Through sympathetic appointees and elected officials they have succeeded in weakening the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ), most recently making it harder for citizens to contest permits granted. In 2009, the US EPA stated that TCEQ's pollution rules did not fulfill the requirements of the Clean Air Act and were inadequate for protecting our air and water. The Koch Industries solution is to just do away with the EPA instead of upgrading TCEQ, and they recently succeeded in getting Congress to cut EPA funds.
The Independent Women's Forum attacks public school curricula regarding what they call the "junk science" of man-made global climate change. The Koch-backed political machine is fighting market-based strategies such as "cap and trade" which account for the cost of carbon discharges. Meanwhile, in other countries they profit from trading carbon credits. Their raft of lawyers and lobbyists fought the designation of dioxin and formaldehyde as a cancer risks.
Koch commodity traders invented the speculative oil derivative in 1986 and obtained market deregulation in the 1990s. In 2009 Koch Industries boasted of being one of the world's top five oil speculators. The financial reform bill in 2009 ordered that oil speculation again be regulated but Koch and other oil speculators are fighting it tooth and nail. The price spikes of 2008 and today have not been caused by oil supply problems. Oil company CEO's recently testified to Congress that prices would be 30-40% lower without market speculation.
This anti-environment agenda benefits Koch Industries bottom line. It's costly to meet environmental and safety standards, and Koch Industries has paid millions in penalties for their environmental catastrophes. Some of many examples: In the mid 90s, they paid $33 million in fines and committed to $5 million in environmental projects for 300 spills discharging 3 million gallons of oil. In 1999, they were found negligent in the deaths of two Texas teenagers from a leaky underground butane pipeline.
Doing the right thing might have been easier, but Koch Industries instead backs "tort reform" to limit the ability of injured parties to sue for damages and make "losers pay" if they are outmatched by corporate attorneys.
Texans, are these public policies good for you? Does it matter to you that Texas leads the nation in toxic chemicals in water, in carcinogens and carbon dioxide in the air? If Texas was a nation it would rank 7th in the world in total carbon dioxide emissions.
Is it good for your children to NOT learn the science of global climate change? Are you willing to bet THEIR future on the remote chance that all the pertinent organizations and countless reputable climate scientists are wrong?
If you or your family were injured by the actions of heavy industries, is it OK with you that seeking compensation through the courts is curtailed? Will you not get cancer from exposure to dioxin or formaldehyde just because they say so?
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