Koch Brothers Set Up Shop in Tar Sands Territory

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The Koch Brothers, architects of theย Tea Party and bankrollers of climate-change denial, have recently set up shop to lobby the Alberta government, according to the Edmonton Journal.

Albertaโ€™s lobbyist registry shows that on March 15, 2011, Koch Industries signed up to lobby the province on energy and resource development policy issues, as well as taxation and economic development. ย The registry shows the companyโ€™s lobbying activities started March 3, with no fixed endย date.

Koch Industries spokeswoman Melissa Cohlmia did notย say what the companyโ€™s objectives are in lobbying the Alberta government, but herย one-sentence statement noted that, โ€œKoch companies want to add value by providing quality services and products our customers desire and value in a way that is compliant with all laws andย regulationsโ€.

โ€œCompliant with all laws and regulationsโ€ seems a bit dubious given the pro-industry and anti-environment lobbying connections to Kochโ€™s Alberta activities we uncovered.ย 

Calgary-based lobbying groupย Global Public Affairs was recently hired to head up Kochโ€™s activities. ย GPA has clients listed in the petrochemical and tar sands already. ย According to the record, Calgary-basedย David Ketoย has been hired to arrange meetings and conduct grassroots and informal communications on behalf of the company. ย Keto was executive assistant to cabinet minister David Coutts for two years ending inย 2003.ย 

The filer on the lobbying record is former Chief of Staff for former Minister of the Environment David Anderson, whoย was minister from 2003 through 2004 under Prime Minister Paul Martin. ย Randy Pettipasย left government to take the position ofย CEO of Global Public Affairs.ย 

A bit of digging reveals that Pettipas worked for the now-defunct Astroturf groupย the Canadian Coalition for Responsible Environmental Solutionsย from October 2002 through April 2004ย (exactly when his former boss, David Anderson, was environment minister). ย The short-lived CCRES claimed to be a grassroots group ofย business, industry and consumer advocacy groups.ย ย An October 2002 list of its members showed its members were exclusively industry groups including major petroleum, industrial, chemical and transportation associations, and in particular theย Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers,ย Canadian Chemical Producersโ€™ Association,ย Petroleum Services Association of Canada,ย Propane Gas Association of Canadaย and Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters.ย ย 

The Astroturf group appears to have been created entirely on behalf of dirty energy industry interests to defeat the Kyotoย Protocol.ย 

According to Sourcewatch, the domain name for CCRES was registered in September 2002, just a week before its first media events byย National Public Relations, Canadaโ€™s largest PR agency and an affiliate ofย Burson-Marsteller. ย Grassroots indeed. ย The group worked hard toย persuade Canadians that Kyoto was a bad idea and instead promoted a โ€œmade in Canadaโ€ย solution.ย 

CCRES made the spurious claim that ifย Canada ratified the Kyoto Protocol, Canadians would suffer as businesses and individuals were forced to pay out of pocket forย exceeding Kyotoโ€™s aggressiveย targets.ย CCRES argued that, โ€œThis transfer of wealth could instead by spent in Canada, developing technologies that fight greenhouse gases and that can be sold around the world.โ€

Their tired argument that investing in a clean energy future would be costly, burdensome, and would drive up the cost of energy prices and manufactured goods was plain wrong. ย They were not looking for โ€œmade in Canadaโ€ solutions: they were looking to delay action towards real solutions in order to prolong their dirty energy profits on the backs ofย Canadians.ย 

More recently, Pettipas has worked on behalf ofย anti-environment organizations includingย Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, theย Alliance Pipeline Limited Partnership, and theย Canadian Energy Infrastructure Group. ย It also lobbied on behalf ofย mining big wig Teck Resources Limited, aย major player in Albertaโ€™s tar sands. ย Teck Resourcesย has been repeatedly criticized and sued for violating environmental laws and standards including in bothย 2003 and 2008 for heavily contaminating theย Columbia River, and causing a lead spill. ย The companyโ€™sย Red Dog mineย operation in north-western Alaska was ranked by theย U.S. Environmental Protection Agencyย as one of the most polluting facilities in the Unitedย States.

If the CCRES and Pettipasโ€™ activities give any indication, the Kochtopus has more than a few tricks up its sleeves for its lobbying efforts in Alberta. Keep an eye out for new developments on thisย front.ย 

Image Credit: Zina Saunders at Motherย Jones

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