T. Boone Pickens Calls Koch Brothers Biggest Deterrent to U.S. Energy Policy

Energy | May 07, 2012 | by SustainableBusiness.com

T. Boone Pickens Calls Koch Brothers Biggest Deterrent to U.S. Energy Policy

It's pretty amazing to think that just 2 men are responsible for holding an entire country - the US - back from being able to implement a responsible energy policy.
Even Mexico and Peru have one, but not the US.
In an interview this week with Yahoo's Daily Ticker, T. Boone Pickens says his biggest concern right now is that the US doesn't have an energy policy and he points directly at the Koch Bros as the reason.
"The biggest deterrent to an energy plan in America is Koch Industries," he says. "They do not want an energy plan for America because they have the cheapest natural gas price they've ever had, and they're in the fertilizer business and they're in the chemical business. So their margins are huge. And they do not want you to have an energy plan, because if you had a plan, then natural gas prices would come up."
Germany, on other other hand, can decarbonize with renewables because "We Don't Have the ... Koch Brothers," said a German State Minister. He referred to their lobbying for fossil fuels and against clean energy, and its spending on climate science disinformation through the front group Americans for Prosperity. They have outspent even ExxonMobil.
Meanwhile, another Koch Bros-backed group, The Heartland Institute, has launched one of the most offensive billboard campaigns in U.S. history, reports the Guardian.
It compares people who accept the facts of climate science, including journalists who report on it accurately, to Charles Manson, the Unabomber, and Osama Bin Laden.
Heartland is holding a Climate Change "Reality" Conference later this month in Chicago to further spin their misinformation campaign.
General Motors and AT&T pulled their support of Heartland, but State Farm and Microsoft, along with many others are still there including Eli Lilly & Co., GlaxoSmithKline, Nucor, Pfizer, and Time Warner Cable.
Why did Heartland feature Charles Manson, the Unabomber, and Osama Bin Laden.these people on its billboards?
Here's their answer (which is on the conference website along with the billboard proudly displayed):
Because what these murderers and madmen have said differs very little from what spokespersons for the United Nations, journalists for the "mainstream" media, and liberal politicians say about global warming....
The point is that believing in global warming is not "mainstream," smart, or sophisticated. In fact, it is just the opposite of those things. Still believing in man-made global warming - after all the scientific discoveries and revelations that point against this theory - is more than a little nutty. In fact, some really crazy people use it to justify immoral and frightening behavior.
The people who still believe in man-made global warming are mostly on the radical fringe of society. This is why the most prominent advocates of global warming aren't scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen.
Wow - you can't make this stuff up!!
Photo by Steve Jurvetson/flickr/Creative Commons
Reprinted with permission from SustainableBusiness.com