Koch Brothers and the Conservative Echo Chamber

The “Kochtopus” tentacles reach into the LNG exports debate as well.

“Exporting Natural Gas will bring investments and jobs into our economy,” announced Americans for Prosperity Ohio, one of many Tea Party activist groups rallying for LNG exports. Right wing think tanks and advocacy groups including The Heritage Foundation, Competitive Enterprise Institute, and others have made similar calls for expedited LNG export permits.

These well-heeled interests supporting LNG exports have received a boost from a myriad of conservative foundations and nonprofits backed by the billionaire Koch brothers, Charles and David Koch. Less well known is the fact that Koch Industries has made fracking and LNG a core part of its business.

Risk.net now rates Koch Industries as among the largest LNG trading companies in the world. As the magazine reported, since 2012, Koch “began a drive to deepen its involvement in global natural gas markets by launching a Europe, Middle East, and Africa (Emea) gas business, as well as a liquefied natural gas (LNG) trading arm.” The company is also heavily involved in selling fracking equipment used in Texas and other hot spots for unconventional gas around the country.