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Otherwords / Op-Ed
Published: Monday 3 September 2012
“Black liquor, a byproduct of the paper-making process, is an alcoholic sludge that paper mills use to fuel their operations.”
The Koch Brothers’ Moonshine
What do you call a mix of "black liquor," biofuels, diesel, and a generous splash of tax subsidies? If you have Sen. Mike Crapo of Idaho shake this cocktail vigorously and serve it in a golden goblet provided by corporate lobbyists, I've got the answer: Koch Brothers Moonshine.
Black liquor, a byproduct of the paper-making process, is an alcoholic sludge that paper mills use to fuel their operations. Fine — creative, even. But then, the paper giants turned from creative to cabal, teaming with Crapo and other practitioners of the legislative black arts to turn their sludge into a slick tax loophole.
In 2007, Crapo and a covey of corporate lobbyists quietly made their "liquor" eligible for a subsidy meant to help wean America off oil by encouraging the production of a biofuel-gasoline mix to power cars and trucks. Not so fine. One, vehicles can't use mill sludge as a fuel. Two, rather than mixing biofuel into their sludge, the paper-makers add diesel! So these sneaks are siphoning billions of dollars from a clean fuels program by making a dirty fuel dirtier.
Who's profiting from this load of moonshine? Right at the top are the infamous, far-right-wing Koch brothers. These secretive, multi-billionaire political extremists have long been financing everything from dozens of corporate front groups to the tea party in their relentless effort to impose their plutocratic agenda on our country. One major way they pay for this onslaught is by tapping directly into the blatant corporate welfare of the black liquor loophole. The Koch industrial empire includes Georgia Pacific, one of America's largest paper-makers — and it's the happy recipient of as much as a billion bucks a year from this perverted biofuel subsidy.
A dirty windfall from a dirty fuel is underwriting dirty politics. The whole thing stinks.
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ABOUT Jim Hightower
National radio commentator, writer, public speaker, and author of the book, Swim Against The Current: Even A Dead Fish Can Go With The Flow, Jim Hightower has spent three decades battling the Powers That Be on behalf of the Powers That Ought To Be - consumers, working families, environmentalists, small businesses, and just-plain-folks.
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By Green Shadow Cabinet
7 comments on "The Koch Brothers’ Moonshine"
September 03, 2012 1:07pm
God does have a sense of humor! A dirty politician named Crapo. You'd think the name alone would be a red flag to most voters. Makes it difficult to hope that Ima Lyanpric won't get elected.
September 03, 2012 12:34pm
The kochs are the symptom not necessarily the disease of what is crippling this society. The fact that there is still an element of our culture that venerates these scum rather than pointing a finger of accusation at them and demanding more by way of taxation, not less, for the damage they've have done and continue to do and receive tax credits for their malfeasance instead of jail sentences.
September 03, 2012 12:30pm
Mr. Hightower,
Please come into the 21st century. The EU has some of the strictest air quality regulations on the planet, yet a very large majority of EU vehicles run on diesel. Long gone are the days where you fire up Old Betsy and a black cloud come out. Even my diesel 1987 BMW ran clean in 2005.
Of course, the technology challeged US could never think about requiring different fuel blends that are cleaner and could never ever even consider adding regulations to control those old black cloud beltchers that are rolling down our roads polluting the air. It's time to demand better and more from our govenrment and from our corporation. It is also time for the people in the media to learn about the technology that exists outside our borders before slamming something they don't know anything about.
It is also high time to cut the welfare checks to the corporate welfare queens. Or if Congress doesn't have the guts to cut them off cold turkey, then ween them off over a 5 year time span. Next limit corporations to 5 years max lifetime payout. After all they are people too so if humans are limited to 5 years per lifetime, corpeople should have the same rules.
September 03, 2012 3:07pm
The issue was not Diesel, but Diesel + Black Liquor, so Mr. Hightower is further into the 21 C than you at this moment. From another Diesel driver....
September 03, 2012 2:46pm
JELTEZ42 - Great idea in your last paragraph. If corporations are people, then they should be subject to the same benefit limits as actual human beings who are citizens of the country. Seems only fair. Can't imagine that the corporate welfare queens and their bought and paid for politicians will see it in the same light, however.
September 03, 2012 12:19pm
Thanks Jim Hightower. Wonder how many critics of the Koch's will pick up on this amazing story. No generalities here, just hard verifiable proof about how dirty these two criminals are.
September 03, 2012 10:27am
Billionaire Kochroaches would burn oil refinery bottoms or unprocessed tar sands as fuel for their industrial plants if it wasn't used for paving roads because they don't live anywhere near those Koch Industries industrial plants.