Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt) wants to know what Exxon knew and what it did after it knew:
We are writing regarding a potential instance of corporate fraud - behavior that may qualify as a violation of federal law....
Exxon has since contributed $31 million since 1998 to think tanks and organizations casting doubt on mainstream climate science. 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. Based on available public information, it appears that Exxon knew its product was causing harm to the public, and spent millions of dollars to obfuscate the facts in the public discourse. The information that has come to light about Exxon’s past activities raises potentially serious concerns that should be investigated....
We request that the Department [of Justice] form a task force by December 19, 2015.
Sanders' letter in full is
here (PDF).
And this is why Climate Hawks Vote ranked Senator Sanders no. 1 on its ranking of climate leadership in the Senate, as seen in Huffington Post.
Sign our petition to prosecute Exxon.