350NYC Says Exxon Must be Held Accountable for Climate Lies – #ExxonKnew

Climate activists today held an April Fuels Day mock Exxon news conference to highlight the need for the company and its executives to be held accountable for allegedly lying about climate change.

#ExxonKnew01In a mock news conference, Exxon-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson claimed the company had “seen the light” — especially following this week’s announcement by more than a dozen state Attorneys General that they were creating a coalition to take action on climate change. Massachusetts and the U.S. Virgin Islands joined New York and California in investigating Exxon. A number of elected officials are demanding that the federal Department of Justice join the investigation of what may prove to be one of the biggest corporate scandals in American history.

#ExxonKnew02“Exxon lied so people died. Their greed for massive profits overrode the truth: they knew that continuing to burn fossil fuels would result in catastrophic climate change. The amount of human suffering will get far worse as extreme weather becomes ever more frequent. The people who run ExxonMobil need to put in jail for crimes against humanity, and the company needs to pay for the damages they caused,” said Dee Ahearne of 350NYC.

350NYC also called for State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and City Comptroller Scott Stringer to support divesting the state and city pension funds from fossil fuels, starting with Exxon. The city and state have about $2 billion invested in Exxon.

350NYC said that, as part of a “Coming Clean” campaign, Exxon should agree to: keep 80% of its existing fossil fuel reserves in the ground; immediately halt any investment in finding new fossil fuels (e.g., $23.2 billion in 2016, $34B in 2015) and instead fund the transition to clean, renewable energy (not natural gas); and provide billions in compensation to help countries deal with the damage caused by climate change, especially front line communities in developing countries. They should also fund a campaign to convince Congress to enact a robust national carbon tax (e.g., at least $100 per ton) after years of claiming they support such a tax.

#ExxonKnew03Last year, Inside Climate News and The Los Angeles Times each published stories showing that that Exxon knew about the threat of climate change decades ago. Yet over the course of nearly forty years, the company has contributed millions of dollars to think-tanks and politicians who have done their best to spread doubt and misinformation — first on the existence of climate change, then the extent of the problem, and now its cause. If Exxon intentionally misled the public about climate change and fossil fuels, then Exxon must be held accountable – both civilly and criminally.

Senior company scientist James Black told Exxon’s management committee in 1977: “In the first place, there is general scientific agreement that the most likely manner in which mankind is influencing the global climate is through carbon dioxide release from the burning of fossil fuels.” By 1982, in an internal “corporate primer,” Exxon’s leaders were told that, despite lingering unknowns, dealing with climate change “would require major reductions in fossil fuel combustion.” Unless that happened, “there are some potentially catastrophic events that must be considered … Once the effects are measurable, they might not be reversible.” But that document, “given wide circulation” within Exxon, was also stamped “Not to be distributed externally.”

The news conference concluded with Exxon executives announcing that the company had adopted a new version of the Hank Williams tune, “I Saw the Light” as the theme song for the company’s commercials (see lyrics below).

I SAW THE LIGHT

(CHORUS) I saw the light, I saw the light, 
No more darkness, no more night, 
I’ll give up fossil fuels, I’ll do what’s right, 
Bring on renewables, I saw the light

We plundered the earth and we burned all the oil
We turned up the heat so the seas soon will boil
We burned too much gas and we weren’t too bright
But bring on renewables, I saw the light

CHORUS

We drilled and we fracked, now the water’s on fire
We knew we were wrong and we played the liar
But now so the New York AG won’t indict, 
Bring on renewables, I saw the light

CHORUS

We burned up the planet, we kept prices high
We raked money in, and we dirtied the sky
The waters are rising and millions may die
So bring on renewables, I saw the light

CHORUS

We bought up the Congress, they do what we say
They’re all in our pocket, so we get our way, 
But people are rising, they’re starting to fight
So bring on renewables, I saw the light

Author: James Lane

Editor-in-Chief of Hot Indie News and is involved in way too many things to list here :-)