Charles Koch

An 8-inch liquefied petroleum gas pipeline operated by Koch Pipeline Company ruptured near Lively, Texas. The vapor cloud ignited when two teenage residents drove their pickup truck across a creek near the pipeline. Both teenagers were killed. Approximately 25 families were evacuated. A Texas jury found Koch negligent and awarded the victims' families $296 million — one of the largest pipeline negligence verdicts ever recorded.

• —The pipeline was carrying butane. The rupture released a vapor cloud that spread along the creek bed.
• —Two teenagers — Danielle Smalley, 17, and Jason Stone, 18 — were killed when their truck sparked the ignition.
• —The 1999 verdict: $296 million for negligence. Koch settled with families before the case went further.
• —Prior to the explosion, Koch had been warned about the pipeline's condition. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated.
• —Koch was the fourth-largest pipeline operator in the US at the time.

Source:Wikipedia: Koch Industries — Legal issues; NTSB pipeline accident records

Koch Industries accumulated 312 documented oil spills across six states. The U.S. Department of Justice and the State of Texas reached a settlement with Koch in 2000 that resulted in what was then the largest civil penalty ever imposed on a company under federal environmental law: $30 million civil fine plus $5 million committed to environmental remediation projects.

• —The 312 spills released crude oil into wetlands, waterways, and soil across Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Texas, Louisiana, and Alabama.
• —$30 million civil penalty — described by the DOJ at the time as "the largest civil fine ever imposed on a company" under federal environmental statutes.
• —Additional $5 million directed to environmental cleanup and remediation projects.
• —Among the documented spills: a 1994 discharge of over 90,000 gallons of crude oil into Gum Hollow Creek in Refugio County, Texas, killing wildlife across downstream waterways.
• —Koch Industries had self-reported fewer than half the spills. The remainder were discovered through regulatory inspection.

Source:DOJ settlement, March 2000; Wikipedia: Koch Industries

In September 2000, a federal grand jury returned a 97-count indictment against Koch Industries for Clean Air Act violations and illegal benzene emissions at its Corpus Christi, Texas refinery. Benzene is a known human carcinogen linked to leukemia. Koch pled guilty to one felony count in April 2001 and paid a $20 million criminal fine. A separate December 2000 settlement with the DOJ and EPA required Koch to spend $80 million on pollution-control equipment across multiple refineries.

• —Benzene at the Corpus Christi refinery was released through various emission points in excess of permitted levels — knowingly, per the indictment.
• —Benzene is classified by the EPA and IARC as a Group 1 human carcinogen (definite cause of cancer in humans). Long-term exposure is the primary cause of occupational leukemia.
• —The 97-count indictment was reduced to a single guilty plea through negotiation. No executives were personally charged.
• —$20 million criminal fine — one of the largest Clean Air Act criminal fines at the time.
• —The additional $80 million pollution-control order covered refineries in Texas, Minnesota, and elsewhere.

Source:DOJ press release; EPA enforcement records; Wikipedia: Koch Industries

Koch Petroleum Group acknowledged in a 1999 settlement that it had negligently discharged hundreds of thousands of gallons of aviation fuel into Minnesota wetlands from its Rosemount refinery, and illegally dumped one million gallons of high-ammonia wastewater. Koch paid a $6 million fine and $2 million in remediation costs, and the company was placed on three years of probation.

• —The aviation fuel discharge fouled wetlands adjacent to the Minnesota River watershed.
• —The ammonia wastewater was dumped in violation of the Clean Water Act.
• —$6 million criminal fine. $2 million in additional remediation funding.
• —Three years of corporate probation — a condition that restricted future violations.
• —The settlement was reached with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Minnesota.

Source:U.S. Attorney settlement, 1999; Wikipedia: Koch Industries

Koch-backed Americans for Prosperity — founded with David Koch's $850,000 seed contribution — spent an estimated $122 million in the 2012 election cycle alone, including a targeted campaign to defeat cap-and-trade legislation during Obama's first term. AFP circulated a "No Climate Tax Pledge"; by 2013, 411 federal lawmakers had signed it — including one-quarter of U.S. Senators and one-third of Representatives. Cap-and-trade was defeated. One climate scientist's assessment: "you'd have a carbon tax, or something better, today, if not for the Kochs."

• —AFP was founded in 2004. David Koch contributed $850,000 to establish the AFP Foundation. Charles Koch's network has funded it since.
• —The No Climate Tax Pledge was circulated to congressional candidates beginning around 2009. By July 2013: 411 signatories.
• —$40 million spent on political activities in the 2010 midterms. $122 million in 2012.
• —AFP's 2024 annual revenue: $223.7 million — operating in 35 states with a reported 3.2 million "activists."
• —AFP also spent $7 million supporting Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker's union-busting legislation and $8.4 million in swing-state advertising targeting Obama's clean energy policies (Solyndra campaign).
• —The legislative record: cap-and-trade passed the House in 2009 (219–212) and died in the Senate. The US has never passed comprehensive carbon pricing legislation.

Source:Wikipedia: Americans for Prosperity; New Yorker, "Covert Operations" (2010)

The Koch brothers organized a network of ultra-wealthy donors through twice-yearly private seminars — participants instructed to destroy all paperwork, surrender recording devices, and maintain strict secrecy. White-noise speakers were deployed to prevent eavesdropping. The network channeled funds through non-disclosure vehicles (Donors Trust, Donors Capital Fund) that severed the paper trail between donor and recipient. In 2016, the network pledged between $700 million and $900 million for the election cycle. During Obama's presidency, the network's political investments helped flip approximately 900 state legislature seats to Republican control.

• —Donor seminars held twice yearly at private resorts — locations undisclosed, guest lists unpublished. Participants sign non-disclosure agreements.
• —"Destroy all paperwork" and "no online mentions" were standing instructions for seminar participants, per reporting by Jane Mayer (Dark Money, 2016).
• —White-noise emitting loudspeakers were deployed outside seminar venues to prevent media audio monitoring.
• —2012 cycle: $274 million in anonymous contributions, at least $86 million traceable to Koch network donors.
• —2016 cycle: $700–900 million pledged. The network raised more than the Republican and Democratic national committees combined in some cycles.
• —During Obama's presidency: approximately 900 state legislature seats flipped to Republican through Koch-funded campaigns — reshaping redistricting maps for a decade.
• —Charles Koch foundations provided $2.1 million to the American Enterprise Institute over two decades for climate-related work; $25,000 to the Heartland Institute (2011); funding also to the Competitive Enterprise Institute, CO2 Coalition, and Pacific Legal Foundation.

Source:Wikipedia: Koch network; Jane Mayer, Dark Money (2016); Greenpeace Koch Industries Climate Denial Funding report