Sanders joins calls for Justice to investigate ExxonMobil over climate change

By Kyle Feldscher, Kyle Feldscher

Published December 20, 2015

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Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders joined two other Democratic lawmakers in calling for Attorney General Loretta Lynch to investigate ExxonMobil over a report the company knew burning fossil fuels would harm the environment and hid the results.

The Los Angeles Times and Inside Climate News reported in a story earlier this month that the company knew in July 1977 that carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels would warm the planet. After 10 years of exploring the problem, ExxonMobil — then just Exxon — decided to "engage in a campaign of denial and disinformation," lawmakers charged.

In a letter sent Tuesday, Sanders called ExxonMobil's actions a possible example of corporate fraud that could have violated federal law. Last week, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., and Rep. Mark DeSaulnier, D-Mass., sent a similar letter to Lynch.

"These reports, if true, raise serious allegations of a misinformation campaign that may have caused public harm similar to the tobacco industry's actions — conduct that led to federal racketeering convictions," Sanders wrote.