Standing alongside Al Gore, Democratic attorneys general from 16 states announced yesterday they will prosecute oil and gas companies that challenge the catastrophic global warming narrative. Articles were released last year by “journalism entities that receive funding from foundations known for their climate change activism” that allegedly show Exxon knew the dangers of carbon dioxide and suppressed the information. A spokesperson for Exxon/Mobil said the charges are baseless.
What is the smoking gun? A single email showing that in 1981 Exxon’s in-house climate expert wrote about the possible effects of increased carbon dioxide emissions, long before anyone was actually investigating the science of climate change. Keep in mind that during this time period, news outlets had been championing the narrative we were entering a mini Ice Age. All the investigations were done by writers funded by a left-wing nonprofit “bent on getting institutions to divest from fossil fuel companies.”
The Democratic AGs are hoping to criminalize certain political opinions, even though according to most experts they don’t have much of a case. Al Gore said at the press conference that, “In the opinion of many who have looked at this pattern of misbehavior and what certainly looks like fraud, they are violating the law.” This may explain Gore’s recent announcement that “we only have two years left to save the planet and to convince people of global warming’s imminent threat.” Except in 2014, Gore told Rolling Stones that we have reached a turning point, and have seen “the worst effects of climate change.”
The sign in front of Al Gore and the attorney generals representing Democratic-controlled states, reads: “AGs United for Clean Power.” Gore said it was an “historic coalition” that would investigate “commercial interests that have been… deceiving the American people” about the reality of the “climate crisis and the dangers it poses to all of us.” Leading the group is New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, who first began inquiring into the so-called smoking gun. This is not the first time Schneiderman has sought media attention over controversial issues.
Appearing in front of cameras, Schneiderman said, “The bottom line is simple: Climate change is real; it is a threat to all the people we represent. If there are companies, whether they’re utilities, whether they’re fossil fuel companies, committing fraud in an effort to maximize their short-term profits at the expense of the people we represent, we want to find out about it. We want to expose it and want to pursue them to the fullest extent of the law,” he adds.
If Schneiderman prevails, it is almost certain that prices for energy will skyrocket. Both President Obama and Al Gore have been advocating for higher energy costs to wean Americans off fossil fuels, even though it is fossil fuels that have made Gore a very wealthy man. When he sold his now-defunct cable channel to Al Jazeera, he knew full well Al Jazeera was a news organization funded by Qatar, a country that receives the bulk of its wealth from fossil fuels. That deal made Gore $100 million richer.
Schneiderman also said that “20 attorneys general representing 18 states, the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands” also filed briefs in support of the EPA’s controversial Clean Power Plan, which the Supreme Court had issued a stay preventing its implemention until litigation was completed. Gore is also trying to salvage the Clean Power Plan before a new president takes office, and with the Supreme Court hanging in the balance along partisan lines, blocking the nomination to fill Antonin Scalia’s seat appears to be well orchestrated.
Suzanne McCarron, Exxon’s vice president for public and government affairs, said yesterday in a statement that the accusations are meritless. “The allegations are based on the false premise that ExxonMobil reached definitive conclusions about anthropogenic climate change before the world’s experts and before the science itself had matured, and then withheld it from the broader scientific community,” Ms. McCarron said. “Such a claim is preposterous.”
As noted by Rick Moran of American Thinker, “in 1981, there were no global temperature studies, no hockey stick, no consistent attempts to measure the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere. And there were no prominent climate scientists or physicists claiming that the earth was warming up because of industrial emissions.” Just as they did with tobacco companies, the AGs are likely hoping for a big payday from oil companies to spend on Obamacare (federal funding drops dramatically after the first three years) and/or clean energy.
Reacting to the AG’s announcement, prominent constitutional lawyer David Rivkin, Jr., told the Daily Caller: “We should all be concerned when state prosecutors announce that they will be targeting Americans for their views on controversial issues like climate change.” He also said, “The parties responsible for this outrageous conduct can and should be held responsible.”
Rivkin added that, “No prosecutor could ever win a conviction consistent with the First Amendment based on the attorney generals’ bogus climate ‘cover-up’ conspiracy,” Rivkin said. “The fact that this investigation was launched with a press conference confirms that the whole point is to intimidate and chill speech.”
Marc Morano, who runs the popular climate website Climate Depot, told the Washington Times that “the state officials’ legal campaign against the oil-and-gas industry would have a chilling effect on free speech and scientific dissent.” Morano noted that “Gore joined with attention-seeking attorneys general to essentially try to shut down any ‘global warming’ views that differ from the United Nations’ or Gore’s,” said Morano in an email. “Agree or face investigations is the new normal for the climate debate.”
Morano, who co-wrote and stars in the documentary Climate Hustle that is being released for a one-day theatrical event May 2, says Al Gore is “frustrated that his message is still not resonating 10 years after his movie came out.” Morano goes on to say that Gore “apparently has decided that anyone who disagrees with him on ‘global warming’ should face investigations, fines and penalties and be silenced.”
