Hidden Koch Brother Abuse Exposed in the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline

Mike & Friends Blog

Robert Greenwald

Robert Greenwald is a producer, director, political activist, and Brave New Films founder and president.

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October 4th, 2011 2:02 PM

Hidden Koch Brother Abuse Exposed in the Keystone XL Oil Pipeline

Uncovered emails between lobbyists and oversight officials in the Obama administration reveal new pay-to-play tactics favored by Charles and David Koch, the billionaire brothers who donate millions to promote an anti-government agenda. The brothers stand to make a fortune from an international oil pipeline that's making headlines for its divisiveness and the shady tactics its developers are using. We have been exposing the Koch brothers' involvement in the Keystone XL oil pipeline and we continue the fight to protect American homes and farmland.

The Keystone pipeline is dangerous for so many reasons that it's hard for media reports to capture them all. Through their subsidiaries and refineries, the Koch brothers are positioned to grow their ever-expanding profits if the pipeline is approved. The New York Times editorialized against the oil pipeline, and new emails expose a government that's been bought off by lobbyists--a longtime staple of Koch business strategy. The Keystone XL oil pipeline would traverse almost 2,000 miles of American homes and farmlands, cross six states and has drawn the ire of Democratic and Republican governors for the environmental concerns it poses. It would go straight through one of America's most important aquifers. Our investigation rejuvenated interest after the New York Times editorialized Monday against the pipeline.

There is... the larger question of whether this country should keep conducting business as usual -- that is, succumbing to the status quo of politics and big oil -- or whether it will seriously grapple with the reality of climate change. We again urge Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton to say no to the Keystone XL.

The lobbyist at the heart of the email scandal is Paul Elliot, who we identified in our video. In emails, he makes use of relationships he developed while working on Clinton's presidential campaign. Pay-to-play access is typical of the Koch brothers, who are already benefiting from an existing similar pipeline that has a long history of oil spills. The Obama administration is on notice. Hundreds of protestors organized sit-ins and mass arrests outside the White House last month, and we see that strategy working again in the Occupy Wall Street movement sweeping our cities today. The Koch brothers personify the top 1% and a dysfunctional government. Their shady business practices make them richer, and they use their wealth to make more money. This is not what we think about when economists speak of "economic cycles." It's a self-perpetuating process of wealth redistribution upward to the top 1% of Americans, of whom the Koch brothers seek to ideologically dominate by any means necessary.