Bloomberg Investigation Uncovers Koch Industries Sales to Iran

Bloomberg Markets has written a bombshell expose of Koch Industries that is bound to resound through the Brothers' vast conglomerate as much for the platform -- a normally staid financial publication -- as for the information contained therein.

A Bloomberg Markets investigation has found that Koch Industries -- in addition to being involved in improper payments to win business in Africa, India and the Middle East -- has sold millions of dollars of petrochemical equipment to Iran, a country the U.S. identifies as a sponsor of global terrorism.

In their piece, "Koch Brothers Flout Law Getting Richer With Secret Iran Sales," Bloomberg Markets details how the Koch Brothers hired and then fired their ethics officer charged with uncovering fraud after she'd uncovered more than fraud.

Internal company records show that Koch Industries used its foreign subsidiary to sidestep a U.S. trade ban barring American companies from selling materials to Iran. Koch-Glitsch offices in Germany and Italy continued selling to Iran until as recently as 2007, the records show.

Certain sales to Iran are against the law unless one finds a way around them. In Koch's own internal investigation, according to the Bloomberg Markets report, they identified the actions of their subsidiary as: '"Those activities constitute violations of criminal law,” Koch Industries wrote in a Dec. 8, 2008, letter giving details of its findings. The letter was made public in a civil court ruling in France in September 2010; the document has never before been reported by the media.'

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Scalia, Cain, and the Machinery of Death

by CHRISTOPHER KIT DAVIS

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia 

In 1992 a man named Leonel Herrera, sentenced to death for killing two policemen, asked for a hearing in the federal courts on the basis of recently revealed evidence which, he claimed, established his innocence. A federal court judge stayed his sentence; a panel of three judges of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit lifted the stay. Hours before his execution, Herrera appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which agreed to hear his case. Early in 1993, the court, in a six-three vote, ruled against him, and suggested that Mr. Herrera look for clemency from the governor of Texas. Herrera, who insisted upon his innocence until the last minute (“I am an innocent man, and something very wrong is taking place tonight.”), was executed four months later.

Composed in stolid prose with many citations of precedence, the court’s opinion in Herrera v. Collins was written by then Chief Justice William Rehnquist, but it is Senior Associate Justice Antonin Scalia’s concurring opinion, composed with caustic wit, which has become notorious both among those in favor of and those opposed to capital punishment. Scalia, who describes himself as an “originalist” in his interpretation of constitutional law, wrote, “There is no basis in text, tradition, or even in contemporary practice. . . for finding in the Constitution a right to demand judicial consideration of newly discovered evidence of innocence brought forward after conviction.”

Dissenting in Herrera v. Collins, the late Justice Harry Blackmun wrote: “Nothing could be more contrary to contemporary standards of decency or more shocking to the conscience than to execute a person who is actually innocent. . . . We really are being asked to decide whether the Constitution forbids the execution of a person who has been validly convicted and sentenced, but who, nonetheless, can prove his innocence with newly discovered evidence.”

Joined by Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Scalia offered mocking advice to the three dissenters (Blackmun, Stevens, and Souter): “If the [constitutional] system that has been in place for two-hundred years (and remains widely approved) ‘shocks’ the dissenters’ consciences .. . perhaps they should doubt the calibration of their consciences, or, better still, the usefulness of ‘conscience-shocking’ as a legal test.”

Those unfamiliar with Justice Scalia and his views, told he is a man capable of humor, may imagine that his own conscience is alive to the danger implicit in the moral disaster he recommends, that he doesn’t really mean to kill a potentially innocent man.

Not at all. He is serious, and his view is not without precedent. Continued...

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Renewable Energy Keeps Growing: Earth Summit in Rio provides an opportunity for more action

by Jake Schmidt

Earth Summit 2012

Several new reports released over the past few days show that renewable energy keeps growing, with more countries implementing policies or incentives to spur renewable energy deployment. The studies found that renewable energy accounted for $211 billion in new investments in 2010 – an increase of 32% from the previous year. Next year at the Earth Summit in Rio, countries and companies have a chance to build upon this momentum by committing to deeper actions to spur renewable energy deployment within their country and company. This is an important opportunity that shouldn’t be missed.

So what are the key findings of these new reports (one from the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century –REN21—and the other from the UN Environment Program –UNEP)?

Renewable investments are a very large sector that is growing rapidly. If it were a country, the total value of new renewable energy investments in 2010 would make it the 42nd largest economy in the world.  Continued...


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Where are US Global Warming Emissions Headed?

by Jake Schmidt

As I meet with global warming officials from other countries, I frequently hear this statement: “American action on global warming is lost for the foreseeable future.” This is a good time to evaluate how true or false this statement is since the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) has just released its annual projections – the Annual Energy Outlook 2011. The general conclusion: emissions will be below 2005 levels for the next 15 years and could be reduced even further if the Administration implemented EPA and other rules in a strong fashion.  Continued...

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Your Brain on Ocean: Neuroscience and Ocean Exploration Intersection at San Francisco’s BLUEMiND SUMMIT

by Greg Reitman

On Thursday, June 2, 2011 I had an opportunity to attend the BLUEMIND SUMMIT at the California Academy of Sciences for the first-ever BLUEMIND Summit to explore the intersection of brain and ocean. The goal of the conference is to shape a new era of scientific understanding of the ocean and its great emotional power.

Why do we seek respite at the ocean's shore? Why are the words "Ocean View" the most valuable in real estate? Why does the sound, smell, touch and taste of the sea set our souls at ease? These questions and much more will be on tap, as leaders in neuroscience and ocean exploration converge at the BLUEMiND Summit is the brainchild of Dr. Wallace J. Nichols, a noted sea turtle biologist, ocean advocate and Research Associate at the California Academy of Sciences.  Continued...

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Silence is Deadly

Dr. James Hansen

The U.S. Department of State seems likely to approve a huge pipeline to carry tar sands oil (about 830,000 barrels per day) to Texas refineries unless sufficient objections are raised.

The scientific community needs to get involved in this fray now. If this project gains approval, it will become exceedingly difficult to control the tar sands monster.

Although there are multiple objections to tar sands development and the pipeline, including destruction of the environment in Canada¹ and the likelihood of spills along the pipeline's pathway, such objections, by themselves, are very unlikely to stop the project.

An overwhelming objection is that exploitation of tar sands would make it implausible to stabilize climate and avoid disastrous global climate impacts. The tar sands are estimated (e.g., see IPCC AR4 WG3 report) to contain at least 400 GtC (equivalent to about 200 ppm CO2).

Easily available reserves of conventional oil and gas are enough to take atmospheric CO2 well above 400 ppm. However, if emissions from coal are phased out over the next few decades and if unconventional fossil fuels are left in the ground, it is conceivable to stabilize climate ^2,3.

Phase out of emissions from coal is itself an enormous challenge. However, if the tar sands are thrown into the mix it is essentially game over. There is no practical way to capture the CO2 emitted while burning oil, which is used principally in vehicles. Continued...

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