So, sooooooo gullible. You denier cult nutjobs will swallow anything (including the Koch brothers' cocks, obviously) and you never bother to look for the actual facts or the context.
Sierra Club took $26M from gas industry to fight coal-fired plants
TheHill
By Ben Geman
February 03, 2012
(excerpts)
The Sierra Club disclosed Thursday that it received over $26 million from natural-gas giant Chesapeake Energy Corp. between 2007 and 2010 to help the groupÂ’s campaign against coal-fired power plants. Sierra Club Executive Director Michael Brune said Thursday that he learned of the funding shortly after beginning the job in 2010 and moved to end the arrangement. He discussed the funding on the Sierra ClubÂ’s blog Thursday after Time magazine broke the news of the Chesapeake-Sierra relationship earlier in the day. HereÂ’s Brune: "At the same time I learned about the donation, we at the Club were also hearing from scientists and from local Club chapters about the risks that natural gas drilling posed to our air, water, climate, and people in their communities. We cannot accept money from an industry we need to change. Very quickly, the board of directors, with my strong encouragement, cut off these donations and rewrote our gift acceptance policy." It comes as environmentalists are increasingly battling hydraulic fracturing, the controversial natural-gas method that Chesapeake and other gas producers are using widely.
The Sierra Club has been highly active in opposing construction of new coal-fired power plants and pushing for closure of existing units. Natural gas competes with coal, which remains the nation’s biggest source of electric power but is seeing its position erode amid the country’s gas boom. Brune said the funding from Chesapeake began at a time when Sierra was looking to natural gas as a lower-carbon alternative to coal to help bridge the transition to “clean” energy sources. “The idea was that we shared at least one common purpose — to move our country away from dirty coal,” Brune writes. But he said that as the Chesapeake money was coming in, Sierra Club chapters were becoming more concerned about hydraulic fracturing, dubbed “fracking.” “By the time I assumed leadership of the Club in March 2010, our view of natural gas had changed — so I made sure our policy did, too,” Brune writes, noting that the group has become more active in battling pollution from gas drilling. “By mid-August 2010, with gas-industry practices and our policies increasingly in conflict, I recommended to the Board, and it agreed, to end the funding relationship between the Club and the gas industry, and all fossil fuel companies or executives,” Brune writes in the blog post. Brune said that as the group seeks to replace coal, its policy now is also to “use as little gas as possible and work to ensure that the gas that is used is produced as responsibly as possible.” “It's time to stop thinking of natural gas as a ‘kinder, gentler’ energy source,” he writes.
Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine
Greenpeace USA
(excerpts)
Billionaire oilman David Koch used to joke that Koch Industries was "the biggest company you've never heard of." Now the shroud of secrecy has thankfully been lifted, revealing the $67 million that he and his brother Charles have quietly funneled to climate-denial front groups that are working to delay policies and regulations aimed at stopping global warming, most of which are part of the State Policy Network. Today, the Kochs are being watched as a prime example of the corporate takeover of government. Their funding and co-opting of the Tea Party movement is now well documented.
Charles G. Koch and David H. Koch have a vested interest in delaying climate action: they've made billions from their ownership and control of Koch Industries, an oil corporation that is the second largest privately-held company in America (which also happens to have an especially poor environmental record). It's timely that more people are now aware of Charles and David Koch and just what they're up to. A growing awareness of these oil billionaires' destructive agenda has led to increased scrutiny and resistance from people and organizations all over the United States. The Koch brothers, their family members, and their employees direct a web of financing that supports conservative special interest groups and think-tanks, with a strong focus on fighting environmental regulation, opposing clean energy legislation, and easing limits on industrial pollution. This money is typically funneled through one of three "charitable" foundations the Kochs have set up: the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation; the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation; and the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation.
The Sierra Club got embarrassed for taking the money.. They didn't give it BACK.
I don't think they NEEDED to give it back OR be embarrassed.. They should take the fools money and use it to kick him in the balls..
Like all good lefty orgs do to industry..
If they are a PRINCIPLED org --- then TAKE the money.. Let those companies DO SOMETHING for your cause.. Whatzamatter with that?
