Democratic operatives responsible for creating their party’s platform this year have unanimously adopted a provision calling for the Department of Justice to investigate companies who disagree with Democrats on global warming science.
A panel of Democrats voted Friday to approve a final draft of the party’s platform to promote “Progressive Democratic Values,” which apparently includes investigating energy companies who “misled” shareholders about global warming.
“Another joint proposal calling on the Department of Justice to investigate alleged corporate fraud on the part of fossil fuel companies who have reportedly misled shareholders and the public on the scientific reality of climate change was also adopted by unanimous consent,” according to the Democratic National Convention’s website.
The drafting committee, led by DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Maryland Rep. Elijah Cummings, has decided to back ongoing investigations by mostly Democratic state attorneys general into ExxonMobil’s stance on global warming.
Currently, AGs from California, Massachusetts, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands have launched investigations of Exxon, and at least two AGs have demanded records on conservative think tanks and scientists skeptical of global warming. Such targeting has only fueled calls that these investigations are an attack on free speech.
New York AG Eric Schneiderman was the first to launch an investigation into Exxon, based on reporting from eco-left wing reporters at InsideClimate News and Columbia University. Schneiderman hosted a conference in March with other AGs to announce more investigations into Exxon.
Republican lawmakers and AGs have pushed back, calling the investigations into Exxon and think tanks an assault on free speech.
Some Republican AGs recently warned their liberal counterparts that if skeptics can be investigated for misrepresenting global warming, alarmists can be as well.
“If it is possible to minimize the risks of climate change, then the same goes for exaggeration,” Republican AGs wrote. “If minimization is fraud, exaggeration is fraud.”
Democrats have largely scoffed at free speech arguments, saying Exxon and others were committing fraud by disagreeing with the Obama administration over the severity of global warming and the effects of potential climate policies.
“As Democrats, we believe that our country’s greatest strength is its people, and we’re committed to the values of inclusion and opportunity for all,” Wasserman Schultz said in a statement. “Our candidates ran strong campaigns that addressed the priorities of the American people, and I am proud to say that the drafting process has reflected our commitment as a party to elevating their voices.”
The draft party platform now needs approval from the full platform committee in Orlando in July. That document will then need approval at the Democratic National Convention later that month.
The Democratic platform didn’t just embrace prosecuting skeptics, it also approved a provision to get rid of fossil fuels by 2050.
“Moving beyond the ‘all of the above’ energy approach in the 2012 platform, the 2016 platform draft re-frames the urgency of climate change as a central challenge of our time, already impacting American communities and calling for generating 50 percent clean electricity within the next ten years,” reads the platform summary.
“The Committee unanimously adopted a joint proposal from Sanders and Clinton representatives to commit to making America run entirely on clean energy by mid-century, and supporting the ambitious goals put forward by President Obama and the Paris climate agreement,” according to the platform.
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