP Establishment to the Stalkers Harassing Bill McKibben and Tom Steyer - By Ben Jervey, DeSmog Blog, August 6, 2016

Greenwashers:

• Bavaria Suing Volkswagen Over Diesel Emissions Cheating Scandal - By James Ayre, Clean Technica, August 3, 2016

Disaster Capitalism:

• Louisiana Parish Hit by Third Oil Spill in Ten Days As Pressure Grows To Hold Oil and Gas Industry Accountable for Coastal Damage - By Julie Dermansky, DeSmog Blog, August 3, 2016
• "When You Dial 911 and Wall Street Answers": How Private Equity Profits off Our Daily Lives - Danielle Ivory interviewed by Juan Gonzáles and Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, August 3, 2016
• Utility Won’t Clean Up Toxic Coal Ash Pits Because It’s Too Expensive - By Alejandro Dávila Fragoso, Think Progress, August 1, 2016

Other News:

• Leaked Government Report Reveals Failed Coal Mine Rehabilitation Costing Taxpayers $3.2 Billion - By staff, Lock the Gate Alliance, August 5, 2016
• We Were Promised The Greenest Olympics Ever. We Got An Ecological Disaster - By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress, August 2, 2016; [related]: Dave Zirin: Protests by Athletes and Displaced Rio Residents Accompany Opening of 2016 Olympic Games - By Dave Zirin interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now!, August 5, 2016 | Rio Olympics Opening Ceremony Reminds World That Climate Change Is Very Real - By Esther Yu Hsi Lee, Think Progress, August 2, 2016 | Athletes Forced To Live With Disgusting Conditions And Poor Security In Rio Olympic Village - By Lindsay Gibbs, Think Progress, August 1, 2016
• End the Stink in Endicott! - By Joan McKiernan, The People's Press, July 24, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, August 10, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• Oil and natural gas production jobs in May were 26% lower than in October 2014 - By Robert McManmon, OilVoice, August 5, 2016
• Oil majors’ debt balloons as energy slump persists - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, August 5, 2016; [related]: How will industry respond after oil’s fall below $40? - By staff, FuelFix, August 3, 2016 | Oil prices flat after two-day rally - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, August 5, 2016 | ‘The days of $100 oil are gone.’ So what’s next? - By staff, FuelFix, August 2, 2016 | Oil rises after its dip below $40 a barrel - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, August 2, 2016 | Oil settles below $40 for the first time since April - By staff, FuelFix, August 2, 2016 | Growing oil glut shows investors there’s nowhere to go but down - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, August 1, 2016 | Oil prices continue to slide - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, August 1, 2016 | Oil settles above $40 a barrel after falling below threshold in intraday trading - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, August 1, 2016
• State of The Transition, July 2016: Might the fossil fuel industries implode faster than the clean energy industries can grow to replace them? - By Jeremy Leggett, Jeremy Leggett Blog, August 3, 2016
• Today’s Downturn Sets Markets Up For A Dramatic Oil Price Spike - By Nick Cunningham, OilPrice.Com, August 2, 2016
• Hydrocarbons and the Illusion of Sustainability - By Kent A. Klitgaard, Monthly Review, July-August 2016

Other Carbon Bubble News:

• Bankrupt coal company execs want huge bonuses — but can they clean up after themselves? - By staff, Western Priorities, August 5, 2016; [related]: Bankrupt coal miner Peabody proposes $11.9 million in executive bonuses - By Tracy Rucinski, Reuters, August 4, 2016
• Synergy Resources announces second quarter 2016 net loss of $153.8 million - By staff, OilVoice, August 5, 2016
• Chesapeake misses estimates as gas field writedowns mount - By Bloomberg, FuelFix, August 4, 2016
• Dynegy posts loss while preparing for Texas growth - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, August 4, 2016
• More bad news for copper price - By Frik Els, Mining.Com, August 4, 2016
• W&T Offshore warns of potential bankruptcy after $121 million loss - By Jordan Blum, FuelFix, August 4, 2016
• Crude-by-rail volumes to the East Coast are declining - By Arup Mallik, OilVoice, August 3, 2016; [related]: Crude-oil train movements down 45% this year - By Andrew Maykuth, Philadelphia Inquirer, August 3, 2016
• Hunger strike pushes South Korea to defer coal plant plan - By Bob Burton, EndCoal, August 3, 2016
• Noble Energy sells record amount of oil — but not at a profit - By David Hunn, FuelFix, August 3, 2016
• Occidental swings to loss in 2nd quarter from year earlier - By David Hunn, FuelFix, August 3, 2016
• Solar Beats Out Coal In UK For 2nd Whole Month Ever - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, August 3, 2016
• Coal Glut, Environmental Pushback Derail West Coast Port Plans - By Timothy Puko and Erica E. Phillips, Wall Street Journal, August 1, 2016
• LNG Investments At Serious Risk If China Succeeds On Shale - By Charles Kennedy, Network for Oil & Gas Accountability and Protection, August 1, 2016
• Wyoming’s ‘clean coal’ plans stir false hopes - By Sandy Buchanan, Last Best News, July 29, 2016
• Two Towns Battle Colorado for Freedom to Ban Fracking - By Kate Stringer, YES! Magazine, July 28, 2016
• US to speed oil, gas permits amid sharp drop in applications - By Matthew Brown, Associated Press, July 28, 2016
• Stuttgart pulls out of fossil fuels - By Melanie Mattauch, Fossil Free, July 20, 2016

Utility Death Spiral News:

• South Australia signalling the death of base-load generation - By Giles Parkinson, REnewEconomy, August 8, 2016; [related]: The solution to Australia’s gas crisis is not more gas - By Alan Pears, The Conversation, August 3, 2016
• Warren Buffett Wins: Elon Musk's Ballot Referendum Blocked by Nevada Supreme Court - By Climate Nexus, EcoWatch, August 5, 2016; [related]: Nevada Supreme Court Blocks Rooftop Solar Referendum - By Julia Pyper, Greentech Media, August 8, 2016 | Nevada Court Rejects Solar Power Ballot Initiative As ‘Inaccurate’ And ‘Misleading’ - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, August 5, 2016 | Nevada Supreme Court rejects net metering ballot proposal - By Krysti Shallenberger, Utility Dive, August 5, 2016 | Nevada Supreme Court rejects rooftop solar referendum - By Danielle Ola, PV-Tech, August 5, 2016 | Future of Nevada solar ballot petition unclear after state Supreme Court hearing - By Robert Walton, Utility Dive, August 1, 2016
• What happens when 1GW of coal capacity suddenly disappears - By Giles Parkinson, REnew Economy, August 4, 2016
• Big coal generators still fear renewables, despite gas boost - By Sophie Vorrath, REnew Economy, August 2, 2016
• Energy companies are dead already, they just haven’t realised it - By Leon Bateman, REnew Economy, August 2, 2016
• 5 Charts That Illustrate The Remarkable LED Lighting Revolution - By Joe Romm, Think Progress, August 2, 2016
• Have we massively underestimated the battery storage market? - By Nigel Morris, REnew Economy, August 2, 2016
• 'It's just wrong': Thousands in limbo as Louisiana's solar tax credits dwindle - By Jennifer Larino, Times-Picayune, August 2, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, August 2, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• They Killed Keystone. Now What? - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, July 29, 2016
• An Inside Look At How Rio Fell So Far, So Fast - By Lindsay Gibbs, Think Progress, July 28, 2016
• The Color of Pollution: How Environmental Contamination Targets People of Color - By Larry Buhl, DeSmog Blog, July 28, 2016
• TTIP: The most dangerous weapon in the hands of the fossil fuel industry - By Andreas Sieber and Pavlos Georgiadis, The Ecologist, July 27, 2016
• ALEC 2016 Agenda Boosts Charters, Coal, and Other Corporate Funders - By Jessica Mason, PRWatch, July 26, 2016
• Moving Gulf Fossil Fuel Lease Sales Online Won't Halt Public's Growing Opposition to Offshore Drilling - By Blake Kopcho, et. al., Center for Biological Diversity, et. al, July 25, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• ALEC in Indianapolis: ExxonMobil and the #WebOfDenial - By Connor Gibson, Greenpeace, July 30, 2016
• At Oil Industry Funded DNC Event, Surprising Turn: Protests, Ex-Governor Admits "Mistake" Over Fracking - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, July 29, 2016
• Fracking Colorado: This Is What (Buying a) Democracy Looks Like - By Jesse Coleman, Greenpeace, July 29, 2016
• Oil and gas industry events 'polluting' Democratic convention, say activists - By Oliver Milman, The Guardian, July 28, 2016
• Revealed: AARP Is Funding ALEC - By Nick Surgey and Calvin Sloan, Exposed, July 28, 2016
• At Federal Energy Conference, Forecasts Predict Bright Future for Fossil Fuels - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, July 27, 2016
• Sinking Tarballs, Whale Collisions: Potential Impacts of Energy East on the U.S. Coast Detailed in New Report - By James Wilt, DeSmog Canada, July 27, 2016
• Donald Trump's Top Energy Aide Could Profit From GOP-Promised Keystone XL Permit - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, July 26, 2016
• Jim Inhofe’s Granddaughter Asked Him Why He Didn’t Understand Global Warming - By Ryan Koronowski, Think Progress, July 26, 2016
• Oil Lobby Paid Washington Post and Atlantic to Host Climate-Change Deniers at RNC - By Alex Emmons, The Intercept, July 22, 2016
• Mike Pence Is a Loyal Friend to Polluters - By Sarah Anderson and Janet Redman, Alternet, July 18, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• 3 reasons we’re opposing a Congressional move to protect Exxon - By May Boeve and Annie Leonard, 350.org and Greenpeace, July 27, 2016; [related]: Exxon allies cry foul over law firm in climate probe - By Timothy Cama, The Hill, July 23, 2016
• Fossil Fuel Industry Continues Wrath on Renowned Climate Scientist Michael Mann - By Sierra Rayne, EcoWatch, July 26, 2016

Greenwashers:

• BP deal renewed. We vow to overturn it - By staff, BP or Not BP, July 28, 2016
• Delta Tunnels: Restoring An Estuary by Diverting Its Water? - By Dan Bacher, Daily Kos, July 27, 2016; [related]: Crowd chants “Ban fracking now” to Governor Brown at DNC - By EmilyJ, 350.org, July 28, 2016 | The Hired Gun: Jerry Brown Snags Bruce Babbitt as New Point Man For Delta Tunnels - By Dan Bacher, CounterPunch, July 27, 2016
• Promoting Cutting Trees to Store Carbon? It’s 1984 All Over Again - By staff, Global Justice Ecology Project, July 26, 2016

Disaster Capitalism:

• Michigan AG Bill Schuette: State employees ignored warning flags in Flint - By John Wisely, Detroit Free Press, July 29, 2016
• Back to tragedy: more news of the BHP Billiton/Vale tailings dam collapse in Brazil - By Richard, London Mining Network, July 28, 2016

Other News:

• The Struggle Deep in the Forests of the Philippines - By Zeph Repollo, 350.org, July 29, 2016
• Over 130 Organizations Challenge EPA to Consider Prisoners in Environmental Justice Plan - By Panagioti Tsolkas, Prison Ecology Project, July 28, 2016
• Ecuador Refuses to Pay Chevron Nearly $100 Million in Damages - By staff, Telesur, July 9, 2016

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC; Hashtags: #greenunionism #greensyndicalism #IWW. Please send suggested news items to include in this series to euc [at] iww.org.

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, July 27, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• Did Industry Ties Lead Democratic Party Platform Committee to Nix Fracking Ban? - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, July 23, 2016
• Planned Gas Pipeline Construction on East Coast Puts Climate at Risk: Report - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, July 22, 2016; [related]: Report: Gas pipeline proposals could threaten US carbon pledge - By Robert Walton, Utility Dive, July 25, 2016 | As Major Parties Embrace Fracking, Report Shows Natural Gas 'Bridge to Climate Disaster' - By Deirdre Fulton, Common Dreams, July 22, 2016 | 19 Proposed Fracking Pipelines Would Push Us Past Point of No Return, Report Finds - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, July 22, 2016
• Koch Brothers' Fingerprints Can Be Found All Over GOP Convention - By Mary Bottari, PRWatch, July 21, 2016
• The End of the Extraction Economy - By Cliff Moser, Strong Towns, July 18, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Heartland Institute Tries To Reshape Its 'Unabomber Billboard' Image With Hyper Patriotism - By Farron Cousins, DeSmog Blog, July 24, 2016
• EIA AEO is DOA - By Steve Kretzmann, Oil Change International, July 21, 2016
• Rail Industry Requests Massive Loophole in Oil-by-Rail Safety To Extend Bomb Trains Well Beyond 2025 - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, July 21, 2016
• Escalating Battle Over Exxon Investigation Subpoenas Could End Up in Court - By David Hasemyer, InsideClimate News, July 20, 2016
• Murdoch media gets it hopelessly wrong on wind energy. Again. - By Giles Parkinson, REnew Economy, July 20, 2016
• Sen. Capito’s $15,000 worth of regulations - By Ken Ward Jr, Charleston Gazette-Mail, July 20, 2016
• Smoke and Fumes: Six Decades of Oil-Tobacco Nexus of Deception and Attacks on Science - By Brendan DeMelle, DeSmog Blog, July 20, 2016; [related]: Big Oil, Not Big Tobacco, Wrote the Public Skepticism Playbook: Report - By Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams, July 20, 2016 | Way back when, Big Oil taught tobacco companies a few tricks - By Katie Herzog, Grist, July 20, 2016
• The Koch and Exxon Funded Think Tanks Supporting, and Being Courted by, Britain’s Brexit Campaigners - By Kyla Mandel, DeSmog Blog, July 19, 2016
• The slippery slope just turned into a slippery cliff - By Mike Spille, The Cost of the Pipeline, July 19, 2016
• Three U.S. states sue Volkswagen, say executives covered up diesel cheating - By David Shepardson, Reuters, July 19, 2016 [related]: The 4 most scandalous charges against Volkswagen - By Heather Smith, Grist, July 22, 2016  | Volkswagen Emissions Scandal Just Got Worse - By Samantha Page, Think Progress, July 19, 2016 | VW execs covered up diesel cheating, state lawsuits allege - By David Shepardson, Automotive News, July 19, 2016
• While Reviewing Spectra Energy Gas Pipeline Project, FERC Contractor Did Not Disclose Its Hiring by Spectra for Five Other Projects - By Itai Vardi, DeSmog Blog, July 19, 2016
• Australia Appoints “Mr Coal” As New Climate Change Minister - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, July 18, 2016
• Exxon Increases Funding to Energy Think-Tank Run By Former Top Obama Energy Aide - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, July 18, 2016
• Golden Rice and Scientific Consensus - By Carmelo Ruiz, Food First, July 15, 2016
• Monsanto Tries to Build a Society of GMO and Pesticide Devotees, One Child at a Time - By Lorraine Chow,  AlterNet, July 4, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• 'The Dam Builders Could Not Stop My Mother' So They Killed Her - By Salvador Edgardo Zuniga Cáceres, EcoWatch, July 19, 2016
• Federal Agents Went Undercover To Spy on Anti-Fracking Movement, Emails Reveal - By Lee Fang and Steve Horn, The Intercept, July 19, 2016
• Free Kara Wild! - By Free Kara Wild!, Earth First! Journal, July 19, 2016