The Massachusetts high court on Tuesday ruled that the US’s largest oil company, ExxonMobil, must face a trial over accusations that it lied about the climate crisis and covered up the fossil fuel industry’s role in worsening environmental devastation. Read more»

The House Oversight and Reform Committee called on the scientific community to testify whether promises from ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP and Shell Oil to get emissions to net zero by 2050 are effective policy or mere pandering as company reps were absent from the hearing. Read more»

ExxonMobil is attempting to use an unusual Texas law to target and intimidate its critics, claiming that lawsuits against the company over its long history of downplaying and denying the climate crisis violate the U.S. Constitution’s guarantees of free speech. Read more»

Fossil fuel companies lied for decades about climate change, and humanity is paying the price. Shouldn’t those lies be central to the public narrative? Read more» 1

Via an unprecedented wave of lawsuits, filed by cities and states across the U.S., America’s petroleum giants face a reckoning for the environmental devastation caused by fossil fuels – and covering up what they knew along the way. Read more»

Exponent, Inc., is a publicly traded giant in litigation defense and regulatory science. It’s a go-to destination for major industries with liability problems – even as it is derided by critics as a hired gun whose findings are for sale. Among other facilities, the company has a 147-acre vehicle test track in Phoenix. Read more»

Tucson can't claim purity of progressive essence with a cash-for-jobs economic development model that heralds the coming Caterpillar's mining division and expansion of Raytheon's missile factory. But the county does have a way to provide clarity to corporate "bad boys." Read more» 2

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission ruling in 2010 did not, as some warned, unleash a flood of corporate money directly into elections. Read more»

It was quite a week for Big Oil. The big five oil companies—BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, and Shell—reported their second-quarter 2013 profits last week, which were a combined $19.5 billion. That comes out to $145,000 in profit per minute—more than 88 percent of American households earn in an entire year. Read more» 1

Conservative foundations, multinational oil companies and a prescription drug maker were the most frequent sponsors of more than 100 expense-paid educational seminars attended by federal judges over a 4 1/2-year period, according to a Center for Public Integrity investigation. Read more»

A pro-Obama TV ad says that "big oil" pledged $200 million to help Mitt Romney, making him the industry's "$200 million man." But that's a pretty slippery claim. Read more» 1

Hugo Chavez, always the socialist crusader, announced that he intended to seize the yachts and property of the luxury resort Los Roques — including the houses of some of Venezuela's wealthiest businessmen — and make use of the resources for state tourism. Read more»

There are now three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and big oil statistics. Once again an analysis funded by the oil industry of proposals to eliminate some of their large tax breaks finds that this would be bad for the oil industry and the rest of us, too. Read more»

Democrats and Republicans disagree on energy policy, but this they share: Both shade the facts on the complex issue for political advantage. Read more»

As Congress debates what to do about surging gas prices—whether to expand drilling, for instance, or end federal tax breaks for oil companies—this much is clear: energy executives, including some who are being summoned to testify on Capitol Hill, are among the nation’s highest paid CEOs. Read more»