You all remember the famous lines of faux incredulity from Casablanca?
We all know that corporations make campaign contributions to gain access to elected officials and “have their voice heard.” An Energy Dept photographer caught exactly what “being heard” means in photos that were leaked to the press. The below images show the memo handed to the Secretary of Energy, Rick Perry, with a list of Murray Energy wishes to protect their coal business, including:
- Cut the staff of the US Environmental Protection Agency at least in half
- Replace members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
- Replace members of the Tennessee Valley Authority Board of Directors
- Replace members of the National Labor Relations Board
Murray Energy has a long running list of coal mine safety violations and is aggressive in denying their responsibility for mine accidents, such as the Crandall Canyon disaster. See a bio of the owner here and a safety violations tracker here.
When regulators are overly influenced by the industries they regulate, they are called “captured.”
When politicians and political appointees are overly influenced by industries rather than the people who elected them, what do we call that? — corrupt?
Read the full story here.