Secretive funding organisation 'providing millions to climate change counter-movement on behalf of fossil fuel industry'

And the Daily Mail is regarded as right-wing in Britain. It's not unusual to get news about what is going on in the U.S. from British news, that is being ignored by the U.S. media.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2268070/Billionaire-Charles-Koch-secretive-fund-casts-doubt-climate-change.html

Friday, Jan 25 2013
By Meghan Keneally

American billionaire Charles Koch is involved in a secretive funding organisation to undermine the science of global warming, it has been claimed.

The Donors Trust and the Donors Capital Fund, both based in Alexandria, Virginia, have been funding the climate counter-movement which seeks to cast doubt on the climate change while keeping its wealthy backers anonymous, The Independent has said.

Millions of dollars have been funnelled into both funds through a third party group called the Knowledge and Progress Fund, operated by the Koch family.

Its directors include Charles Koch and his wife Liz, and it gave $4.5 million to the Donors in the last six years, although there is no mention of the fund on the Koch Industries website or the Charles Koch Foundation website.

Ranked fourth on Forbes' list of the richest Americans, Charles, 76, is worth an estimated $31billion and is ranked as the 45th most powerful person in the world.

The Kansas-based company Koch Industries, an oil, gas and chemical conglomerate he runs with his brother David, is the second largest privately held company in the country with 67,000 employees.

The opacity of the funding set up is attractive to wealthy backers, some of whom have interests in the fossil fuel industry, for it allows them to remain anonymous while supporting the climate counter-movement.

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While many political analysts have understood their power for years, the pair made their biggest foray on the public stage when they helped to found the political advocacy group Americans For Prosperity, which played a significant role in the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives in 2010 and the surge of the Tea Party movement.

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