Feds Refer Exxon Climate Investigation to FBI

http://ecowatch.com/2016/03/04/doj-refer-exxon-climate-investigation-fbi/

Nadia Prupis

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“Exxon has already cost us decades of meaningful climate action and policy thanks to its colossal climate denial operation. This development is a step in the right direction to holding it legally accountable,” said Naomi Ages, a climate liability campaigner with Greenpeace. “We expect the FBI and the Department of Justice to give this investigation the attention demanded by the American public.”

The DOJ’s referral, reported late Wednesday night by Inside Climate News, comes as a response to growing evidence that ExxonMobil covered up the role of fossil fuels in climate change and interfered in government efforts to take action on global warming, fearing that it would limit the company’s profits. The extent of the campaign was revealed late last year through two separate investigations by Inside Climate News and the Los Angeles Times.

In response to the reporting, U.S. Representatives from California Ted Lieu and Mark DeSaulnier requested the DOJ investigation to determine whether the company had violated federal laws by “failing to disclose truthful information” about climate change.

“There is going to be a moment of judgment both politically and legally,” DeSaulnier told Inside Climate News on Wednesday. “I think a moment of judgment will be quite critical of the fossil fuel industry in terms of obfuscating the scientific facts and for not adhering to their moral and legal responsibility to the public.”
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