At least as far back as 2009, Koch Industries has repeatedly touted awards and recognition from an organization called the Wildlife Habitat Council. Widely circulated press releases with titles like “Koch Industries Subsidiaries Honored by Wildlife Habitat Council” tout the company’s “achievements” while the official Koch Industries website even has an Environmental Stewardship page with the following text:
Twelve Koch companies’ sites are accredited by Wildlife Habitat Council for employee-led conservation and environmental education programs.
Koch has previously promoted its “awards” through BusinessWire in 2014, and a story even ran today in the Wichita Business Journal with the headline “Koch wins conservation education award.” According to the National Review article defending the Kochs that made our first “shill” list:
“Koch Industries, Inc., takes a leadership role in the promotion of biodiversity, wildlife habitat enhancement, land restoration and conservation education,” according to Wildlife Habitat Council president Robert Johnson.
So, who is the Wildlife Habitat Council as what is their mission?
Given that the corporate membership page includes companies like BP, Exxon-Mobil, Monsanto, Chevron, and, of course, Koch Industries, Inc. & Subsidiaries, it is immediately clear that this is not Greenpeace. Furthermore, both Exxon-Mobil and Monsanto have representatives on the organization’s board. In 2003, the organization also received a donation of $15,000 from the Charles G. Koch Foundation, according to Sourcewatch.
According to the official mission, vision, and values page of the Wildlife Habitat Council (emphasis ours):
At WHC, we believe that every act of conservation matters…
We are open. This means we
* Make conservation achievement accessible to all types of organizations
We also found recent “certifications” touted by Waste Management (despite “not [meeting] its environmental compliance goal of zero violations”), and Monsanto.
Achievement accessible to all indeed!
If you are interested in what the leading environmental defense organization thinks of Koch Industries’ “environmental stewardship,” see its Greenpeace Polluterwatch profile.