Page 1 #WebOfDenial Page 1 Page 2 S4928 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE July 11, 2016 the other unarmed Black men who died groups all have one thing in common: in 7 years half a billion dollars was in confrontations with law enforce- They are bankrolled by the multi- spent by the Koch network on a ‘‘cam- ment. billionaire Koch brothers. paign to manipulate and mislead the Some 512 people have been shot and Charles and David Koch and the public about the threat posed by cli- killed by police this year so far. Black shadowy groups they fund have a sim- mate change.’’ Americans are killed at a rate 21⁄2 ple agenda—to promote their own in- Consider the example of one of their times greater than that of Whites. Ac- terests at everyone else’s expense. front groups, the Nevada Policy Re- cording to the Washington Post, the These two brothers own Koch Indus- search Institute. The Kochs use this in- number of fatal shootings by police of- tries, one of the largest privately held stitute to fight efforts to increase my ficers increased during the first 6 corporations in the entire world. To- State’s use of clean energy, even months of this year. Twenty-six more gether, Charles and David Koch are though to date $6 billion has been in- people have been killed this year than worth, some say, up to $100 billion but vested in clean energy projects in Ne- during the first half of last year. at least $80 billion. vada, including tens of thousands of The evidence is indisputable. We Why would the Koch brothers mas- jobs and hundreds of millions of dollars have, as President Obama called it last termind a plot to convince America in tax revenue. This is in spite of the year, a slow-rolling crisis of troubling that climate change doesn’t exist? Be- Kochs’ bankrolling of more coal and police interactions with people of cause denying climate change is funda- more oil. color, and because we are not address- mental to the Koch business model. I can remember when I came out ing the problem, people are rightly out- That is why it is done. The volume of against more coal-fired plants in Ne- raged. We all should be outraged. In pollution the Koch Industries emit into vada. I didn’t know where all this oppo- America, police brutality is not a new our environment is staggering. The sition was coming from. I know now. It issue. company is among the worst in toxic is the Koch brothers. The Kochs don’t I echo the pleas from the Congres- air pollution in the entire United appreciate Nevada’s renewable energy sional Black Caucus leaders who are States. Koch Industries churns out acceleration. So they fund the Nevada calling for more funds and more train- more climate-changing greenhouse Policy Research Institute to bash clean ing for our police departments. We gases than oil giants Chevron, Shell, energy solutions. must help ensure that those who police and Valero. The Kochs are heavily involved in our neighborhoods have proper training To acknowledge that climate change the Nevada State Legislature. This in community-oriented policing and exists is to acknowledge that the Koch Koch front group recently hired an aca- deescalation tactics. The Black Caucus brothers’ empire contributes to it, but demic to write a report saying that re- has said that. I agree. the Kochs will not take that responsi- newable energy was raising Nevada’s The Dallas Police Department is ex- bility because they don’t care. The energy costs. How about that one? The emplary in their effectiveness of com- Kochs don’t care about climate change. report, of course, was false and, of munity policing. Long before this trag- They don’t care that it is making course, it is misleading. edy in Dallas, long, glowing articles wildfires more frequent and intense When experts studied the report, it have rightfully been written about the and that they are endangering the lives was found to be without basic facts. Dallas Police Department. America and property of millions of Americans, The Nevada Policy Research Institute looks to Dallas and other police chiefs especially in the West. went so far as to oppose the Tesla look to Dallas not only to grieve for As I speak, there are fires raging all Gigafactory that is being constructed the fallen officers but to learn from the over the western part of the United just outside of Reno, which will use department’s improvements under the States—Arizona, California, and other clean energy and employ thousands of leadership of Police Chief David Brown. States. They are very vicious in those Nevadans. This is a project that every But, as Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings States. The Koch brothers, as wealthy State wanted to have in their State. said in the aftermath of these attacks, as they are, don’t care about Nevada. Nevada was fortunate to get it there. we must get to the root cause. They don’t care that Nevada is endur- The footprint of that facility is so From Baton Rouge, to St. Paul, to ing the 15th year of a terribly difficult large that the only standing building Dallas, intolerance and hate are breed- drought. The Kochs don’t worry about that would be any larger is the Boeing ing division and violence. As a nation, the water levels in Lake Mead. They factory in Seattle. we must work to bridge the gaps be- don’t worry that they have dropped to Listen to what I said. All the energy tween police and the communities they the lowest level since the Great De- will be with renewable energy. The serve and unite against prejudice and pression, when the lake was first filled. Kochs don’t like that. Even though brutality. The Kochs have ignored the under- they oppose something as basic as I apologize to everyone for taking a lying cause of the California and Ne- bringing thousands and thousands of little extra time, but it is necessary be- vada droughts—the unsustainable jobs to Nevada through the Tesla cause of the exchange the Republican amounts of carbon being dumped into Gigafactory, this kind of deceitful ac- leader and I had. our atmosphere because of fossil fuels. tivity from large corporations has oc- CLIMATE CHANGE One of the chief contributors, of curred before. But the Kochs deserve to Madam President, over the next 2 course, is the Koch brothers. Those be in the hall of fame. They have done days, Senate Democrats, led by Sen- who ignore the climate crisis or deny it so much deceitful activity that other ator SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, will speak exists do not have a valid point of view. corporations are on the sidelines. They about how the world is being distracted They are wrong. They are out of touch are in the minor leagues. and misled on climate change. The with reality. For more than 40 years, Big Tobacco Senator from Rhode Island has been These wealthy moguls, the Kochs, confused scientific consensus about the the champion of this frightening aren’t just on the other side of this de- effects tobacco had on our health, lead- issue—climate change. He has spoken bate. They are on the other side of re- ing to millions of premature deaths. 143 times on the Senate floor calling ality. Their flagship organization, Just like the tobacco companies, Big for action. Americans for Prosperity, is carrying Oil has known about the harm it is Dozens of shadowy organizations are the Kochs’ toxic agenda into state- causing. As early as 1981, Exxon’s in- waging a campaign to mislead the pub- houses and city halls across America. house climate expert knew that cli- lic and undermine American leadership They are involved at every level of gov- mate change was an issue, but they on climate change, the Paris climate ernment, trying to buy government. bought off enough scientists so they agreement, and clean air initiatives They are doing pretty well. They buy could stall for a while longer. In spite across the country. Every day that is their own scientists to publish mis- of knowing, Exxon provided over $30 th SENATE i going on. All of these shadowy, dark leading reports to confuse the public million to 69 organizations to cast entities—such as the U.S. Chamber of about the overwhelming scientific con- doubt on the science of climate change. Commerce, the Heartland Institute, sensus on climate change. This is what a clean environment con- and the Cato Institute—are all fronts This isn’t my theory. This is fact. A fronts—lots of Koch money and lots of for the Koch brothers. Clearly, these Drexel University Professor found that falsehoods. nez on DSK3GLQ082PROD w i #WebOfDenial Page 2 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:48 Jul 12, 2016 Jkt 059060 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G11JY6.007 S11JYPT1 smart Page 3 July 11, 2016 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S4929 The Koch brothers and their shadowy These officers did what all of our law have to consider more ways to support organization know the truth. Science enforcement officers potentially would our public servants who are tasked has long been proven, but they don’t be called to do; that is, they put their with the daunting responsibility of care. They will sacrifice the future of lives on the line. Some gave their very keeping order, enforcing the rule of our planet for bigger Koch profits.