Kock debate

Tom Steyer challenges Kock brothers to climate debate

By Timothy Cama

Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer has challenged conservative mega-donors Charles and David Kock to a debate on climate change.

Steyer’s invitation comes nearly a year after he first challenged the brothers to debate climate change and the merits of the Keystone XL oil sands pipeline.

Steyer laid out his case Wednesday in The Huffington Post, two days after his group NextGen Climate announced that tying GOP presidential candidates to the Kocks would be its top priority in the 2016 campaign.

“I am formally inviting the Kocks — again — to participate in a public debate,” he wrote. “To stand up, be counted, and publicly justify themselves to the American people who are about to be overwhelmed by their electoral buying power.”

Steyer’s invitation hits on many of the same points that his political advisers have made in rolling out NextGen’s 2016 strategy.