ADVERTISEMENT

WaPo Debunked, Koch Responds to Congressional Dems

A pink ribbon marks the proposed route of the Keystone XL pipeline through farmland near Bradshaw, Neb. / AP

Koch Industries on Thursday responded to a pair of congressional Democrats seeking information about their financial interest in the Keystone XL pipeline, noting that the evidence of such an interest is nonexistent.

Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D., R.I.) and Rep. Henry Waxman (D., Calif.) wrote to Koch on March 20 with a series of questions about their involvement in Keystone based on a Washington Post article that has since been thoroughly debunked.

The letter was part of a long-running offensive by Democrats against Koch Industries and its libertarian owners, Charles and David Koch.

Koch Industries general counsel Mark Holden responded to their letter on Thursday.

"As you may know, this [Washington Post] ‘report,’ which relied on a deeply flawed and false report by an environmental activist group, has been widely discredited, including by the Washington Post itself," Holden wrote.

"There is no ‘mounting evidence’ that Koch has a financial interest in the Keystone XL pipeline," as Waxman and Whitehouse’s letter claimed, Holden said.

The Post finally corrected its story this week, noting that Koch is not, as was initially claimed, the largest leaseholder in the Canadian oil sands region, from which Keystone would carry crude oil to the Gulf coast.

"Koch reiterates that it has no ownership or investment interest in the Keystone XL Pipeline, it is not a proposed shipper or customer, and it has not taken any position with regard to any legislation before Congress concerning the Keystone XL pipeline," Holden wrote.