One of America's biggest polluters, the Koch brothers, control a company which has produced, "A three-story black mountain of petroleum coke which is covering an entire city block on the other side of the Detroit River." Charles and David Koch are wealthy industrialists who back a number of conservative and libertarian causes including activist groups that challenge the science behind climate change. It doesn't get better than that.
Image: New York Times
Z Woof from Daily Kos breaks it down:
Petroleum coke is a byproduct of refining Canadian oil sands bitumen. According to an article in the New York Times, Kerry Satterthwaite, a petroleum coke analyst at Roskill Information Services, said, ""It is worse than a byproduct," Ms. Satterthwaite said."It's a waste byproduct that is costly and inconvenient to store, but effectively costs nothing to produce."
The waste byproduct is purchased by Koch Carbon and sold as fuel in Mexico and China. The EPA (the agency the Koch brothers want to dismantle) no longer allows any new licenses permitting the burning of petroleum coke in the United States.
…
Lorne Stockman, who recently published a study on petroleum coke for the environmental group Oil Change International, says, "It's really the dirtiest residue from the dirtiest oil on earth."
Koch Carbon is controlled by Charles and David Koch, wealthy industrialists who back a number of conservative and libertarian causes including activist groups that challenge the science behind climate change. The company sells the high-sulfur, high-carbon waste, usually overseas, where it is burned as fuel.
The New York Times reports:
What is really, really disturbing to me is how some companies treat the city of Detroit as a dumping ground," said Rashida Tlaib, the Michigan state representative for that part of Detroit. "Nobody knew this was going to happen." Almost 56 percent of Canada's oil production is from the petroleum-soaked oil sands of northern Alberta, more than 2,000 miles north.
The Koch brothers are libertarians who many of their supporters tout as patriotic entities upholding the Constitution, etc, etc. When business interests collide with our ground, air and water, then it's safe to say there is no love for America from the two billionaire siblings. These guys are like the Lex Luthors of politics. This latest episode is befitting of a prison sentence.
More at Daily Kos.
rest http://freakoutnation.com/2013/05/18/koch-brothers-dump-a-black-mound-of-canadian-oil-waste-which-is-rising-over-detroit/
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