Last week, the Department of Energy announced that it’s National Energy Technology Lab will award government grants (aka subsidies) to eight projects as part of their Carbon Capture Program. The Carbon Capture Program “is developing technologies that will enable cost-effective implementation of carbon capture and storage (CCS),” according to the DOE’s press release.

The University of Kentucky is running one of the projects with the help of Koch Modular Process Systems. Yes, as in that Koch. Now, we know this may come as a shock. How could a Koch-owned company ever take government subsidies when they are so vocally against them?

A letter to the editor published in the Boston Globe put it best:

While they do not believe in government subsidies, they have had no trouble taking them.

Now that the company they control has $115 billion in sales, they do not need subsidies. They have a vested interest in keeping other players out of the energy field. Ending subsidies to alternative energy sources would be a setback to future competitors. Their opposition to subsidies is personal.

The Kochs are more than happy to take part in government subsidies related to fossil fuels — like their carbon capture grant — because it benefits their bottom line. However, they are quick to condemn subsidies and federal grants that help renewable energy and don’t boost their profits. In Florida, the Koch brothers and their cronies have worked tirelessly against solar power, even advocating for more government regulations on the industry, because more solar energy use means less business for them.

Their blatant hypocrisy on government subsidies makes it clear: the Kochs don’t want a free market, they want total control of the market.