Brad Urban and his team canvassed the industry: Razook, Sementelli, interviews by author, 2018; Eagle Ford region production and figures taken from US Energy Information oil production database.
Koch Industries’ boardroom . . . Koch’s office: Razook, Sementelli, interviews by author, 2018; descriptions of boardroom taken from notes and photographs during reporting trip, 2018.
The Eagle Ford region . . . July of 2010: Eagle Ford region production and figures taken from US Energy Information oil production database; “Eagle Ford Takes Flight,” Discovery: The Quarterly Newsletter of Koch Companies, October 2011; O’Sullivan, Windfall, 1–107.
Along the Gulf Coast of Texas . . . oil refineries: Notes and photos from reporting trip to Gulf Coast and Flint Hills facility near Port Arthur, Texas, in 2016.
Nobody had built . . . since 1977: Anthony Andrews et al., Small Refineries and Oil Field Processors: Opportunities and Challenges (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, August 11, 2014).
The primary obstacle to building a new refinery was the Clean Air Act: “The Petroleum Industry: Mergers, Structural Change, and Antitrust Enforcement,” Federal Trade Commission Bureau of Economics, Staff Study, August 2004; Anthony Andrews and Robert Pirog, The US Oil Refining Industry: Background in Changing Markets and Fuel Policies (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, December 27, 2012); Andrews, et al., Small Refineries and Oil Field Processors; Robert Bradley and Thomas Tanton, “US Petroleum Refining: Let the Market Function,” Institute for Energy Research, December 19, 2005; Energy Market: Effects of Mergers and Market Concentration in the US Petroleum Industry (Washington, DC: US General Accounting Office, May 2004).
Between 1991 and 2000, there were 338 mergers: Ibid., 7; Diana L. Moss, “Competition in US Petroleum Refining and Marketing: Part 1—Industry Trends,” working paper, American Antitrust Institute, January 2007.
In 2002, there were . . . By 2012, there were only 115: The US Oil Refining Industry, 1.
Arizona Clean Fuels attempted to build: Andrews, Small Refineries and Oil Field Processors, 8; Joyce Lobeck, “3 Major Yuma-Area Projects Have Stalled, Yuma Sun (AZ), September 4, 2011; Michele Linck, “It’s No Race, but Arizona Clean Fuels Is Ahead, for Now,” Sioux City Journal (IA), September 4, 2009.
Fewer and fewer companies . . . larger and larger facilities: Andrews and Pirog, The US Oil Refining Industry: Background in Changing Markets and Fuel Policies (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, December 27, 2012), 4–5.
By 2004 . . . “imperfectly competitive”: Energy Market, 113–14.
By the time the Eagle Ford tsunami . . . full tilt: John R. Auers, interview by author, 2018; “US Refined Product Exports Developments, Prospects and Challenges,” presentation by John R. Auers, to 2017 EIA Energy Conference, Washington, DC, June 27, 2017, slide 6.
The bottleneck was severe . . . catastrophic price increases: Alison Sider, “Refinery Woes Stall Gasoline Price Drops,” Wall Street Journal, August 23, 2015.
In this environment . . . breathtaking: Auers, interview by author, 2018; “The Refining Cup: US ‘Trumps’ the World—but Challenges Abound,” presentation by John R. Auers, to AFPM Annual Environmental Conference, October 17, 2016, slide 19.
The profit margins fell sharply after 2011: Auers, interview by author, 2018; “The Refining Cup,” slide 19.
Koch enhanced the profitability . . . in Houston: Osbourn, interview by author, 2016; Energy Market; Moss, “Competition in US Petroleum Refining and Marketing”; Christopher Leonard, “A Blade Strikes Steel, and the Blast Shocks a Nation’s Energy System,” Bloomberg Businessweek, November 23, 2016.
Koch traded around Corpus Christi: Osbourn, Razook, Sementelli, interviews by author, 2016–18; Ben Fox Rubin, “Koch Industries to Buy PetroLogistics in $2.1 Billion Deal,” Wall Street Journal, May 28, 2014.
Obama administration failed to pass a carbon regulation bill: Michael Grunwald, The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012); Brad Plumer, “A Closer Look at Obama’s ‘$90 Billion for Green Jobs,’ ” Washington Post, October 4, 2012.
In 2007 . . . all the BTUs consumed in America: “Primary Energy Consumption by Source,” table 1.3, US Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review, January 2018; “US Primary Energy Consumption by Source and Sector, 2016,” US Energy Information Administration, Monthly Energy Review, April 2017.
Even as Koch refined . . . emerging across America: Auers, interview by author, 2018; “US Refined Product Exports Developments,” slide 13.
Like twenty-nine states . . . 10 percent of their power: Andy Marso, “Koch Works Behind Scenes on Renewable Energy Bill,” Topeka Capital-Journal (KS), February 26, 2013; Todd Wynn, “ALEC to States: Repeal Renewable Energy Mandates,” MasterResource, November 1, 2012.
Many Kansas state lawmakers were like Tom Moxley: Tom Moxley, interview by author, 2018; Alan Claus Anderson et al., The Economic Benefits of Kansas Wind Energy (Kansas City, MO: Polsinelli Shughart and Kansas Enegry Information Network, November 19, 2012).
In 2013 . . . remove the renewable-energy mandates: Moxley, interview by author, 2018; Marso, “Koch Works Behind Scenes.”
Koch’s efforts . . . push back renewable-energy subsidies: Moxley, interview by author, 2018; Attacks on Renewable Energy Standards and Net Metering Policies by Fossil Fuel Interests & Front Groups 2013–2014 (San Francisco: Energy and Policy Institute, May 2104); Juliet Eilperin, “Climate Skeptic Group Works to Reverse Renewable Energy Mandates,” Washington Post, November 24, 2012; Tim Dickinson, “The Koch Brothers’ Dirty War on Solar Power,” Rolling Stone, February 11, 2016.
ALEC’s efforts bore fruit: Moxley, interview by author, 2018; Bryan Lowry, “House OKs Ending Renewable-Energy Tax Break for Businesses,” Wichita Eagle, May 14, 2015; “Tomblin Approves Energy Act Repeal,” Associated Press, February 3, 2015.
By 2014 . . . corporate culture at Koch Industries: Notes from reporting at Koch Industries headquarters, 2013; Rhoda Miel, “Koch Buys Stake in Guardian,” Crain’s Detroit Business, October 7, 2012; “Koch Industries Acquires Guardian Industries Corp.,” press release, Guardian Industries, November 21, 2016; David Smith, “Koch Industries Called Steel Mill’s Largest Investor,” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, February 2, 2013; Andrea Murphy, “Weiss Family to Take American Greetings Private with Help from the Koch Brothers,” Forbes, April 1, 2013; “Molex Incorporated Agrees to be Acquired by Koch Industries, Inc. for $38.50 Per Share in Cash,” press release, Molex Inc., September 9, 2013.
The sense of mastery . . . expanded and renovated the company headquarters: Notes, photos, and video from reporting trips at Koch Industries headquarters, 2013, 2015, 2018; “Koch Industries, Inc., Announces Plans to Expand Wichita Headquarters,” press release, Koch Industries, December 13, 2012; Daniel McCoy, “Koch Industries Unveils Expansion,” Wichita Business Journal, June 17, 2015.
CHAPTER 22: THE EDUCATION OF CHASE KOCH
When he was a young boy, Chase Koch might have seemed unteachable: Chase Koch, interview by author, 2018; “Charles Koch: On Parenthood,” Koch Industries video, June 15, 2017.
Those plans . . . the first day Chase Koch was born: Hall, interviews by author, 2018.