The New Yorker Exposes Koch Industries "Kochtopus" Behind Tea Party and Climate Denial Machine

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
onAug 23, 2010 @ 14:15 PDT

The New Yorker has published a must-read article exposing the long reach of the โ€œKochtopusโ€ network set up by Koch Industries to fuel the Tea Party and fund the climate denial machine. ย 

Written by investigative journalist Jane Mayer, the piece titled โ€œCovert Operations: The billionaire brothers who are waging war against Obamaโ€ explores the decades-long efforts of brothers David and Charles Koch to manipulate and deceive the public on issues ranging from climate change to cancer-causing chemicals.ย 

Koch Industries has done far more than even ExxonMobil to fund the climate denial machine in recent years, and media coverage about numerous Tea Party and GOP candidates who deny the science of climate change confirm that the Kochsโ€™ reach has infected national politics in unprecedented ways.

The lengthy New Yorker article covers many interesting new angles about the Kochsโ€™ influence-peddling empire, and adds to a growing body of research about Koch Industriesโ€™ anti-science, anti-democratic activities.

Building upon the research from Greenpeaceโ€™s excellent Koch report earlier this year, Jane Mayer expands on Kochโ€™s roleย in funding climate deniers and anti-science think tanks, not to mention the Tea Party.ย 

Head over to The New Yorker to read the slimy details. ย 

Brendan DeMelle DeSmog
Brendan is Executive Director of DeSmog. He is also a freelance writer and researcher specializing in media, politics, climate change and energy. His work has appeared in Vanity Fair, The Huffington Post, Grist, The Washington Times and other outlets.

Related Posts

Analysis
onNov 24, 2025 @ 09:00 PST

Critics say new LNG ventures in British Columbia saddle Indigenous communities with debt, opaque ownership structures, and financial risk that could leave them owing billions.

Critics say new LNG ventures in British Columbia saddle Indigenous communities with debt, opaque ownership structures, and financial risk that could leave them owing billions.
onNov 24, 2025 @ 07:38 PST

Campaigners have highlighted the irony of the Tory peer warning about threats to free speech at a think tank bankrolled by a repressive regime.

Campaigners have highlighted the irony of the Tory peer warning about threats to free speech at a think tank bankrolled by a repressive regime.
Analysis
onNov 21, 2025 @ 16:13 PST

Corporate pledges to fight deforestation by turning degraded pasture into cropland seen boosting demand for harmful chemical inputs.

Corporate pledges to fight deforestation by turning degraded pasture into cropland seen boosting demand for harmful chemical inputs.

As the New York-based firm was preparing to work on the climate summit, it was also pushing for Brazilian oil and gas distributor Vibra Energia to help power it.

As the New York-based firm was preparing to work on the climate summit, it was also pushing for Brazilian oil and gas distributor Vibra Energia to help power it.