SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
For Immediate Release
June, 27 2016, 11:15am EDT
Contact:
Lindsay Meiman, 350 Action, lindsay@350.org, (347) 460-9082
Rodrigo Estrada, rodrigo.estrada@greenpeace.org, (202) 478-6632
Exxon-Funded Members of Congress Play Key Role in Climate Deception Machine
Reaffirming their commitment to climate deception, Exxon-funded Republican members of Congress on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology sent a second round of letters to 350.org, Greenpeace USA and other nonprofit organizations demanding full divulgence of communications related to each organization's work advocating for climate action and holding Exxon accountable for its role in sowing public deception around climate change.
WASHINGTON
Reaffirming their commitment to climate deception, Exxon-funded Republican members of Congress on the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology sent a second round of letters to 350.org, Greenpeace USA and other nonprofit organizations demanding full divulgence of communications related to each organization's work advocating for climate action and holding Exxon accountable for its role in sowing public deception around climate change.
Just this weekend, the DNC platform committee unanimously agreed to call for a Department of Justice investigation of fossil fuel companies, including Exxon, accused of misleading shareholders and the public about the risk of climate change.
This latest request from the House Committee was not initially made public, though 350.org and Greenpeace USA responded by the June 24 deadline. The House Committee did make public similar requests sent to 17 state attorneys general who are working to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for its role in deliberately misleading investors and consumers about climate change. All nonprofit groups also rejected the Committee's first request made on May 18 by the June 1 deadline.
All 13 Republican members who signed the first letter have directly received money from Exxon. Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), who has a track record of baselessly attacking climate scientists, has particularly cosy financial ties with Exxon and its industry peers. Smith has accepted $22,270 in campaign contributions from Exxon since 1998. Smith has also accepted donations from other key players of the climate deception machine such as Koch Industries, Royal Dutch Shell, and Peabody Energy.
Currently, four state attorneys general have launched ongoing investigations to determine if Exxon committed fraud, the Department of Justice has referred the case to the criminal branch of the FBI, and pressure continues to mount across the country for elected officials and candidates to support investigations into all that Exxon knew.
Exxon has vigorously challenged investigations of the state attorneys general of both Massachusetts and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Texas U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade rejected Exxon's attempt to block the U.S. Virgin Islands investigation.
Last week, a forum convened by members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition titled "Oil is the New Tobacco" shed light on the troubling contradictions between Exxon's internal approach to the seriousness of climate change and the company's public campaign to cast doubt and deception on climate science.
Even as world governments face increasing pressure to stand up to the fossil fuel industry and uphold commitments made in the Paris climate agreement, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson and Exxon's board recommended rejection of every single climate resolution brought to the the company's annual shareholder meeting last month.
This all comes as Exxon and the entire fossil fuel industry face their imminent financial downfall. As major coal companies declare bankruptcy and oil companies experience plummeting profits, Exxon's credit rating was downgraded for the first time since the Great Depression.
QUOTES:
May Boeve, 350 Action Executive Director said:
"This latest bid by Exxon and their bought-and-paid-for allies in Congress proves that the House Committee on Science is more committed to sowing misinformation and deception about climate change than to actually acting on science. At least half a century ago, Exxon's executives were warned about the very devastation communities around the world are experiencing today, yet chose to pour resources into sowing doubt and funding an extensive climate denial machine. We know that this is an industry-wide problem, and we will keep spreading the word about all Exxon knew, and keep working to see these these climate miscreants held accountable for their role in wrecking our planet and robbing us of a generation's worth of climate action."
Annie Leonard, Greenpeace USA Executive Director said:
"These multibillion dollar global organizations have potentially bilked the American people out of financial stability, national security, and the health and safety of our future generations by creating a false debate designed to protect their profits. These attorneys general are doing their jobs to investigate whether or not this massive fraud has occurred, and we stand with them. If Exxon, its allies, enablers, and congressional yes-men are afraid of an open inquiry into allegations of fraud, then the American people should be even more suspicious of what they've been up to in the decades they've been peddling climate denial. It was fraud when Big Tobacco did it; it's time to find out if this Exxon scheme was fraud, too."
350 is building a future that's just, prosperous, equitable and safe from the effects of the climate crisis. We're an international movement of ordinary people working to end the age of fossil fuels and build a world of community-led renewable energy for all.
LATEST NEWS
Trump Openly Calls for 'Clean' Extension of Spying Power Opposed by Privacy Advocates
"We won't allow President Trump and Stephen Miller to continue invading our privacy," said the ACLU.
Mar 25, 2026
President Donald Trump took to his Truth Social platform on Wednesday to call for a "clean" extension of a key spying power as lawmakers across the political spectrum and privacy advocates throughout the United States demand reforms before Congress passes a reauthorization bill.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) empowers the US government to spy on electronic communications of noncitizens located outside the country, without a warrant. It expires April 20. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) planned to try to push through legislation this week, but he delayed it due to a lack of support.
Trump noted Wednesday that Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) have been working to pass a clean extension. He said that "when used properly, FISA is an effective tool to keep Americans safe," and called for reauthorizing the power for 18 months.
"HOWEVER, the Critical and Common Sense Reforms that were made in the last Reauthorization of FISA must remain intact to protect the American People from abuses. Nobody understands this better than me, as I was a victim of the worst and most illegal abuse of FISA in our Nation's History, by Radical Left Lunatics who lied to the FISA Court to spy on my 2016 Presidential Campaign in their attempt to RIG the Election in favor of Crooked Hillary Clinton," the president continued.
"That is why, since the first day of my already Historic Second Term, my Administration has worked tirelessly to ensure these Reforms are being aggressively executed at every level of the Executive Branch to keep Americans safe, while protecting their sacred Civil Liberties guaranteed by our Great Constitution," Trump claimed, before trying to use his war on Iran—which has not been authorized by Congress—to make the case for a swift reauthorization.
"With the ongoing successful Military activities against the Terrorist Iranian Regime, it is more important than ever that we remain vigilant, PROTECT our Homeland, Troops, and Diplomats stationed abroad, and maintain our ability to quickly stop bad actors seeking to cause harm to our People and our Country," he said. "The fact is, whether you like FISA or not, it is extremely important to our Military. I have spoken to many Generals about this, and they consider it vital. Not one said, even tacitly, that they can do without it—especially right now with our brilliant Military Operation in Iran."
The controversial law known as FISA Section 702 is up for renewal in Congress. It allows government to spy on Americans’ communications without a warrant.Use our action center to tell Congress to reform Section 702 and end mass warrantless surveillance!
[image or embed]
— Freedom of the Press Foundation (@freedom.press) March 22, 2026 at 7:35 PM
Sharing Trump's Truth post on the social media platform X, Politico's Jordain Carney noted that "he's been telling people for a while privately this is what he wants."
Carney and her colleagues reported last month that "Stephen Miller, the influential senior White House domestic policy adviser, is a leading advocate within the administration for extending the program that lets the government collect the data of noncitizens abroad without a warrant."
Critics of a clean extension have argued that, as more than 90 groups said in a letter earlier this month, "supporting Stephen Miller's warrantless surveillance agenda would be a massive detriment to the privacy and civil rights and liberties of people in the United States."
We won't allow President Trump and Stephen Miller to continue invading our privacy.Tell Congress to refuse to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which would expand the federal government's power to secretly spy on us.
[image or embed]
— ACLU (@aclu.org) March 24, 2026 at 9:31 AM
Section 702 was last reauthorized in April 2024, during the Biden administration. Many critics of the spying power were unsatisfied with that legislation, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA).
As India McKinney, director of federal affairs at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, wrote Friday:
It's important to note RISAA was just a reauthorization of this mass surveillance program with a long history of abuse. Prior to the 2024 reauthorization, Section 702 was already misused to run improper queries on peaceful protesters, federal and state lawmakers, congressional staff, thousands of campaign donors, journalists, and a judge reporting civil rights violations by local police. RISAA further expanded the government's authority by allowing it to compel a much larger group of people and providers into assisting with this surveillance. As we said when it passed, overall, RISAA is a travesty for Americans who deserve basic constitutional rights and privacy whether they are communicating with people and services inside or outside of the US.
In the Section 702 debates over the years, critical members of Congress and advocacy groups have specifically called for a warrant requirement for Americans and closing the data broker loophole that intelligence and law enforcement agencies use to buy their way around the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, which is supposed to protect against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Reporting on the president's Wednesday push for a clean extension, The Hill highlighted that "Trump has gotten some notable lawmakers to move with him" on FISA, pointing to House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a former leader of the chamber's oversight panel, who are both supporting a clean extension.
McKinney called Jordan's shift "disappointing," and argued that "Section 702 should not be reauthorized without any additional safeguards or oversight."
She pointed to three bills—the Government Surveillance Reform Act, Protect Liberty and End Warrentless Surveillance Act, and Security and Freedom Enhancement Act—that she said are not "perfect," but "are all significantly better than the status quo."
Keep ReadingShow Less
'We Lost Everything': Hawaii Swamped by Worst Flooding in 20 Years
Experts agree that the climate emergency caused by the burning of fossil fuels is making extreme rainfall events on the islands wetter and more common, reigniting the debate about who should foot the bill.
Mar 25, 2026
Hawaii was inundated by its worst flooding in 20 years over the weekend, in another reminder of how the climate crisis disrupts the lives of ordinary people by increasing the likelihood and frequency of extreme weather events.
Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Tuesday formally requested federal aid for a series of storms this month that he said could cost the state more than $1 billion in debris clearing and repairs to homes, roads, and infrastructure.
“These storms have impacted every county in our state and stretched our emergency response capabilities,” Green said in a statement.
Hawaii's waterlogged woes began on March 10 with the first in a series of winter Pacific rainstorms known as Kona lows. The initial storm caused upwards of $400 million in damages, including to Maui's Kula Hospital, and left the ground saturated when another storm rolled in beginning March 19, leading to what Green told Hawaii News Now was “the largest flood that we’ve had in Hawaii in 20 years."
“Should the residents just consider it an act of God and open up their checkbooks whenever this happens when the record is clear about who knew what and when they knew it?”
This second storm inundated Oahu's North Shore on Friday night, necessitating more than 230 rescues and placing 5,500 people under an evacuation order at one point, according to The Associated Press. The storm damaged hundreds of homes as well as schools, airports, and highways. All told, the two storms dumped a total of four feet of rain on parts of Oahu and Maui, Green said, as CBS reported.
"We lost everything," Oahu resident Melanie Lee told CBS News after visiting her flood-damaged home on Monday. "My children's pictures. Just real sentimental stuff. Now it's like, now where we go from here?"
The agricultural sector was also hard hit, with farmers on Oahu, Maui, Molokai, and the Big Island reporting over $10.5 million in damages, according to Honolulu Civil Beat.
Yet Friday's storm was not the end. On Monday, another downpour brought flash flooding to southern Oahu, as rain fell at a rate for 2-4 inches per hour, shocking even meteorologists.
“When you think it’s over, it’s not quite over,” National Weather Service forecaster Cole Evans told AP on Tuesday.
Oahu Emergency Management Agency spokesperson Molly Pierce told AP: “Most of us have not seen something that just keeps going like this... We feel like we keep getting punched down. But we’ll keep getting back up.”
Experts agree that the climate emergency is making extreme rainfall events on the islands wetter and more common.
As Honolulu Today reported:
The intense flooding in Hawaii highlights the growing threat of extreme weather events driven by climate change. The frequency and intensity of heavy rainfall have increased in the islands, leading to devastating impacts on infrastructure, homes, and communities.
Retired University of Hawaii professor Tom Giambelluca, who now supervises weather monitoring towers, told Honolulu Civil Beat that scientists have observed Hawaii's weather getting dryer generally, while storms tend to drop more rain that causes more flooding.
“It’s not like we never had extremes before. You know, something like this could have happened with no warming, probably,” Giambelluca said. “But these kinds of events seem to be getting more frequent.”
US Rep. Jill Takuda (D-Hawaii) told Maui Now: “We are accustomed to saying, ‘Well, this was a 100-year flood,’ right?... Well, 100-plus-year floods are happening every few years. We literally have to throw away the book in terms of the way we used to look at weather patterns in Hawaii.”
The flooding is also an example of how the impacts of climate disasters can build on each other. Some of the rains fell on Lahaina in Maui, where soil is less absorbent due to scarring from 2023's deadly climate-fueled wildfires.
“We think about evacuation routes when it comes to a fire,” Maui resident Kaliko Storer told Maui Now. “And now we say, when are we going to really sit down and talk about these (flood) controls?”
The connection between the burning of fossil fuels and the uptick in extreme weather events is reigniting the debate about who should pay for the damages from storms like those that swamped Hawaii this month.
State lawmakers are working to pass legislation that would allow insurers to recoup some storm costs from oil and gas companies directly, as Honolulu Civil Beat reported Tuesday.
"This is the third generational rain event we’ve had in the last four weeks,” state Sen. Jarrett Keohokalole (D-24) said. Referring to reporting that large fossil fuels companies have known for decades about the climate-heating impacts of their products and chose to lie to the public instead of act, he added, “Should the residents just consider it an act of God and open up their checkbooks whenever this happens when the record is clear about who knew what and when they knew it?”
Hawaii is also one of several states that has sued Big Oil for climate damages.
Even as oil prices climb due to the US and Israeli war on Iran, Emily Atkin of Heated argued that disasters like Hawaii's prove that the cost is still deflated.
"This is what the true price of oil looks like: Hawaiians wading through their flooded homes while the state scrambles to find a billion dollars for cleanup," she wrote.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Trump Promised to Lower Energy Prices for Americans. He's Done the Exact Opposite
Electricity costs increased by nearly 7% last year, more than twice the rate of overall inflation, and cost Americans $123 more on average.
Mar 25, 2026
President Donald Trump ran on promises to cut energy prices "in half" within his first year in office. But according to a report released Wednesday, he's done the exact opposite, and it's expected to get much worse as oil prices soar from his war with Iran.
Electricity prices increased more than twice as fast as overall inflation in 2025, according to a fact sheet by the Groundwork Collaborative.
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, electricity costs increased by nearly 7% last year, compared with an overall consumer price index increase of 2.7%.
In January, a report by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, found that Americans spent an extra $2,120 in 2025 due to inflation across the economy. Electricity cost the average family an additional $123.
Groundwork's report attributed these price increases to Trump's aggressive tariffs, which the group said have raised the costs of building and maintaining electric grids—costs that energy companies pass directly to consumers.
It also noted the Trump administration's support for the swift build-out of artificial intelligence data centers, which have dramatically increased energy demand in places where they've been constructed.
Costs for consumers connected to America's largest power grid, PJM, for example, increased by a collective $9.4 billion last year—more than a 180% increase. Meanwhile, Bloomberg found that in areas near data centers, wholesale electricity costs had jumped by as much as 267% over the past five years.
That pinch is being felt by consumers, 66% of whom said their electricity bills increased over the past year, compared with just 5% who said they decreased, according to a poll earlier this month from Data for Progress.
Groundwork found that "rising energy prices hit working families the hardest," with those earning under $50,000 spending nearly 7% of their annual income on energy, compared with just 1.2% for those earning above $150,000, according to a 2025 report from the Bank of America Institute.
Rising costs have been a growing source of anger among voters who elected Trump to bring them down, but now give him just a 29% approval rating on the economy, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released Tuesday.
It's a historic low that Trump hit for the first time this month as gas prices in the US have soared to an average of $3.98 per gallon as a result of oil price hikes caused by Trump's war with Iran, which resulted in Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz, a critical global shipping route.
Groundwork noted that the pain of the war goes far beyond the pump: The price of residential heating oil is already up 35% since the war began. Meanwhile, rising diesel costs for trucks and disruptions to the global shipment of fertilizer are expected to jack up food prices.
Short of ending the war altogether, the group pointed out that Trump has options to reduce energy costs by tapping into increasingly cheap and abundant wind and solar energy.
Instead, however, the president has delayed hundreds of solar projects by introducing new review requirements that have slowed construction and backed lawsuits to gut efficiency standards.
Earlier this month, at the Trump administration's urging, a federal judge sided with 15 red states to strike down Biden administration energy standards, which were estimated to reduce costs by more than $950 per year for families living in federally funded housing.
While Trump has taken actions aimed at curbing the global fuel shock, including tapping the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and pausing the federal gas tax, a poll from Groundwork and Data for Progress this week found that more than half of Americans, 52%, would prefer to simply see the war end rather than these emergency measures.
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular