Koch Brothers

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, July 19, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• The corporate scramble for Africa's minerals: Britain's new colonialism - By Colin Todhunter, The Ecologist, July 14, 2016
• Taxpayer Groups, Environmentalists, Students Call on Congress to End $4 Billion Annual Oil Industry Subsidies - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, July 14, 2016; [related]: Open Letter to Congress, various, July 14, 2016 [PDF]
• Being Present in this Moment: Climate Justice and Collective Dignity - By Everette R. H. Thompson, 350.org, July 13, 2016
• The Fight Against TTIP: a Green Pyrrhic Victory?  - By Georg Maisser, Green European Journal, July 11, 2016
• How Globalization Divides Us: Perspectives on Brexit from a Dual Citizen - By Kristen Steele, Local Futures, July 9, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• How the Right Wing Denial Machine Distorts the Climate Change Discourse - By Michael Mann, EcoWatch, July 15, 2016
• New Utah Lands Bill Includes Massive Gifts To The Cliven Bundy Land Seizure Movement - By Nicole Gentile and Matt Lee-Ashley, Think Progress, July 15, 2016
• New Rules Could Help Big Oil Escape Scrutiny at Fossil Fuel Auctions - By Nadia Prupis, Common Dreams, July 15, 2016; [related]: Legislation Would Marginalize Public Input on Offshore Fossil Fuel Leases - By Marissa Knodel, et. al., Friends of the Earth, et. al., July 13, 2016
• Lamar “McCarthy 2.0” Smith Subpoenas #ExxonKnew Investigators - By ClimateDenierRoundup, DeSmog Blog, July 14, 2016; [related]: Front Groups Attacking #WebofDenial Senate Action Took Over $92M in Dark, Dirty Money - By Cindy Baxter, Climate Investigations Center, July 14, 2016 | Republicans “Acting at Behest of Big Oil” Trying to Block Investigation of Exxon “Fraud” - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, July 14, 2016 | Republicans Escalate War on Attorneys General Over Exxon Climate Change Probe - By Climate Nexus, EcoWatch, July 14, 2016 | ExxonMobil Is Still Funding Climate Science Denier Groups - By Elliott Negin, EcoWatch, July 13, 2016 | The New Attack On Climate Scientists: Drain Their Funds With Frivolous Lawsuits - By Farron Cousins, DeSmog Blog, July 13, 2016 | How US Senators’ #WebofDenial Helped Spawn and Sustain Climate Science Denial in the UK - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog UK, July 13, 2016 | State Attorneys General Subpoenaed by Rep. Lamar Smith for Exxon Fraud Probe - By David Hasemyer, Inside Climate News, July 13, 2016 | #TimetoCallOut the Impressive McCarthy-Hypocrisy of the #WebofDenial Response - By ClimateDenierRoundup, DeSmog Blog, July 13, 2016
• Can A Once-Respected Science Group Give Up Exxon Funding? It Will Soon Have One More Chance - By Joe Romm, Think Progress, July 13, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Cloc-Via Campesina Honduras statement on assassination of Lesbia Yaneth Urquía - By Cloc-Via Campesina, La Via Campesina, July 18, 2016 [related]: Murders of Activists Defending Safe Water and Environment Rise Sharply - By Keith Schneider, Circle of Blue, July 13, 2016 | This Is Why You Could Lose Your Life Protecting Honduras’ Environment - By Alejandro Davila Fragoso, Think Progress, July 12, 2016
• Fear and uncertainty after Filipina anti-coal activist murder - By Megan Darby, Climate Change News, July 13, 2016; [related]: Murder of Filipina activist symptom of attempt to quash rising tide of anti-coal activism - By Bob Burton, CoalWire, July 13, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, July 12, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• Exxon Is Still Helping Fund The Spread Of Climate Denial - By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress, July 11, 2016; [related]: How Far Will Elected Officials Go to Protect One of World’s Biggest Carbon Polluters? - By Elliott Negin, EcoWatch, July 5, 2016
• Let's not mix xenophobia with legitimate resistance to corporate trade deals - By Linda McQuaig, Rabble.Ca, July 7, 2016
• There is a crisis erupting along Nicaragua's Northern Coast. Here's 5 ways you can help - By Carlos Enrique Maibeth-Mortimer, Intercontinental Cry, July 7, 2016
• Fate of Keystone XL Pipeline Could Be Decided in a Texas Courtroom Before NAFTA Tribunal Considers TransCanada’s Suit - By Julie Dermansky, DeSmog Blog, July 5, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• ExxonMobil: New Disclosures Show Oil Giant Still Funding Climate Science Denial Groups - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, July 8, 2016
• How The Arizona Corporation Commission Turned Anti-Solar In Just A Few Years - By Alex Kotch, DeSmog Blog, July 8, 2016
• Going to Extremes: The Anti-Government Extremism Behind the Growing Movement to Seize America’s Public Lands - By Aaron Weiss, Center for Western Priorities, July 7, 2016; [related]: Utah Representative Rob Bishop Once Again Taking Marching Orders from Oil and Gas Industry - By Jesse Prentice-Dunn, Center for Western Priorities, July 7, 2016 | Busted: Right-wing “environmental research” group uses falsified data to justify state land grab - By Aaron Weiss, Center for Western Priorities, July 5, 2016
• Mysterious EV Company Atieva Hires Climate Change Denying Lobbyist Ben Quayle - By Tina Casey, Clean Technica, July 7, 2016
• Bankrupt Coal Miner Peabody Energy Paid Climate Denialist Craig Idso To Write Greenhouse Gas Reports - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, July 6, 2016
• The Top 10 Garbage Climate Stories From The Koch Brothers’ Favorite Right-Wing Website - By Dee Robbs, Buzzfeed, June 29, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• North Carolina Congressman Wants To Ban EPA Employees From Flying For Work - By Natasha Geiling, Think Progress, July 11, 2016; [related]: Meaningless, Mean-Spirited McCarthyism: Lamar Smith’s Ironic Investigations - By ClimateDenierRoundup, DeSmog Blog, July 10, 2016 | Climate scientists are under attack from frivolous lawsuits - By Lauren Kurtz, Skeptical Science, July 7, 2016
• Jail sentences for 11 in France’s carbon scam of the century - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, July 8, 2016
• Another environmental activist killed in Honduras - By Freddy Cuevas, Washington Post, July 7, 2016; [related]: Violence against environmentalists is now at an all-time high - By Will Potter, Green is the New Red, July 8, 2016 | 'Horrific Human Rights Crime': Another Environmental Activist Slain in Honduras - By Nika Knight, Common Dreams, July 7, 2016
• Six Months After Malheur, Militants and Extremist Lawmakers Renew Land Seizure Efforts - By Aaron Weiss, Center for Western Priorities, July 7, 2016
• What to Do When Russian Commandos Seize Your Ship - By Peter Wilcox, Climate Desk, July 7, 2016
• The Alabama Landfill That Brought Noise, Health Woes, and a Lawsuit - By Kendra Pierre-Louis, Inside Climate News, July 5, 2016

Greenwashers:

• Inside Shell’s PR Strategy To Position Itself As A ‘Net-Zero Emissions’ Leader - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, July 10, 2016
• Green grabs are not the solution to land grabs - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, July 7, 2016
• Back to the Future with Laverne and Shirley: The Trivialisation of the GMO Debate - By Colin Todhunter, CounterPunch, July 6, 2016
• Lochwood Capital: “Your site has comments sections which defame one of my employees” - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, July 6, 2016
• Wisconsin Said Frac Sand Mining Is Safe In A Report That Groups Say Used Industry Data - By Alejandro Davila Fragoso, Think Progress, July 6, 2016
• American Petroleum Institute Forming Climate Change Task Force? - By Justin Mikulka, DeSmog Blog, July 5, 2016
• Rebutting the Latest “Fast Facts” from Delta Tunnels Backers - By staff, Restore the Delta, July 5, 2016
• Open Letter: E.On’s Ambitious Wood Power Station Plans in France Pose Threat to Forests - By Biofuelwatch, Denkhaus Bremen and SOS Forêt du Sud, Global Justice Ecology Project, July 1, 2016

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, July 5, 2016

A supplement to Eco Unionist News:

Lead Stories:

• ANOTHER Corporation Suing Our Government Thanks To Trade Agreements - By Dave Johnson, Campaign for America's Future, June 28, 2016
• Obama Admin Approved Over 1,500 Offshore Fracking Permits in Gulf of Mexico and Mainstream Media Has Ignored It - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 28, 2016; [related]: This Map Shows Where Offshore Fracking Has Occurred in the Gulf of Mexico - By Mike Ludwig, Truthout, June 30, 2016 | Obama Administration Permitted 1,200 Offshore Fracks in Gulf of Mexico - By Kristen Monsell, Center for Biological Diversity, June 28, 2016

The Man Behind the Curtain:

• Does Exxon Have a Constitutional Right to Deny Climate Change? - By Natalie Schreyer, Climate Desk, July 5, 2016; [related]: Exxon was on the cutting edge of climate science 40 years ago. Watch what happened next: - By Zoë Wong-Weissman, 350.org, June 29, 2016 | Why won’t Exxon publish its 2015 denial funding? - By Cindy Baxter, Climate Investigations Center, June 27, 2016
• SEC Charges "Frack Master" Chris Faulkner, Shale CEO and Industry Advocate, with $80 Million Fraud - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, July 3, 2016
• Pro-GMO Spin Masquerading as Science Courtesy of "Shameful White Men of Privilege" - By Colin Todhunter, Counterpunch, July 1, 2016; [related]: Genetically Engineered Crops: the Grand and Failed Promise - By Jim Goodman, Counterpunch, July 5, 2016
• 107 Nobel Laureate Attack on Greenpeace Traced Back to Biotech PR Operators - By Jonathan Latham, Counterpunch, July 1, 2016
• Wall St. Journal Shows Why It Is Under Attack For Climate Science Denial By Publishing Another Dodgy Column - By Graham Readfearn, DeSmog Blog, July 1, 2016
• Public Lands Development Rigged in Favor of Oil and Gas - By Nada Culver, EcoWatch, June 30, 2016
• Fracked Gas LNG Exports Were Centerpiece In Promotion of Panama Canal Expansion, Documents Reveal - By Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog, June 29, 2016
• Why does the Colombian coal industry need help from a London lobby group? - By Bob Burton, End Coal, June 29, 2016
• High-Level EPA Adviser Accused of Scientific Fraud in Methane Leak Research - By Sharon Kelly, DeSmog Blog, June 28, 2016
• Kochs Dump Trump to Fund Climate-Denying Senators in Ohio and Nevada - By Lorraine Chow, EcoWatch, June 28, 2016
• Benzene technical standards: Why Ontario’s bait and switch approach puts people’s health at risk - By Ian Miran, EcoJustice, June 27, 2016
• No denying it - By Charles Hatt, EcoJustice, June 27, 2016

Green is the New Red:

• Struggling on Dangerous Ground - By staff, 350.org, July 3, 2016
• Guatemala: Diodora’s Resistance to Goldcorp Mine - By Movimiento Mesoamericana Contra el Modelo Extractivo Minero, Translated by Earth First! Journal, July 1, 2016
• Anti-fracking campaigner tells court: “I won’t pay Cuadrilla’s £55k legal bill” - By Ruth Hayhurst, Drill or Drop?, June 24, 2016

Greenwashers:

• A jurisdictional approach will not solve the most serious REDD+ problems - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, July 1, 2016
• Ventura Oil Spill Highlights Big Oil Regulatory Capture - By Dan Bacher, Counterpunch, July 1, 2016
• “Trash and run”: The Melka Group plans to sell its destructive oil palm plantations in Peru - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 30, 2016
• After 6 years of working on climate at Harvard, I implore it to show the courage to divest - By Benjamin Franta, The Guardian, June 29, 2016
• Should North Americans subsidize oil, gas, and coal for another 10 years? - By Alex Doukas, Oil Change International, June 29, 2016
• The Park Service doesn’t need corporate sponsorship. It needs proper funding - By Tom Ribe, High Country News, June 28, 2016; [related]: Rudderless national parks adrift without a compass - By Stephen Duke, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, June 30, 2016
• The World Bank “provisionally” approves the Democratic Republic of Congo’s REDD programme - By Chris Lang, REDD Monitor, June 28, 2016

Disaster Capitalism:

• Climate Change’s Growing Impact On People Experiencing Homelessness - By Ryan Koronowski, Think Progress, June 29, 2016
• California: Fires Burn at "Exponential Rates" Amid Blistering Heat Wave and 5-Year Drought - Ken Pimlott interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, June 28, 2016
• Millions exposed to dangerous lead levels in US drinking water, report finds - By Oliver Milman, The Guardian, June 28, 2016; [related]: Dangerous Levels Of Lead Have Been Found In Water Systems Nationwide - By Bryce Covert, Think Progress, June 28, 2016
• Once-in-a-Thousand-Year Flooding Devastates West Virginia, Killing At Least 23 - Bob Henry Baber interviewed by Amy Goodman, Democracy Now, June 28, 2016

Other News:

• Alaskan Coalition Calls on U.S. to Investigate B.C. Mines - By Judith Lavoie, DeSmog Blog, June 29, 2016
• Environmental Racism is Alive and Well in Grassy Narrows - By Stephen Bede Scharper, Free Grassy Narrows, June 29, 2016
• Java on brink of ecological collapse - By Hans Nicholas Jong and Bambang Muryanto, Jakarta Post, June 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.

By Jeffrey St. Clair and James Ridgeway - CounterPunch, January 15, 2016

Image, right: Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest. USFS.

Scanning the Sunday New York Times during the summer of 1990, President George Herbert Walker Bush read how an Idaho rancher had threatened to slit the throat of Forest Service ranger Don Oman, who had decided to reduce the number of cattle grazing on several allotments in the Twin Falls District of the Sawtooth National Forest. Bush ordered a Justice Department investigation. A White House aide called Oman and said the president wanted the ranger to know he wouldn’t tolerate harassment of federal workers.

Five years later times had changed drastically. At the half-way mark of Bill Clinton’s term in office, threats against federal employees working in the rural west had become commonplace. Many Forest Service and BLM workers had to travel in pairs, maintaining constant radio contact with ranger offices. Their families routinely received death threats aimed not just at the workers, but also at their children.

In the face of these rising tensions, President Clinton reacted in a markedly different way than his predecessor. His administration placed a gag order on Forest Service employees talking about their harassment, ordered line officers on the public range to quit complaining and retreated from legal confrontation with violent anti-government vigilantes.

After the Oklahoma City bombings, the situation across the whole of the West became more tense. “There’s more people now kind of watching their backs,” said Doug Zimmer, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service officer. “You pull into a rest stop driving from Spokane to Seattle and you park away from the other vehicles. That kind of thing.”

At public meeting in December 2004, one man told Zimmer he was going back to his truck to get a gun. Another threatened to rope him to his pickup and drag him through town. The situation got so bad that the Washington state Department of Ecology removed state logos from many of its trucks and cars.

In the mountains outside of Las Vegas, Nevada, a rancher by the name of Cliveden Bundy decided to excavate a gravel quarry on public lands. When BLM rangers came out to the site to halt the unauthorized mining, Bundy threatened to “blow [their] fucking heads off.” Bundy wasn’t arrested. Indeed, he continued to mine gravel and threaten BLM officials.

“The BLM and Forest Service managers pushed the Department of Justice to act, but the Clinton administration was loath to respond in an aggressive manner,” said Jeff DeBonis, a former Forest Service worker who founded Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).

“The most they were willing to do was to belatedly file civil suits,” said Andy Stahl of the Association of Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics. “The problems seemed to lie with top-level managers in the Forest Service and in the office of general counsel of the Department of Agriculture, some of whom were sympathetic with the claims of many of these ranchers and county leaders.”

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, April 14, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• 4/18 March and Rally: Workers Memorial Day 2015 Remember The Dead and Fight for The Injured & Fight TPP - Transport Workers Solidarity Committee, April 13, 2015
• Fields of Toxic Pesticides Surround the Schools of Ventura County—Are They Poisoning the Students?; In some of California’s most heavily Latino communities, going to school can be a health hazard - By Christina Sarich, The Nation, April 6, 2015
• Monsanto Employee Admits an Entire Department Exists to “Discredit” Scientists; But no one knows about it - By Christina Sarich, Natural Society, April 6, 2015

May Day:

• Boston Mayday 2015! - Boston IWW, April 13, 2015
• Chicago May Day 2015 Schedule of Events & Official Posters - Chicago IWW, April 13, 2015
• May Day #Shut It Down Assembly (Bay Area) - Leaflet (not affiliated with any organization)

An Injury to One is an Injury to All:

• Harmony halts operations at Unisel mine after fatal incident - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, April 7, 2015
• New Evidence BP’s Spill Dispersant Caused Harm to Humans and Wildlife - By Andy Rowell, Oil Change International, April 7, 2015
• Union warnings ignored as rotten rail signal collapses - By RMT Press Office, RMT, April 8, 2015
• Workers now out after being trapped by fire in Manitoba mine - CBC News, April 6, 2015
• Workers strike at Anglo’s coal mine in South Africa - By Cecilia Jamasmie, Mining.Com, April 8, 2015

USW Refinery Strike:

• United Steelworkers reviewing contract proposal from Marathon Petroleum - By L.M. Sixel, FuelFix, April 7, 2015
• Union workers vote to end strike - By Mark Maynard, The Independent, April 6, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• Noble Energy cuts 220 jobs - By Rhiannon Meyers, FuelFix, April 7, 2015
• Two coal plants in Ohio part of AEP closings - By Nick Mullins, The Thoughtful Coal Miner, April 8, 2015
• Wages for oil and gas workers are growing the slowest of any industry - By Ryan Holeywell, FuelFix, April 9, 2015

Just Transition:

• Australian Renewable Energy Industry Loses 2,300 Jobs, Labor Calls Abbott To Swallow His Pride - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, April 13, 2015
• Coal Jobs Decline As Renewable Jobs Increase - By Joshua S Hill, Clean Technica, April 8, 2015
• European federation of Public Services Unions joins TUED - Trade Unions for Energy Democracy, April 8, 2015

1267-Watch:

• Sued by engineer of train that exploded, BNSF says it may be shielded by federal law - By Adrian Glass-Moore, WDAZ 8 ABC, April 12, 2015

Bread and Roses:

• Detroit Needs Water to Work - By Justin Wedes, Detroit Water Brigade, April 13, 2015
• Saving Seeds: Farmers Rise Up Against Industry-Backed Laws; New publication by Grain and La Via Campesina documents nefarious ways new laws criminalize seed sharing and the growing peasant movement resisting them - By Lauren McCauley, Common Dreams, April 8, 2015

Other News:

• Chevron Whistleblower Videos Show Deliberate Falsification Of Evidence In Ecuador Oil Pollution Trial - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, April 9, 2015
• Mass Extinction: Is the Enemy Us? - By Umair Muhammad, Great Transition Initiative, February 2015
• Oiling The Machinery Of Climate Change Denial And Transit Opposition - By David Suzuki, DeSmog Blog, April 7, 2015
• What If Uber Were a Unionized, Worker-Owned Co-Op? These Denver Cabbies Are Making It Happen - By Erin McCarley, Yes!, April 10, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

Compiled by x344543 - IWW Environmental Unionism Caucus, February 5, 2015

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are not the official position of the IWW (or even the IWW’s EUC) and do not necessarily represent the views of anyone but the author’s.

The following news items feature issues, discussions, campaigns, or information potentially relevant to green unionists:

Lead Stories:

• Register now for the Future of Railroads: Safety, Workers, Community & the Environment Conferences: Richmond, California (March 14, 2015) and Olympia, Washington (March 21, 2015) - railroadconference.org
• The end of conductors? - Featuring Ron Kaminkow, MSNBC, January 29, 2015
• Labor Landscape Analysis - By Joe Uehline, Labor Network for Sustainability, February 4, 2015

USW Refinery Workers Strike News:

• 3,800 Oil Workers in Four States Enter Fourth Day of Strike - By Kate Arnoff, In These Times, February 4, 2015
• Fourth day of U.S. refineries strike ends with new offer - By Erwin Seba, Reuters, February 4, 2015
• Oil workers’ strike for safety reflects danger of fossil fuels - By Phil Aroneanu, 350.Org, February 4, 2015
• Oil workers strike for their lives - By Elizabeth Schulte, Socialist Worker, February 5, 2015
• Organized Labor Showing Signs of Life - By David Macaray, Huffington Post, February 3, 2015
• Safety Is Life-or-Death, Say Refinery Strikers - By Samantha Winslow, Labor Notes, February 5, 2015
• Striking for safe working conditions - By Ed Schultz (The Ed Show), MSNBC, February 2, 2015
• USW Oil Workers to Rally at Shell Headquarters - United Steelworkers Press Release, February 4, 2015
• WFTU in solidarity with workers in US oil refineries -  World Federation of Trade Unions Press Release, February 3, 2015
• WIN News Report: Steelworkers Refinery Strike Is About Safe Staffing - By Doug Cunningham, Workers Independent News, February 4, 2015

Carbon Bubble:

• U.S. loses oil jobs - By Jennifer A. Dlouhy, FuelFix, February 6, 2015
• Weatherford to cut 5,000 jobs, mostly in western hemisphere - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, February 4, 2015
• Weatherford to ax 3,000 more jobs as it cuts layers, execs say - By Collin Eaton, FuelFix, February 5, 2015
• Weatherford to lay off 5,000 in wake of oil price decline - By Jennifer Hiller, FuelFix, February 5, 2015
• Weatherford increases layoff plans from 5,000 to 8,000 - By Jennifer Hiller, FuelFix, February 6, 2015

Green Jobs and Just Transition:

• Repower Our Schools: 100% Renewable Energy Offers Schools Savings, Health and Learning Opportunities - By Monica Embrey, Greenpeace Blogs, February 3, 2015 [related] Green Schools: AFT President Thinks Public School Buildings Need Extreme Makeover - By Randi Weingarten, Blue Green Alliance, February 4, 2015
• Solar Jobs Benefit Economy, Maybe More Than Oil and Gas Jobs - By Deborah Lawrence, Energy Policy Forum, January 31, 2015
• The War On Solar Is Real, Unlike the "War on Coal" - By Mike Gaworecki, DeSmog Blog, February 5, 2015

Other News of Interest:

• Farmworker Tribunal - Boycott Sakuma Berries, February 4, 2015
• Photos released from 2013 Entergy ANO fatal drop of a very heavy load - By David Lochbaum, Union of Concerned Scientists, February 3, 2015
• Raw log exports skyrocket in British Columbia - Wilderness Committee Press Release, Eco Report, February 4, 2015
• West Virginia Coal Mine Owners Have Blood on Their Hands - By James Green, The Daily Beast, February 5, 2015

For more green news, please visit our news feeds section on ecology.iww.org; Twitter #IWWEUC

By staff - Bold Nebraska, January 2015

Since 2010, the Laborers International Union of North America (LIUNA) has partnered with several anti-union organizations that are funded by the Koch brothers along with TransCanada to gain approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.

Many construction unions partner with industry to win approval for projects and secure work for their members; this is often appropriate and productive. However, the industry and political partnerships that LIUNA has forged to gain approval of Keystone XL (KXL) seriously undermines workers’ rights and unions’ strength, and display a complete lack of concern for the broader labor movement or even the longer-term interests of LIUNA members.

In fact, their partnerships with the fossil fuel industry and far right political groups, namely Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity (AFP) and the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), contribute to the vicious attacks on workers, unions and democracy.

Read the report (PDF).

By staff - International Forum on Globalization, November 2014

THE INTERNATIONAL FORUM ON GLOBALIZATION’S earlier report, Faces Behind a Global Crisis: U.S. Carbon Billionaires and the U.N. Climate Deadlock followed the flow of fossil fuels industry funds to find that Charles and David Koch are, in fact, the single largest financiers of efforts to stop the phase out of fossil fuels. This report reveals one reason for their spending: the Kochs’ enormous investments in tar sands could become “stranded assets” if Keystone XL, the Alberta Clipper, and other important infrastructure for tar sands expansion is not approved.

With more money (a combined net worth of $100B) than the world’s wealthiest man, Bill Gates ($86B) the Kochs outspent all other oil companies, even Exxon, in campaign contributions, lobbying expenses, denialist science, and myriad other activities since 1999 to stop solutions to today’s quickening global climate crisis.1 Unprecedented financial wealth combined with the Kochs’ fanatical belief in what they call “economic freedom” made them top spenders in the 2012 and 2014 U.S. elections. The Kochs have spent well over $22 million on traceable campaign donations since 1990, and almost four times that amount—about $76 million—on their lobbying expenditures since 1998 alone. This number does not include the vast sums of dark money moved through their web of influence, as mapped by IFG’s Kochtopus, and monitored by KochProblem.org, online tools to follow the Koch Cash moving through their influence network.

Since the 2010 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on Citizens United, “Koch Cash” has bought a radical faction in Congress that has seized the power of the purse, shrunk government by 8% via the sequestration, and restricted U.S. action on climate to President Obama’s narrow administrative authorities, which the Kochs are currently countering in court. Recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings on Koch-introduced legal cases have involved judges too friendly with the Kochs. These rulings undermine the legitimacy of the Court, the current composition of which is slated to continue to rule in the Kochs’ favor.

Read the report (Link).