U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal and three fellow New England Democratic senators last week sent a letter to oil and gas giant ExxonMobil demanding to know whether the company or its employees made anonymous donations to a conservative fund that backs climate change denial research.
The letter follows reports in the Los Angeles Times and Inside Climate News that Exxon knew about and privately acknowledged man-made climate change 25 years ago, then made efforts to cast uncertainty on climate science.
About a decade ago, Exxon pulled funding from some groups that denied climate change, according to Blumenthal’s letter, which says an increase in anonymous funding to Virginia-based Donors Trust is “suggestive of an effort to simply reroute its support.”
The letter says hiding financial support of the fund is not consistent with the company’s statement that it is being open and transparent.
An Exxon spokesman wrote in the company’s “Perspectives Blog” late last month that the publications selected certain public documents and used them in an out-of-context way.
Several California congressmen asked the state’s attorney general last month to investigate whether Exxon broke the law, the L.A. Times reported.
Signing the letter along with Blumenthal was Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island and Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Sen. Edward Markey of Massachusetts.
