Democrats seek Justice Department action on climate probe of oil giants
Democrats have referred their investigation into major oil companies to the Justice Department. They are probing if these companies deliberately misled the public about climate change impacts. Senators Whitehouse and Rep. Raskin claim that documents from their three-year inquiry reveal deceptive practices by the oil industry to promote fossil fuels and conceal their role in climate change. The Democrats have forwarded their inquiry on major oil firms to the Justice Department. Their focus is on determining if these companies intentionally misled the public regarding the effects of climate change. Senators Whitehouse and Rep. Raskin assert that records from their extensive three-year investigation expose deceptive behaviors within the oil sector, aiming to boost fossil fuels and obscure their involvement in climate change.
Democrats on Wednesday referred to the Justice Department their investigation into oil majors and whether the companies knowingly deceived the public about the effects of climate change.
In the letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and House Oversight Committee ranking member Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) allege the documents uncovered during the course of their nearly three-year investigation demonstrate that the oil and gas industry has been using “deceptive practices” to “entrench the use of fossil fuels” and keep the public in the dark about their links to climate change— including collaborating with trade groups and academic institutions to deceive the public about their positions on climate issues, and to “lend an aura of credibility” to their claims.
The lawmakers also alleged that the companies they investigated pledged to limit warming to 1.5C, a target set by the Paris Climate accord, and to support their own paths to reaching net-zero emissions— all while “internally recognizing that those goals were outside of their current business plans.”
“The examples set out in this letter only begin to illustrate how the documents reviewed by the Committees highlighted an enterprise committed to continued—and even increased— production of oil and gas, despite knowing of massive harms that would result and choosing to keep the public in the dark about that knowledge,” the lawmakers said.
They also argued their investigation demonstrated that the fossil fuel industry continues to “knowingly obfuscate” the dangers of natural gas. “This evidence, combined with the entities’ failure to comply fully with validly issued congressional subpoenas, suggests that further investigation by the executive branch is warranted,” they said.
The move comes one month after the Senate Budget and House Oversight Committees authored a 66-page report claiming some of the nation’s largest oil companies have been aware of and acknowledged that fossil fuels cause climate change.
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The Justice Department did not immediately respond to the Washington Examiner‘s request for comment on the referral.
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