The Koch Network Is Lobbying Against Rail Safety
In the wake of last year’s toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, new legislation was proposed with the aim of making railways safer. But thanks to incessant lobbying from the Koch network and its web of conservative operatives, the bill has been all but killed.

A Westbound Norfolk Southern Railway Corp. freight train traveling through Danville, Kentucky. (Luke Sharrett / Bloomberg via Getty Images)
One year after a toxic train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, inspired bipartisan legislation that would have made the nation’s railways safer for everyone, the bill has been all but killed — largely thanks to a familiar conservative foe: the Koch network.
Koch Industries, the parent company of various petrochemical subsidiaries run for decades by Charles Koch and his now-deceased brother David, spent nearly $8 million in the past year lobbying against the legislation, as well as donated $1.4 million to Republican lawmakers who helped stall the legislation. The effort was part of nearly $200 million the conglomerate has spent in the past decade to persuade lawmakers and regulators to block railway safety legislation and other measures — including reforms that could have helped avoid the East Palestine disaster.
These amounts don’t include millions more spent by the extended Koch network, a shadowy web of libertarian think tanks, foundations, and advocacy groups founded by the Koch brothers to stop government efforts to boost health care, combat climate change, and improve the common good.