U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren proposed a new “corporate perjury” law on Nov. 12 that she says she would push for if elected.
The law was motivated by the allegedly inaccurate climate change research data shared by Exxon Mobil Corp’s (XOM.N) with government regulators, reported Reuters.
The 2020 Democratic candidate said that companies and the administration could be confronted by criminal liability if false information is provided to U.S. agencies, penalizable by fines up to $250,000 or imprisonment.
“No one would be liable for mistakes, for submitting research in good faith that turns out to be wrong, or for raising honest disagreements,” Warren said in a statement on the website Medium.
“But where companies engage in egregious and intentional efforts to mislead agencies in an effort to prevent our government from understanding and acting on facts, they will face criminal liability,” she wrote.
“My plan would require industry actors who submit non-peer-reviewed research to agencies to disclose how that research was funded, whether those funders influenced the research’s findings, and the nature of any past or ongoing financial relationships,” said Warren.
Exxon states that they have been addressing the risk of climate change while continuing their efforts to provide energy.
“ExxonMobil has continuously and publicly researched and discussed the risks of climate change, carbon life-cycle analysis, and emissions reductions,” Exxon’s Scott Silvestri said.
In Letter to UN, Scientists Say There Is No Climate Emergency
A group of scientists and professionals in climate and related fields sent a letter to the United Nations on Sept. 23, declaring that “there is no climate emergency.”
“The general-circulation models of climate on which international policy is at present founded are unfit for their purpose,” the letter, sent to Secretary-General António Guterres, states. “Therefore, it is cruel as well as imprudent to advocate the squandering of trillions of dollars on the basis of results from such immature models.”
Several prominent scientists and professionals from related fields signed the letter, including atmospheric physicist Richard Lindzen and applied geology professor Alberto Prestininzi. The effort is led by professor Guus Berkhout, a Dutch engineer who served as professor of acoustics, geophysics, and innovation management at the Delft University of Technology.
Berkhout intends to release the full list of 500 signatories in Oslo on Oct. 18.
The letter states that current climate policies undermine the economic system and put lives at risk by denying countries affordable energy.
“We urge you to follow a climate policy based on sound science, realistic economics, and genuine concern for those harmed by costly but unnecessary attempts at mitigation,” the letter states.
Epoch Times reporter Ivan Pentchoukov contributed to this report.
