Killing the planet and funding your enemies all rolled up in one big bad decision
by digby
There are many substantial reasons for the president and the Democratic Party to oppose the Keystone Pipeline on the merits. But if this report is true, it is the single most potent political reason not to do it. And if they agree to it anyway, knowing they are helping to finance enemies who already have so much money they can overwhelm the political system, there really is no hope for them:
A new study released today concludes that Koch Industries and its subsidiaries stand to make as much as $100 billion in profits if the controversial Keystone XL pipeline is granted a presidential permit from U.S. President Barack Obama.
The report, titled Billionaires' Carbon Bomb, produced by the think tank International Forum on Globalization (IFG), finds that David and Charles Koch and their privately owned company, Koch Industries, own more than 2 million acres of land in Northern Alberta, the source of the tar sands bitumen that would be pumped to the United States via the Keystone XL pipeline.
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"The Kochs have repeatedly claimed that they have no interest in the Keystone XL Pipeline, this report shows that is false," said Nathalie Lowenthal-Savy, a researcher with IFG.
"We noticed Koch Funded Tea Party members and think tanks pushing for the pipeline. We dug deeper and found $100 billion in potential profit, $50 million sent to organizations supporting the pipeline, and perhaps 2 million acres of land. That sounds like an interest to me."
Nathalie continued, “We all know they will use that money to fund and expand their influence network, subvert democracy, crush unions like in Wisconsin, and get more extremists elected to congress."
And, by the way, if this is true the unions need to do some soul-searching and ask themselves if the promise of a few jobs is really worth funding their greatest enemy.
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