An Ignoble Experiment: Exxon's decades long cover-up

2015/10/29

Exxon's decades long cover-up

Exxon's Climate Change Cover-Up Is Despicable
Sign the Petition: We Must Hold ExxonMobil Accountable!

Exxon Covered Up the Truth About Fossil Fuels for Decades

Oil drums

Tell the Department of Justice to Investigate Exxon

Dear Indiana,

ExxonMobil’s own researchers knew about the devastating impact of using fossil fuels as far back as 1981. Exxon spent millions covering up climate change and actively funding climate change deniers.¹

It's despicable. We can't let Exxon get away with this.

Exxon scientists conducted some of the most advanced research on climate change back in the 1980s and came up with a very similar result to what scientists are saying today.

But since policies to limit greenhouse gas emissions would cut into Exxon's profit faster than the impacts of climate change, Exxon made a conscious decision to shift "from embracing the science of climate change to publicly questioning it."¹

It's clearer than ever — a corporation's top priority is short-term profit, not long-term cost to people, let alone maintaining a livable planet. It's up to us to stand up to money-grubbing corporations like Exxon and hold them accountable. Send a message to the Department of Justice to investigate Exxon.

Corporations have a long track record of hiding critical information from the public. For years, tobacco companies hid the science showing that cigarettes cause cancer. Now, the Los Angeles Times is reporting that oil giant ExxonMobil sat on decades worth of studies indicating that fossil fuels were killing the planet — and then spent over $31 million since 1998 to fund climate-denier think tanks and politicians, while keeping its research out of the hands of the concerned public.

Sign the petition to demand a Department of Justice investigation on ExxonMobil’s climate change cover-up.

It’s no leap to wonder: Is ExxonMobil — the largest fracking company in the U.S. — doing the same thing to mislead and deceive the public around fracking safety?

The oil and gas industry has worked for years to make sure the U.S. stays addicted to fossil fuels and to expand production by bringing fracking into the mix. The industry spent at least $721 million in 2014 pushing its fossil fuel agenda in Washington, D.C. The industry’s aggressive lobbying and the inclusion of fossil fuels in the Obama administration’s climate action plan cannot be a coincidence.

Fracking is an undeniable threat to our drinking water, communities and planet. Specifically, studies show that the process of drilling, fracking, processing and transporting natural gas releases a tremendous amount of methane into the air.³

The reckless quest to squeeze every last drop of oil and gas from the planet, consequences be damned, is a stark symbol of our broken democracy, and what happens when corporations have too much power over the decisions that guide our lives. We can't trust the oil and gas industry with the future of our planet.

Like the tobacco companies before them, the oil and gas industry must be brought to justice for their destructive actions. Sign the petition to join the call for the Department of Justice to investigate Exxon’s deception.

Thanks for all you do,

Miranda Carter
National Online Campaign Manager
Food & Water Watch
act(at)fwwatch(dot)org