Democratic senators are calling on Attorney General Merrick General to bring a lawsuit against the fossil fuel industry for an alleged “misinformation” campaign against consumers, according to a letter revealed Monday.
The letter urges the Department of Justice (DOJ) to join with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to file lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry, saying, “We write to strongly urge the Department of Justice to bring suits against the fossil fuel industry for its longstanding and carefully coordinated campaign to mislead consumers and discredit climate science in pursuit of massive profits.” Democratic Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Edward Markey and Oregon Democratic Sen. Jefferey Merkley all signed the letter.
The letter cites a recent lawsuit in Minnesota that alleges documents from the 1970s and 1980s indicate that the fossil fuel industry knew about the affects their products would have on the climate. “The fossil fuel industry has had scientific evidence about the dangers of climate change and the role that burning fossil fuels play in increasing global temperatures for more than 50 years,” the letter says. “Despite these companies’ knowledge about climate change and the role their industry was playing in driving carbon emissions, they chose to participate in a decades-long, careful coordinated campaign of misinformation to obfuscate climate science and convince the public that fossil fuels are not the primary driver of climate change.”
Markey, Sanders and Warren also voted on July 20 against an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act that would ban the sale of National Strategic Petroleum Reserve oil to foreign countries.
“The record of the past two decades demonstrates that the industry is achieving its goal of providing affordable, reliable American energy to U.S. consumers while substantially reducing emissions and our environmental footprint. Any suggestion to the contrary is false,” an American Petroleum Institute spokesperson told the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The offices of Markey, Sanders, Warren and Merkley did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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