Conference,” March 17–March 19, 2014.
Koch Industries changed the way people worked: Dana Blocker, Mark Caldwell, interviews by author, 2016.
Koch Industries tried to mitigate these safety risks: Georgia-Pacific employee speaking on background, interview by author, 2017–18.
a forty-one-year-old man named Robert Wesson: Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspection report and accident summary, August 12, 2014; Georgia-Pacific employee speaking on background, interview by author, 2017–18; “Hamburg Man Killed in Plant Accident,” KTVE online, last modified August 13, 2014; Patty Wooten, “Hamburg Man Killed in Accident at Georgia Pacific,” Seark Today (AK), last modified August 13, 2014; internal Georgia-Pacific safety presentation, slide 7, “The Heart,” list of Georgia-Pacific fatalities.
Wesson’s death was the fifth . . . in 2014: Safety presentation, slide 7, “The Heart.”
Sam Southerland was working . . . in Pennington: OSHA inspection report and accident summary, April 16, 2014; obituary of Samuel Eugene “Sambo” Southerland Jr., April 2014.
at Georgia-Pacific’s plant in Corrigan, Texas: OSHA violation detail and accident summary, September 23, 2014; OSHA inspection detail, April 27, 2014; Jessica Cooley, “2nd Plant Explosion Victim Passes Away,” Lufkin Daily News (TX), June 6, 2014; “7 Injured in Texas Plant Explosion,” Associated Press, April 27, 2014; Bailey Woolum, “Nine Injured in Paper Plant Explosion,” KFOR online, last modified April 27, 2014; Gary Bass, “Lawsuit Filed to Determine Cause of Georgia-Pacific Plant Explosion,” KTRE online, last modified August 5, 2014; obituary of Kenneth W. “Kenny” Morris, June 2014; obituary of Charles Wayne Kovar, May 2014.
Georgia-Pacific employee named Lydia Faircloth: OSHA inspection report and accident summary, July 25, 2014; internal Georgia-Pacific safety memo, “Safety Awareness for Everyone,” April 20, 2012; Susan Vernon-Devlin, “Colquitt Woman Killed in Tragic Accident at Georgia-Pacific,” Miller County Liberal (Colquitt, GA), July 30, 2014; Lance Griffin, “OSHA Investigating Georgia Pacific Workplace Fatality,” Dothan Eagle (AL), July 28, 2014.
Wesson was killed at the mill in Crossett: Georgia-Pacific employee speaking on background, interview by author, 2017–18; safety presentation, slide 7, “The Heart.”
six workers had been killed in Georgia-Pacific: Safety presentation, slide 4, “Hearts and Mind: Averaging 2 Fatalities a Year.”
accidents and injuries continued to climb each year: Georgia-Pacific TRAX reports, 2010–17.
Koch Industries needed to change . . . how it would do so: Notes from “Health and Safety Conference,” March 17–March 19, 2014.
Georgia-Pacific was fined $5,000: OSHA violation detail, January 20, 2015; OSHA volation detail and accident summary, September 23, 2014.
Koch Industries responded . . . by reemphasizing the need of employees to follow the guidelines: Georgie-Pacific internal safety presentation, slides 1, 2, and 3. The presentation is undated but includes data through the first quarter of 2017.
Georgia-Pacific was more unsafe than Koch’s competitors: Safety presentation, slides 5 and 6, “2016 AF&PA Member Company TCIR Quartiles” and “2016 AF&PA Member Company DART Quartiles.”
Koch’s response . . . reduce risk: Safety presentation, slides 1, 9, 10, 11.
Another chart, entitled “Georgia-Pacific 20-Year Bet”: Safety presentation, slide 9.
This was the reality faced by the Dodger and the Hammer: Hammond, Dodge, Smith, Franzen, McKinney, interviews by author, 2013–14.
Once again, the Dodger and the Hammer . . . Koch’s team: Hammond, Dodge, interviews by author, 2013–14; descriptions of Red Lion hotel taken from notes and photos during reporting trip in 2017.
Bonuses were anathema to workers . . . the same way that a wage hike did: Patricia Cohen, “Where Did Your Pay Raise Go? It May Have Become a Bonus,” New York Times, February 10, 2018; US Salary Increase Survey 2017/2018 (London: Aon Hewitt, 2017).
The Dodger said he wasn’t having it: Hammond, Dodge, interviews by author, 2013–17.
IBU members filed . . . Hammond and Dodge’s office: Hammond, Dodge, Smith, Franzen, McKinney, interviews by author, 2013–14; descriptions of union hall meeting room from notes and photos taken inside the meeting room during a reporting trip, 2017.
Hammond sobered up after he retired: Hammond, interviews by author, 2013–17.
During the final months . . . another election: Hammond, Dodge, Smith, Franzen, interviews by author, 2013–17.
Trump’s candidacy . . . disrupting Charles Koch’s plans: Fredreka Schouten, “Charles Koch: We Like 5 GOP Candidates in Primaries,” USA Today, April 21, 2015; Fredreka Schouten, “Charles Koch: We’re Not in Politics to Boost Our Bottom Line,” USA Today, April 24, 2015.
Koch had carefully set up . . . flipped it over: Matt Flegenheimer and Michael Barbaro, “Donald Trump Is Elected President in Stunning Repudiation of the Establishment,” New York Times, November 9, 2016.
Shortly after . . . Republicans scurried to reorient themselves around Trumpism: Former senior US Senate staffer speaking on background, interview by author, 2017.
CHAPTER 24: BURNING
Springtime came early . . . in 2017: Notes reporting