Koch Industries lobbying members of Congress against natural gas subsidy

[phantom power]

Reporting from Washington —
A top official of Koch Industries is sending letters to Capitol Hill on Wednesday urging opposition to energy legislation that would boost the use of natural gas, a proposal backed by energy billionaire T. Boone Pickens.

While Pickens and others in the natural gas industry favor the proposal as a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil and encourage use of cleaner burning gas, the Kochs are urging members to oppose the Pickens-backed legislation, saying they believe government subsidies distort the economy and create inefficiencies.

...

"We oppose ethanol subsidies and, indeed, all government mandates and subsidies because they artificially skew economic signals about price and demand, thereby creating inefficiencies that divert resources from productive activities to politically favored ones," wrote Phillip Ellender, who heads Koch's Washington and government affairs efforts.

"We do not believe government should be picking 'winners and losers' in the marketplace based on which industries or products it chooses to subsidize. Government has an abysmal record at doing so — both here and abroad. History shows that the free market driven by consumer choice is a far better way to allocate resources accurately," Ellender wrote, echoing the outspoken free-market philosophy of the conservative brothers who control Koch Industries, one of the world's largest privately held corporations.

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-koch-natural-gas-20110622,0,2945694.story

[Angry Dragon]

1. Are the Kocks going on the record saying that oil and gas

subsidies should be stopped??
I think that is a grand idea

[phantom power]

2. Dunno, but in the absense of all subsidies, I would predict...

that the energy source with the fewest internalized costs wins. I believe that would mean coal and oil.