While the Democratic Party Platform Committee fell short of embracing a carbon tax and an outright ban on fracking, the Clinton and Sanders camps did come together to agree that it’s time for the Justice Department to investigate fossil fuel companies for potential fraud. Bill McKibben presented the motion to the platform committee on Friday.
Right now, 17 attorneys general here in the United States are investigating allegations that ExxonMobil misled the public about how the company’s business model threatens the planet and public health. Those allegations are based on reports from InsideClimate News, the Guardian and the LA Times, which show that nearly 40 years ago, Exxon’s own scientists had started warning about the dangers of relentlessly burning CO2 into the atmosphere.
And while the Democratic Party is attempting to establish itself as the “party of climate justice,” the Republican Party is working hard to stall action at every turn.
See more news and opinion from Thom Hartmann at Truthout here.
Thirteen Republican attorneys general wrote in a letter earlier this month that, “using law enforcement authority to resolve a public policy debate undermines the trust invested and threatens free speech.”
The problem is, fraud and deceit isn’t covered under First Amendment free speech protections, and the issue at hand isn’t a “public policy debate,” it’s scientific consensus. In fact, it’s such a matter of scientific consensus that Dr. Michael Mann told the Democratic Party Platform Committee that we really don’t even need to be collecting data or testing models to prove that the climate is…