40 climate activists signed the following letter in 2016 to US Federal Attorney General lLoretta Lynch demanding investigation of ExxonMobil for alleged fraudulent public deception over climate change: “Dear Attorney General Lynch, As leaders of some of the nation’s environmental, indigenous peoples and civil rights groups, we’re writing to ask that you initiate a federal probe into the conduct of ExxonMobil. New revelations in the Los Angeles Times and the Pulitzer-prize-winning InsideClimate News strongly suggest that the corporation knew about the dangers of climate change even as it funded efforts at climate denial and systematically misled the public. Given the damage that has already occurred from climate change—particularly in the poorest communities of our nation and our planet—and that will certainly occur going forward, these revelations should be viewed with the utmost apprehension. They are reminiscent—though potentially much greater in scale—than similar revelations about the tobacco industry. These journalists have provided a remarkable roadmap to this corporation’s potential misconduct. We would ask that you follow that map wherever it may lead, employing all the tools at your disposal to uncover the truth. Signed…”, the numerous climate activist signatories notably included May Boeve and Bill McKibben ( Founders of 350.org), RL Miller (President of Climate Hawks Vote), David Yarnold (President of the Audubon Society) and James Hansen (Director, Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions Program, Earth Institute, 100-Nobel-Laureate Columbia University). The complete list of signatories is as follows:
Margie Alt, Executive Director of Environment America
Rameen Aminzadeh, Beats Rhymes & Relief
Ana Maria Archila, Andrew Friedman, Brian Kettenring, Popular Democracy
Kenny Ausubel, Nina Simons, Founders of Bioneers
Lydia Avila, Energy Action Coalition
Darryl Baskerville, Greensboro4Justice
Jimmy Betts, Beyond Extreme Energy
Sally Bingham, President and Founder of Interfaith Power and Light
May Boeve, Bill McKibben, Founders of 350.org
Sr. Joan Brown, New Mexico Interfaith Power and Light
Dominique Browning, Moms Clean Air Force
Michael Brune, Executive Director of Sierra Club
Robert Bullard, Author and John Muir Award winner, 2013
Anne Butterfield, President of Clean Energy Action
Andrea Carmen, Executive Director of International Indian Treaty Council
Patrick Carolan, Franciscan Action Network
Piper Carter, The Foundation of Women in Hip Hop
Sr. Ilia Delio, OSF, PhD, Josephine C. Connelly Endowed Chair in Theology at Villanova University
Faith Gemmill, Executive Director of REDOIL (Resisting Environmental Destruction on Indigenous Lands)
Tom Goldtooth, Executive Director of Indigenous Environmental Network
Russell Greene, J.A.M.N.
Christopher Hale, Catholics in Alliance for the Common Good
Ross Hammond, ForestEthics
James Hansen, Director, Climate Science, Awareness and Solutions Program, Columbia University Earth Institute
Christina Hardy, Neighbors United of Southeast Greensboro, NC
Reverend Fletcher Harper, Executive Director of Greenfaith
Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food and Water Watch
David Helvarg, Executive Director of Blue Frontier
Katie Hoffman, Resilience Collaborative, LLC
Lisa Hoyos, Director and Co-Founder of Climate Parents
Reverend Nelson Johnson, Beloved Community Center
Gene Karpinski, President of League of Conservation Voters
Ken Kimmell, President of the Union of Concerned Scientists
Jane Kleeb, Bold Nebraska
Deacon Jerry Kotas, Colorado Interfaith Power and Light
Steve Kretzmann, Executive Director and Founder of Oil Change International
Fred Krupp, President of Environmental Defense Fund
Winona LaDuke, Executive Director of Honor the Earth
Annie Leonard, Executive Director of Greenpeace USA
Patti Lynn, Executive Director of Corporate Accountability International
Richard Mabion, President of the Kansas City, Kansas NAACP Branch, and the first Black ExCom Board member for the Kansas Sierra Club (2012)
Mark Magaña,GreenLatinos
RL Miller, President of Climate Hawks Vote
Toure Muhammad, Bean Soup Times
Matt Nelson, Managing Director of Presente.org
Brant Olson, Campaign Director at Climate Truth
Erich Pica, President of Friends of the Earth
Brandon Ross, Freddie Gray Project
Aldo Seoane, Wica Agli
Cindy Shogan, Executive Director of Alaska Wilderness League
Reverend Fred Small, President of Creation Coalition
Gus Speth, Former Dean Yale School of Forestry and the Environment
Tom Steyer, Founder of NextGen Climate
Rich Stolz, Executive Director of OneAmerica
Kieran Suckling, Executive Director of the Center for Biological Diversity
Rhea Suh, President of the Natural Resources Defense Council
Franz Teplitz, Green America
Vien Truong, Director of Green for All
Joe Uehlein, Executive Director of Labor Network for Sustainability
Trip Van Noppen, President of Earthjustice
Clara Vonrich, Divest-Invest Philanthropy
Dr. Jalonne L. White-Newsome, Director of Federal Policy of WE ACT for Environmental Justice
Maureen Yancey “Ma Dukes”, J Dilla Foundation
David Yarnold, President of the Audubon Society
Reverend Lennox Yearwood, President of Hip Hop Caucus
Elijah Zarlin, Climate Campaigns Director, CREDO
A Philip Randolph Institute
Divest Invest Individual
Ecumenical Poverty Initiative
The Gathering for Justice/Justice League NYC
(“The Department of Justice must investigate ExxonMobil”, 350.org, 2016: https://350.org/the-department-of-justice-must-investigate-exxonmobil/ ).