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Who wants to be a climate accountability hero?

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Who wants to be a climate accountability hero?

Members of Congress look into climate disinformation, Todd Kim is confirmed to lead the DOJ environmental division, and Steven Donziger is convicted.

ExxonKnews
Jul 30, 2021
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Who wants to be a climate accountability hero?

www.exxonknews.org

Emily Sanders is the Center for Climate Integrity’s editorial lead. Catch up with her on Twitter here.


This week in EXXONKNEWS: Congress requests an interview with the senior Exxon lobbyist who was caught on tape last month spilling the beans on the company’s climate deception. The Senate confirms a new assistant attorney general whose purview will cover holding polluters accountable. And Steven Donziger, the lawyer who took down Chevron and has been paying for it ever since, was found guilty and could spend up to six months in jail.

We’re here with the details and what it all means for ongoing efforts to hold corporate polluters accountable.

Members of Congress are demanding answers from Exxon.

Hey, remember that Exxon lobbyist who got caught on tape revealing the company’s behind-the-scenes tactics to undermine climate policy and attack climate science? Well now, powerful members of Congress are demanding that he sit down to answer some questions.

On Monday, Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Chairwoman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, and Ro Khanna, Chairman of the House Subcommittee on Environment officially asked that lobbyist, Keith McCoy, for an interview about the fossil fuel industry’s efforts to “spread climate disinformation, including through the use of ‘shadow groups,’ in order to block action to address climate change.”

Twitter avatar for @AnthonyAdragna
Anthony Adragna @AnthonyAdragna
New this morning: Two senior Oversight Committee Democrats — @RepMaloney and @RoKhanna — have asked Keith McCoy, Exxon lobbyist, to voluntarily sit for an interview. subscriber.politicopro.com/f/?id=0000017a…
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3:18 PM ∙ Jul 26, 2021
126Likes39Retweets

The interview, proposed for August 9, would assist members of Congress in a broader investigation of the fossil fuel industry’s shady lobbying tactics on climate and environmental policy issues. Whether or not McCoy willingly submits to questioning, Khanna has made clear his willingness to subpoena oil giant executives to testify if that’s what it will take to get the American people the answers they deserve. 

Twitter avatar for @RepMaloney
Carolyn B. Maloney @RepMaloney
Exxon has known about the dangers of climate change since at least the ‘80s. One of their senior lobbyists recently said, “Did we aggressively fight against some of the science? Yes.” @RepRoKhanna & I want to hear directly from him. Hope he'll be just as candid to Congress.
Twitter avatar for @OversightDems
Oversight Committee @OversightDems
NEW: Chairs @RepMaloney and @RepRoKhanna sent a letter to Keith McCoy, a Sr. @ExxonMobil lobbyist, requesting a transcribed interview on Exxon and the fossil fuel industry's efforts to mislead the public and Congress about their role in fueling #climatechange.
6:11 PM ∙ Jul 26, 2021
175Likes67Retweets

The representatives requested an answer from McCoy by today, so stay tuned.

The Justice Department (finally) has a new environmental chief.

On Tuesday, the Senate confirmed Todd Kim, a former trial lawyer and D.C. solicitor general, and one-time Who Wants to be a Millionaire? contestant, to lead the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. As we’ve discussed previously, President Biden has pledged to order the DOJ to “strategically support ongoing plaintiff-driven climate litigation against polluters” — but six months into his presidency, the department has still not reversed its Trump-era support of Big Oil in climate accountability cases. 

Could Kim be the person to make clear that Biden’s DOJ stands with the American people, not polluters? He will take office following urgent requests from six attorneys general and nine U.S. Senators for the department to support the growing number of lawsuits filed by states and municipalities seeking to hold major fossil fuel companies accountable for their climate deception. 

As communities across the country are devastated by the climate disasters that Big Oil predicted, caused, and lied about, we hope Kim heeds the growing calls for DOJ action. 

Twitter avatar for @SenBlumenthal
Richard Blumenthal @SenBlumenthal
Today I urged Judge Garland to follow AGs like @AGWilliamTong’s lead & consider DOJ action to hold polluters accountable for misleading the public about climate change. Lying to the American people about the devastating effects of fossil fuels on our planet can't go unchecked.
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1:03 AM ∙ Feb 23, 2021
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Following his “Kafkaesque” trial and years-long house arrest, Steven Donziger has been found guilty of contempt. 

EXXONKNEWS previously covered the remarkably corrupt, Chevron-sponsored legal battle that landed human rights attorney Steven Donziger on house arrest for over 600 days, his law license and passport revoked. Donziger has now been convicted of contempt of court, and could face up to six months in prison.

Twitter avatar for @amywestervelt
Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt
Basic facts here: - Chevron asks Judge to look into attorney - Judge asks attorney to hand over client comms, he cites attorney-client privilege - Judge charges criminal contempt. NY declines to prosecute - Judge appoints *private prosecutor with ties to Chevron*
Twitter avatar for @amywestervelt
Amy Westervelt @amywestervelt
There is so much wrong with this https://t.co/gTlF7IcUDm
5:07 PM ∙ Jul 26, 2021
176Likes98Retweets

U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska delivered Donziger’s conviction on Monday, pronouncing him guilty on six counts of contempt after he refused to turn over decades of client communications with Indigenous defendants in Ecuador from a $9.5 billion judgment he won against Chevron in 2011 for the company’s prolific dumping of toxic waste in the Amazonian rainforest.

Twitter avatar for @TheDailyShow
The Daily Show @TheDailyShow
No good deed goes unpunished, especially when it involves confronting an oil tycoon. @roywoodjr talks with Steven Donziger, who was just sentenced to 6 months in prison on top of 2 years of house arrest, for calling out the deadly effects of Chevron’s operations in Ecuador.
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6:01 PM ∙ Jul 27, 2021
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As Donziger and many others have noted, this was an unprecedented outcome for a misdemeanor charge against a legal advocate in the United States — and it’s no coincidence that one of the world’s largest and most powerful polluters was at the helm, carrying out a strategy to demonize the lawyer that dared challenge Chevron.

“Judge Preska’s decision today is the latest attempt by Chevron and its judicial allies to criminalize me and to send a message of intimidation to legitimate human rights lawyers who successfully challenge the major polluters of the fossil fuel industry,” Donziger said in a statement. 

In the meantime, the Indigenous peoples of the Ecuadorian Amazon continue to suffer the consequences of Chevron’s actions without receiving justice or the damages they are owed.

The stakes for holding this industry accountable — and pressure from the public and policymakers to do so — have never been higher. If you’re so inclined, encourage your friends and family to sign up for EXXONKNEWS where we’ll keep you informed about what’s to come. 

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Who wants to be a climate accountability hero?

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Doug Hendren
Aug 1, 2021

Exxon Knews rocks! Here is a soundtrack for you: https://www.musicalscalpel.com/2021/07/exxon-knew-all-along-2021/

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Doug Hendren
Aug 1, 2021

Exxon Knews rocks! Here is a soundtrack for you on Exxon's nefarious history. https://www.musicalscalpel.com/2021/07/exxon-knew-all-along-2021/

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