Is the Fossil Fuel Industry, Like Tobacco, Guilty of Racketeering?

"Journalists investigated Exxon’s rejection of its own science to deceive the public. Scientists call for the Justice Department to investigate".

"ExxonMobil has become infamous for its secretive anti-climate science campaign, having spent $30 million funding groups denying the scientific evidence and consensus on human-caused global warming.

Last week, after an eight-month investigation, InsideClimate News revealed that from the late-1970s to the mid-1980s, scientists at Exxon were in fact at the cutting edge of climate science research. ...

Coinciding with the InsideClimate News revelations, a group of climate scientists sent a letter to President Obama, his science advisor John Holdren, and Attorney General Lynch, calling for an investigation 'of corporations and other organizations that have knowingly deceived the American people about the risks of climate change, as a means to forestall America’s response to climate change.'

In 1999, the Justice Department filed a civil Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) lawsuit against the major tobacco companies and their associated industry groups. In 2006, US District Court Judge Gladys Kessler ruled that the tobacco industry’s campaign to 'maximize industry profits by preserving and expanding the market for cigarettes through a scheme to deceive the public' about the health hazards of smoking amounted to a racketeering enterprise."

Dana Nuccitelli reports for the Guardian September 29, 2015.

SEE ALSO:

"ExxonMobil Faces Heightened Risk of Climate Litigation, Its Critics Say" (InsideClimate News)

"Letter To President Obama: Investigate Deniers Under RICO" (ScienceBlogs)