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 Attorney General Merrick Garland, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) and House Oversight Committee ranking member 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 1.5 C, a target set by the Paris Agreement, 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.
Speaking to reporters at a press conference Wednesday, Whitehouse and Raskin likened the behavior and alleged deception by the fossil fuel industry to that of the tobacco industry decades earlier—which they noted resulted in various state and federal lawsuits. The Justice Department in 1999 filed a federal lawsuit against the nation’s largest cigarette manufacturers and trade organization on claims of civil fraud and racketeering violations.
By referring their case to the Justice Department, Democrats will be sharing not only the summary and results of their own investigation, but also allowing prosecutors to access thousands of pages of internal documents, communications, and other materials they obtained during the course of their yearslong inquiry.
Top Republicans on the House Oversight Committee and Senate Budget Committee criticized the referral Wednesday.
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“Instead of holding the Biden administration accountable for its disastrous energy policies, the Ranking Member would rather desperately attempt to revive a failed investigation and continue to demonize America’s leading energy producers,” House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) said in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
The Justice Department did not respond to the Washington Examiner’s request for comment on the referral.
