Month 9, Day 17: Classic Koch

The LA Times ran an article about the oil industry’s deep pockets and attempts to raise enthusiasm for California’s Proposition 23. In the course of the piece, the following gem emerged:

On Tuesday, Charles Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Assn., issued an urgent appeal for funds to back the measure. “I am pleading with each of you — for our nation’s best interest and for your company’s own self-interest,” he wrote in a confidential e-mail to the industry group’s 416 members.

“The money raised so far,” he wrote, “is not enough to win the fight against environmental zealots led by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who seems hell-bent on becoming the real-life Terminator of our industry.”

That’s right. Ahhhhnuld is an Environmental Zealot, presumably because he acknowledges the existence of the problem.

Oy. Californians…don’t let this thing pass!

It’s amusing to hear Governor Schwarznegger described as an “environmental zealot” by Charles Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. Given the oil industry’s abysmal record on cleaning up the messes they make, lying about the size and impact of the disasters they cause, and minimizing the degree to which their activities are damaging the Earth, it is an open question as to why anyone could find Mr. Drevna’s assessment convincing. Indeed, it would be more accurate to describe Drevna, along with other petroleum spokespersons, as an “anti-environmental zealot.” California has led the nation for years in the implementation of reality-based environmental policy — a position now threatened by Proposition 23, a thinly-disguised handout to the nation’s largest polluters. Obviously, any initiative heavily bankrolled by the likes of the Koch Brothers isn’t intended to benefit anyone other than the fossil fuel industries and their subsidiaries.

Warren Senders