[Last updated: Mar. 28, 2017]

On March 29, 2016 a group of 17 state attorneys general – 15 Democrats from largely non-oil and gas producing states, one Democrat from the District of Columbia, and one “Independent” from the Virgin Islands – attended a press conference with former Vice President Al Gore announcing their plan to initiate legal action against ExxonMobil and other groups opposing President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. Soon afterwards, the Attorney General of the Virgin Islands – a former EPA staff attorney – issued subpoenas to ExxonMobil, the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), and PR company called DCI Group. The Heartland Institute has not received a subpoena, but as the world’s leading voice for climate realism, we believe it is only a matter of time.

The A.G.s may be acting on behest of the Obama Administration and liberal Democrats in the Senate. U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch testified to Congress that, in response to requests by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), the Obama administration’s Justice Department has asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate whether there is sufficient evidence to prosecute Exxon and other companies, researchers, and think tanks for exercising their First Amendment rights in promoting climate skepticism. A group of nine Democratic Senators have repeatedly threatened conservative groups that question the Obama Administration’s alarmist dogma on the climate change issue.

The basis of their campaign is Al Gore’s long-discredited claim of a conspiracy among industry and think tanks to mislead the public about climate science. As Russell Cook and other independent researchers have shown over and over again, there is no evidence that such a conspiracy ever existed, only lies and fiction by a small coterie of left-wing environmental activists intent on smearing those who disagree with them. (See GelbspanFiles.com for Cook’s detailed and in-depth reporting on this issue, and Reply to Our Critics for Heartland’s response to false accusations.)

In a March issue of the Climate Change Weekly e-newsletter, Sterling Burnett wrote, “President Barack Obama’s hostility to the free flow of information, open debate, and views contradicting his own appears to have no bounds. The most recent evidence for this is Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. She said the Justice Department has discussed pursuing civil action against companies, organizations, and individual scientists who continue to debate the question of whether humans are causing catastrophic climate change.”

On March 30, The Wall Street Journal published a letter to the editor by Heartland Policy Advisor Dan Miller, who wrote: “The indisputable fact remains that the science isn’t settled about the causes, effects and severity of global warming. And skeptical scientists must be free from threat of criminal prosecution to continue their search for answers and solutions.”

In May, The Heartland Institute and other organizations signed an open letter circulated by the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI) denouncing the AG’s campaign as unlawful and un-American. The letter appeared as a full-page advertisement in the New York Times. On July 12 we cosigned an open letter to nine senators, and were among the organizations sent a reply by those same senators on July 22. In August, CEI produced a short video denouncing the legal campaign against it.

The Heartland Institute has been outspoken in criticizing the Justice Department and the state attorneys general for their attack on the free speech rights of global warming realists. A list of what we’ve done that is available online appears below. The Competitive Enterprise Institute and Energy & Environment Legal Institute also have created similar pages of links on their websites, which we highly recommend.

RICO Emails Revealed On Sept. 1, 2015, 20 academics sent a letter to the White House and Attorney General Loretta Lynch asking the federal government to to launch a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act probe into those who disagree that human CO2 emissions are causing a climate crisis. The climate realists who were the targets of this witch hunt fought back using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), and on May 13, 2016, the abuse of power and position by the #RICO20 and their allies was exposed. Read the emails, courtesy of the Energy & Environment Legal Institute: Five PDFs, 190 pages

Pages 1- 59

Pages 60-102

Pages 103-133

Pages 134-178

Pages 179-190 The second round of emails

(released June 1, 2016): Searchable PDF via Watts Up With That ExxonMobil files Suit Against Mass. AG Maura Healey On June 15, 2016, attorneys for ExxonMobil filed a “Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief” against Maura Healey, the attorney general of the state of Massachusetts. Healey is among the 17 state attorneys general who are part of AGs United for Clean Power, who are using the power of their offices to issue sweeping subpoenas against ExxonMobil and scores of individuals and organizations who corresponded with the company about climate change. Read the complaint here. 15 GOP State AGs: ‘Stop Policing Viewpoints’ On June 15, 2016, Republican state attorneys general from 15 states wrote a letter to the so-called “AGs United for Clean Power” on the letter head of Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange. An excerpt: “This fraud investigation targets only ‘fossil fuel companies’ and only statements minimizing climate change risks. If it is possible to minimize the risks of climate change, then the same goes for exaggeration. If minimization is fraud, exaggeration is fraud.” Read the letter here.

Senators Demand DOJ Cease Investigating Climate Realists May 26, 2016 – U.S. Sens. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Mike Lee (R-Utah), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), David Perdue (R-Ga.), and David Vitter (R-La.) today sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch, demanding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) end its use of law enforcement resources against political opponents of President Obama’s energy agenda. “These actions provide disturbing confirmation that government officials at all levels are threatening to wield the sword of law enforcement to silence debate on climate change,” the letter reads. “As you well know, initiating criminal prosecution for a private entity’s opinions on climate change is a blatant violation of the First Amendment and an abuse of power that rises to the level of prosecutorial misconduct.” (Read more)

House Science Committee Scrutinizes Motive of #RICO20 May 18, 2016 — Today, 13 Science, Space, and Technology Committee Republicans sent letters to 17 state attorneys general and eight environmental activist organizations. The letters request documents related to the groups’ coordinated efforts to deprive companies, nonprofit organizations, scientists and scholars of their First Amendment rights and their ability to fund and conduct scientific research free from intimidation and threats of prosecution. Americans are entitled to express their views on matters of science and public policy even if certain groups disagree. (Read more)

Climate Change Weekly

Admiral’s ‘Layman’s’ Review of Evidence Finds No Human-caused Warming (Sep 30, 2016)

Transparency Is Critical to Sound Science and Informed Policy (Sep 23, 2016)

New York Attorney General’s Shifting Approach to Climate Pro[er]secution (Sep 1, 2016)

On Climate, Ad Hominem, Funding, and Facts (Aug 5, 2016)

Turnabout Is Fairplay: Climate Subpoenas Issued to Green Groups (Jul 29, 2016)

Democratic Platform Calls for Prosecution of Skeptics, Backlash Grows (jul 15, 2016)

Congress: Climate Investigations Are Political Theater (Jun 3, 2016)

Virgin Islands AG Expanding Climate Witch Hunt (May 6, 2016)

Climate Realists Fight AGs’ Fishing Expedition (Apr 29, 2016)

State AGs to Waste Tax Dollars on ‘Climate Fraud’ Investigations (Apr 5, 2016)

Lynch May Ignore First Amendment to Prosecute Climate Skeptics (Mar 18, 2016)

Climate Science: Republicans Fight for It, EPA Director Doesn’t Understand It (Mar 13, 2016)

Many Science Teachers Not Stampeded into Climate Alarmism (Feb 26, 2016)

Heartland Op-Eds and Letters

Democrats’ barriers to free speech, Jeff Stier, Washington Times (Aug 16, 2016)

Suppressing Debate Never a Good Idea, Tom Harris, Chattanooga Times Free Press (Jun 15, 2016)

Global Warming Skepticism Is Not Fraud, Joseph Bast, Breitbart News (Jul 12, 2016)

Stop muzzling climate dissenters, Tom Harris, Washington Times (Jun 6, 2016)

Free Speech Must Apply To Climate Change Debate, Tom Harris, Daily Caller (Jun 3, 2016)

'The Usual Suspects' in the Persecution of Global Warming Skeptics, Russell Cook, American Thinker (Apr 22, 2016)

RICO for Government Climate Deniers?, Paul Driessen and Ron Arnold, Townhall (Apr 16, 2016)

Prosecute climate deniers? No, First Amendment protects debate, H. Sterling Burnett, Philadelphia Inquirerand more than 50 other newspapers (Apr 13, 2016)

Obama’s Attorney General Says She’s Considered Using An Old Law To Silence Global Warming Critics, H. Sterling Burnett, Independent Journal (Apr 4, 2016)

Certainty, Climate Change, Church and State, Dan Miller, Wall Street Journal (Mar 30, 2016)

New York’s Absurd Martin Act and the Investigation into Exxon Mobil, Tim Benson, Townhall.com (Jan

No, Bernie Sanders, Exxon Did Not Lie About Global Warming, James Taylor, Forbes, (Oct 26, 2015)

Those scientists who want to use RICO to prosecute AGW 'deniers' have a big problem, Russell Cook, American Thinker (Oct 1, 2015)

Alarmists Want Skeptics Prosecuted Under RICO, Paul Driessen, Heartlander (Sep 29, 2015)

Coverage in Environment & Climate News

New York AG Shifts Exxon Climate Investigation Amid Waning Support (Sep 29, 2016)

Virgin Islands Attorney General Withdraws Subpoenas Against ExxonMobil, CEI (Sep 2, 2016)

Heartland Institute Responds to Attacks on Free Speech by Senate Democrats’ #WebOfDenial Campaign (Jul 12, 2016)

Attorney General Delegates Powers to Tort Lawyer in Exxon Climate Case (Jun 8, 2016)

Justice Department Investigating Climate Skeptics (Apr 25, 2016)

New York Attorney General Turns up the Heat on Exxon Mobil (Dec 16, 2015)

House Investigates Calls for Prosecutions of Climate Skeptics (Dec 15, 2015)

Big Government, Foundations Undermine Scientific Integrity (Apr 2, 2015)

IRS Complaint Filed Against RICO 20 Think Tank (Jan 11, 2016)

Heartland Blog Posts

New York’s Chief Partisan Persecutor: Democrat Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Seton Motley (Oct 14, 2016)

Dangerous Double Standards On Climate Change And Free Speech, Ronald D. Rotunda (Sep 29, 2016)

Union of Concerned Scientists: Anti-science Advocacy Gone Wild, Ron Arnold (Sep 24, 2016)

Democrats Now Want To Preemptively Punish Climate Change Pre-Crimes, Seton Motley (Aug 25, 2016)

The Hillary Treatment for Climate Fraudsters?, Paul Driessen (Jul 18, 2016)

#WebOfDenial Push by Senate Dems Exposes Their Hatred of Free Speech, Jim Lakely (Jul 12, 2016)

Heartland Institute Responds to Attacks on Free Speech by Senate Democrats’ #WebOfDenial Campaign, Heartland Institute (Jul 12, 2016)

May Free Speech Reign and Scientific Inquiry Prevail, Marita Noon (Jul 6, 2016)

Attorney General Delegates Powers to Tort Lawyer in Exxon Climate Case, Ron Arnold (Jun 8, 2016)

Finally, Courage to Counterpunch the Green Bullies, Marita Noon (Jun 7, 2016)

Resolute Forest Files RICO Fraud Suit Against Greenpeace, Ron Arnold (Jun 3, 2016)

Obama’s SEC Issues Climate Chaos ‘Guidance’, Paul Driessen (May 29, 2016)

AG Delegated His State Powers to Predatory Lawyer in Suit Against ExxonMobil, Ron Arnold (May 24, 2016)

Heartland Part of Full-Page Ad in New York Times Standing Up For Free Speech on Climate, Against Abuse of Power, Jim Lakely (May 18, 2016)

InsideClimate News = Inside Climate Propaganda, Paul Driessen (May 1, 2016)

Obama’s Attorney General Says She’s Considered Using An Old Law To Silence Global Warming Critics, H. Sterling Burnett (Apr 11, 2016)

Suing into Submission, Charles Battig (Apr 11, 2016)

Prosecuting Climate Chaos Skeptics with RICO, Paul Driessen (Apr 4, 2016)

New York’s Absurd Martin Act and the Investigation into Exxon Mobil Timothy Benson (Jan 11, 2016)

Who’s Behind The Campaign to Bring RICO Charges Against ‘Climate Skeptics?’, Emily Zanotti (Oct 2, 2015)

Using Courts to Suppress Climate Debate?, H. Sterling Burnett (Sep 27, 2015)

Hidden Emails Reveal a Secret Anti-Fossil Fuel Network, Marita Noon (Aug 31, 2015)

Elizabeth and Sheldon Torquemada: Agenda of Intolerance and Retribution Against Critics of Ultra-Liberal Policies, Paul Driessen (Oct 20, 2015)

The Whitehouse-White House Inquisition, Paul Driessen (Apr 21, 2015)

Heartland President Still Waiting for Apology from Sen. Whitehouse, Joe Bast (Apr 13, 2015)

Heartland Podcasts

Leonid Goldstein: Taking the Climate Alarm Enterprise to Court (Oct 10, 2016)

Kathleen Hartnett White: Exposing the Mad War on Energy (Aug 8, 2016)

Michael Bowe: Greenpeace Under Fire in Court (Jun 27, 2016)

Jackie Stewart: The Harmful and Unrealistic Goals of 'Keep It In The Ground' (Jun 1, 2016)

Justin Danhof: Fighting Back Against Anti-Capitalist Shareholder Resolutions (May 9, 2017)

Kent Lassman: CEI Subpoenaed on Climate Change Dissent (May 4, 2016)

David Schnare: State AGs Colluding with Radical Environmental Groups (May 2, 2016)

H. Sterling Burnett: Global Warming Thought Crimes (Apr 20, 2016)

In The Tank Podcast (ep34) (April 15, 2016)

PolicyBot (PDF documents)

EELI suing New York AG Eric Schneiderman for failing to honor FOIA request (Oct 25, 2016)

EELI AG Email release (Aug 23, 2016)

15 GOP State Attorneys General to AGs United for Clean Power: ‘Stop Policing Viewpoints’ (Jun 15, 2016)

ExxonMobil files Suit Against Massachusetts AG Maura Healey (Jun 15, 2016)

Coalition Letter to 19 members of the U.S. Senate (July 12, 2016)

Cache of emails from GMU professors (Jun 3, 2016)

Virgin Islands Attorney General Subpoena of Exxon's Climate Materials (May 15, 2016)

Emails Reveal Schneiderman, Other AG’s Colluding with Al Gore and Greens to Investigate Climate Skeptics (Apr 15, 2016)

Letter From Heartland Institute President Joseph Bast to Sens. Ed Markey, Barbara Boxer, and Sheldon Whitehouse(Mar 10, 2015)

Letter From Heartland Institute President Joseph Bast to 11 Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (Mar 10, 2015)

Letter to The Heartland Institute from 11 Members of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works (Feb 27, 2015)

Letter to The Heartland Institute from Sens. Ed Markey, Barbara Boxer, and Sheldon Whitehouse (Feb 25, 2015)

Letter to The Heartland Institute from Sens. Harry Reid, Charles Shumer, Sheldon Whitehouse, and 6 U.S. Senators (July 22, 2016)

News Coverage and Supportive Opinions

Schneiderman accused of hiding emails with pro-climate change activists, Julia Marsh, New York Post (Mar 28. 2017)

After Even Deeper Collusion with Schneiderman Revealed, #ExxonKnew Campaign Tries to Change the Subject, Katie Brown, Energy In Depth (Mar 14, 2017)

U.S. House Steps Up Effort to Derail Exxon Climate Probe, Erik Larson, Bloomberg (Feb 17, 2017)

Mass., NY AGs Subpoenaed Again Over Exxon Climate Probes, Keith Goldberg, Law360 (Feb 17, 2017)

House Science Chair Renews Fight With NY, Mass. AGs Over Exxon Probes, Caitlin MacNeal, Talking Points Memo (Feb 17, 2017)

Schneiderman talked with environmental activists ahead of Exxon probe, Carl Campanile, New York Post (Feb 13, 2017)

California Dems Falsely Claim Former AG Investigated Exxon’s Climate Research, Chris White, Daily Caller (Feb 8, 2017)

Exxon Insists Its Free Speech Case Against Attorneys General Be Heard in Texas Court, Miriam Rozen, Law.com (Feb 2, 2017)

Five Things to Know about #ExxonKnew #FakeNews Ahead of Tillerson’s Confirmation Hearing, Katie Brown, Energy In Depth (Jan 10, 2017)

The California Gathering That Hatched Plan to Prosecute Skeptics of Climate Change, Kevin Mooney, Daily Signal (Dec 28, 2016)

The Climate Change Inquisition: An Abuse of Power that Offends the First Amendment and Threatens Informed Debate, Hans A. von Spakovsky and Nicolas Loris, Heritage Foundation (Oct 25, 2016)

Exxon Mobil Fights the Abusive Behavior of Democrat Attorney General’s Climate Inquisition, Hans von Spakovsky, Daily Signal (Oct 21, 2016)

Schneiderman on the Defensive as #ExxonKnew Campaign Begins to Backfire on AGs, Katie Brown, Energy In Depth (Oct 18, 2016)

Exxon Chooses War in New York’s Probe of Climate Change Research, Paul Barrett, Bloomberg (Oct 18, 2016)

Left-Wing AGs Are Playing Politics with the Law, Jim Copland and Rafael A. Mangual, National Review (Sep 29, 2016)

GOP Lawmaker Probes SEC’s Investigation Against Exxon, Chris White, Daily Caller (Sep 29, 2016)

Delaware Dem Is The Latest AG To Pull Out Of RICO Case Against Exxon, Chris White, Daily Caller (Sep 24, 2016)

University Of Pennsylvania Rejects Divestment, Says Oil Is Not The ‘Moral Evil’ Activists Think, Chris White, Daily Caller (Sep 23, 2016)

Schneiderman’s chance to save face on his failing Exxon probe, Editors, New York Post (Sep 21, 2016)

Eric Schneiderman: Gone Fishin’ On ExxonMobil, David Blackmon, Forbes, (Sep 19, 2016)

#ExxonKnew Rally a Bust, Legal Experts Eviscerate Campaign’s Claims at Science Committee Hearing, Katie Brown, Energy In Depth (Sep 15, 2016)

Smith claims right to demand NY climate-change documents, Brian Tumulty, USA Today (Sep 15, 2016)

Schneiderman tried to contact eco-tycoon amid Exxon probe, Isabel Vincent, New York Post (Sep 11, 2016)

#ExxonKnew is Dead: Top Three Things to Know, Katie Brown, Energy In Depth (Sep 9, 2016)

Schneiderman’s Climate Secrets, Editors, Wall Street Journal (Sep 1, 2016)

New York AG That Attacked Exxon Sued For Concealing Investigation, Kathryn Watson, Daily Caller (Aug 31, 2016)

Climate Change Court Drama: What Does New York's Attorney-General Have to Hide?, Ronald Bailey, Reason (Aug 31, 2016)

How the Exxon Case Unraveled, Holman W. Jenkins, Wall Street Journal (Aug 30, 2016)

The Climate Prosecutors Can’t Dodge Congress Forever, Editors, Wall Street Journal (Aug 22, 2016)

Sensing the Walls Closing In, NY AG Tries for Reboot of Failed Climate RICO Effort, Katie Brown, Energy In Depth (Aug 22, 2016)

Kaine's warmist rhetoric chills free speech and inquiry, Bill O’Keefe, Richmond Times Dispatch (Jul 23, 2016)

Climate Skeptics Face Senate Inquisition, Larry Bell, Newsmax (Jul 18, 2016)

Chuck Schumer’s McCarthyite Moment, Editors, New York Post (Jul 14, 2016)

Sheldon Whitehouse calls for news outlets to suppress ‘extreme’ op-eds by climate skeptics, Valerie Richardson, Washington Times (Jul 14, 2016)

2010-2016: The Era of Political Repression in America, Ari Halperin, American Thinker (Jul 14, 2016)

Burr, Tillis, Haugh condemn attacks on free-speech rights, Rick Henderson, Carolina Journal (Jul 14, 2016)

Group Calls on U.S. Senators to Prove They Aren't Hypocrites, Judy Kent, National Center for Public Policy Research (Jul 14, 2016)

State AGs, Green Groups Subpoenaed Over ‘Coordinated’ Attack on Climate Change Skeptics, Barbara Hollingsworth, CNSNews (Jul 14, 2016)

Conservatives fire back at climate-change senators’ ‘coordinated attack’ on speech, M.D. Kittle, Watchdog.org (Jul 12, 2016)

Senate Democrats Seek to Criminalize First Amendment–Protected Speech, Editors, National Review (Jul 12, 2016)

As Dems Rail Against Exxon, Clinton Gets Campaign Cash From ‘Greenwasher’, Lachlan Markay, Washington Free Beacon (Jul 12, 2016)

Emails Show Democrats Are Targeting These Organizations For Daring To Go Against Them On Climate Change, Matt Vespa, Townhall (Jul 12, 2016)

Barbara Boxer and the Democratic Party Hold Two-Day Festival Against Free Speech, Matt Welch, Reason (Jul 12, 2016)

Freezing Free Speech, Peter Roff, US News (Jul 11, 2016)

Democrats Spin Up Conspiracy About Vast Right-Wing 'Web of Denial', Neil W. McCabe, Breitbart (Jul 11, 2016)

19 Democratic Senators Submit Climate Change "Web of Denial" Concurrent Resolution, Ronald Bailey, Reason (Jul 11, 2016)

Dems Plan To Ambush Global Warming Skeptics On Senate Floor, Email Shows, Chris White, Daily Caller (Jul 11, 2016)

Dems Assigned Conservative Groups to Attack on Senate Floor, Lachlan Markay, Washington Free Beacon (Jul 11, 2016)

Senate Democrats Assigned Conservative Groups to Attack, Greg Richter, Newsmax (Jul 11, 2016)

The Climate Police Crack-Up, Editors, Wall Street Journal (Jul 8, 2016)

The imploding cabal to criminalize climate dissent, Adam Brodsky, New York Post, (Jun 30, 2016)

The #ExxonKnew Climate Campaign Keeps Unraveling, Steve Everley, Energy In Depth (Jun 30, 2016)

Virgin Islands Withdraws CEI Subpoena, Bolstering Need for Sanctions Against AG Walker, CEI, (Jun 30, 2016)

Virgin Islands withdraws climate subpoena against Exxon, Timothy Cama, The Hill (June 29, 2016)

Free Speech and Climate Fraud Prosecution Follies, Ronald Bailey, Reason (Jun 28, 2016)

Exxon Climate Attackers Target Conservative Voices, Larry Bell, Newsmax (Jun 27, 2016)

Lazy Journalism from The Nation Signals Desperate Times for #ExxonKnew Campaign, Steve Everley, Energy In Depth (Jun 24, 2016)

Activists Admit at Friendly Forum They’ve Been Working with NY AG on Climate RICO Campaign for Over a Year, Katie Brown, Energy In Depth (Jun 24, 2016)

Bring on the climate fraud game? If Exxon can be sued, so can Al Gore, Jo Nova, Jo Nova Blog (June 22, 2016)

Two Can Play at Climate ‘Fraud’, Editors, Wall Street Journal (Jun 20, 2016)

AG’s striking back at #ExxonKnew and #RICO20 say – “we can come after climate alarmists for fraud, too,” Anthony Watts, Watts Up With That (Jun 17, 2016)

Exxon’s Inquisitors Feel the Heat, Kimberly Strassel, Wall Street Journal (Jun 16, 2016)

Heartland Institute Fires Back At Liberal AG’s Suit to Halt Climate Change Dissent, John Gizzi, Newsmax (Jun 16, 2016)

Massachusetts AG Admits to Preconceived Verdict Prior to Launching RICO Climate Investigation, Katie Brown, Energy In Depth (Jun 16, 2016)

Massachusetts Subpoenas Exxon’s Communications with Nonprofit Groups, Lachlan Markay, Washington Free Beacon (Jun 15, 2016)

California Senate sidelines bill to prosecute climate change skeptics, Valerie Richardson, Washington Times (Jun 2, 2016)

With Each New Batch of FOIA’d Emails, More Insight into Collusion behind RICO Climate Effort, Katie Brown, Energy In Depth (Jun 2, 2016)

Climate spin: Behind-the-scenes emails show profs evading questions, Maxim Lott, Fox News (Jun 1, 2016)

Crowd-source this document dump: The GMU #RICO20 emails are now online in full, Anthony Watts, Watts Up With That (Jun 1, 2016)

Climate spin doctor took charge after professors’ ‘mistake’ called for prosecuting skeptics, Valerie Richardson,Washington Times (Jun 1, 2016)

Crushing Climate-Change Dissent for Profit, Hans van Spakovsky & Tiger Joyce, National Review (May 26, 2016)

Senators to Lynch: End climate change investigations, Joel Gehrke, Washington Examiner (May 26, 2016)

Ten Things Activists Tried to Keep Hidden as Part of Coordinated Exxon Attacks, Katie Brown, Energy In Depth (May 24, 2016)

Totalitolerance Unleashed, Robert Knight, Townhall (May 24, 2016)

AG drops climate change subpoena against libertarian think tank, Fox News (May 23, 2016)

Skeptics Strike Back — GOP Reps Investigate AGs, Eco-Activists Targeting Global Warming Skeptics, Michael Bastasch, Daily Caller (May 20, 2016)

New York Times Ad Attacks AGs’ Abuse of Power, Defends Free Speech, JunkScience (May 18, 2016)

Leader of Climate RICO Push Foresees Big Checks for Groups Like His, Lachlan Markay, Washington Free Beacon (May 17, 2016)

New FOIA’d Emails Tell a Very Different Story About How NY AG’s RICO Campaign Started Off, Katie Brown, Energy in Depth (May 17, 2016)

The Criminalization of Dissent, Mark Steyn, SteynOnline (May 16, 2016)

Texas attorney general calling for end to Virgin Islands’ Exxon probe, Anthony Watts, Watts Up With That (May 16, 2016)

Think Tank Seeks Damages Over ‘Unlawful’ Climate Subpoena, Lachlan Markay, Washington Free Beacon (May 16, 2016)

Professors pushing RICO for climate skeptics have own problems with FOIA, Valerie Richardson, Washington Times(May 15, 2016)

Sons of Climategate: Dodgy Scientists Caught Red-handed by FOIA Lawsuit, James Delingpole, Breitbart (May 15, 2016)

New Climate Scandal called ‘worse than Climategate’, Marc Morano, ClimateDepot (May 14, 2016)

CEI Defeats RICO-20 Ringleader Shukla In FOIA Lawsuit, Anthony Watts, Watts Up With That (May 13, 2016)

RICO Climate Alarmists FOIA Emails Released, Ronald Bailey, Hit & Run at Reason.com (May 13, 2016)

Emails between Pro-RICO Climate Scientists Made Public, Ian Tuttle, National Review (May 13, 2016)

A Climate Courtroom Crusade Scorches Due Process, Philip Hamburger, Wall Street Journal (May 11, 2016)

Turning Up the Heat on ‘Climate-Change Deniers’, Ed Fuelner, Townhall (May 10, 2016)

Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker used Greenpeace list to target climate change skeptics, Valerie Richardson, Washington Times (May 4, 2016)

Details Released of Witch Hunt Against Exxon Mobil, Warren Mass, New American (May 4, 2016)

The Climate Police Escalate, Editors, Wall Street Journal (Apr 29, 2016)

Chilling Scientific Inquiry, Ronald Rotunda, Verdict (Apr 22, 2016)

Prosecuting climate change ‘deniers’, Hans von Spakovsky, Washington Times (Apr 20, 2016)

Eric Schneiderman and His Gang of AGs Are Trampling the First Amendment, Rich Lowry, National Review (Apr 19, 2016)

AGs, activists accused of 'collusion' on Exxon probe amid new emails, Adam Shaw, FoxNews.com (Apr 18, 2016)

Emails Reveal Schneiderman, Other AG’s Colluding with Al Gore and Greens to Investigate Climate Skeptics, EE&I(Apr 15, 2016)

A Conspiracy So Intense, Scott Johnson, Power Line (Apr 13, 2016)

Free speech roundup, Walter Olsen, Overlawyered (Apr 12, 2016)

So I Guess It’s Open Season On Democrat Allies, Right?, Kurt Schlichter, Townhall (Apr 11, 2016)

Yes, Let’s Prosecute Climate-Change Fraud — and Start with the Scaremongers, David French, National Review (Apr 8, 2016)

‘Standing Up to the WSJ’, Editors, Wall Street Journal (Apr 1, 2016)

Democrats Like Corporate Free Speech Well Enough When They Agree with It, Ian Tuttle, National Review (Mar 31, 2015)

Punishing Climate-Change Skeptics, David B. Rivkin Jr. and Andrew M. Grossman, Wall Street Journal (Mar 23, 2016)

Loretta Lynch Won’t Rule Out Indicting You For Questioning Climate Change, Emily Zanotti, American Spectator (Mar 10, 2016)

The Obama Administration's Idea of a Crime, John Hinderaker, Power Line (Mar 10, 2016)

The Great Free Speech Issue of Our Time, John Hinderaker, Power Line (Mar 3, 2016)

New York’s Absurd Martin Act and the Investigation into Exxon Mobil, Tim Benson, Townhall (Jan 4, 2016)

State Attorney General Climate Change Investigations Are Unconstitutional, Hans Bader, American Spectator (Jan 27, 2016)

The Exxon Inquisition, Editors, National Review (Nov 15, 2015)

Imperialist Warmongering Deniers of the Human Right to Science, Mark Steyn, Steynonline (Nov 12, 2015)

Exxon Under Attack for Exercising Prudence, H. Sterling Burnett, American Spectator (Nov 6, 2015)

Call for using RICO Act for climate skeptics is irresponsible and unconstitutional, William O’Keefe, The Hill (Oct 14, 2015)

Getting Rich off Climate Extremism, Ian Tuttle, National Review (Oct 1, 2015)

Stigmatizing Dissent, Oil & Gas Journal (Mar 9, 2015)

More Climate Resources from The Heartland Institute

The Heartland Institute has an extensive collection of research and commentary on climate change available online on several websites:

Arthur B. Robinson Center on Climate and Environmental Policy

This “issue suite” brings together in one place The Heartland Institute’s extensive resources on climate and environmental policy, including links to books, serial publications, policy studies, news releases, and commentary. Be sure to check out the overview essays on Carbon Tax, Hydraulic Fracturing, and Global Warming: Not a Crisis.

Climate Change Reconsidered

Climate Change Reconsidered is the title of a series of scientific reports produced by the Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change (NIPCC) and published by The Heartland Institute. NIPCC is an international panel of nongovernment scientists and scholars who have come together to present a comprehensive, authoritative, and realistic assessment of the science and economics of global warming. Because it is not a government agency, and because its members are not predisposed to believe climate change is caused by human greenhouse gas emissions, NIPCC is able to offer an independent “second opinion” of the evidence reviewed – or not reviewed – by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the issue of global warming.

Heatland's Archive of Climate Conferences

The Heartland Institute has organized and hosted nine International Conferences on Climate Change since 2008, events that attracted extensive international attention to the debate taking place in the scientific community over the causes, extent, and consequences of climate change. Videos from all the speakers can be viewed on this site.

PolicyBot

PolicyBot is a free online database and search engine that provides fast and easy access to the best research and commentary from the nation’s free-market think tanks and advocacy groups. It contains full texts, brief summaries, and source citations for more than 30,000 reports, articles, policy briefs, podcasts, and videos. Search the database for “climate change” or more narrow topics in the global warming debate and discover hundreds of articles.

Heartland in Paris for COP-21

One of the most important battles in the history of the global warming debate was fought November 30 - December 12, 2015 at a United Nations climate conference in Paris known as COP-21, or the twenty-first "Conference of the Parties." The Heartland Institute worked with other leading think tanks and advocacy groups — such as the Cooler Heads Coalition, Heritage Foundation, CFACT, Competitive Enterprise Institute, NIPCC and allied groups in Europe to oppose the agreement. Our voice was heard, and it ensured that energy consumers and taxpyers were represented on the ground in Paris — and that sound science and economics was part of the global discussion.

Heartland's Vatican Environment Workshop

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Roman Catholic Church held a workshop on global warming on April 28, 2015 at the Vatican. The Heartland Institute arrived in Rome to warn Pope Francis that he was only getting half (the alarmist) side of the issue. Global warming is not a crisis, and the United Nations' "solutions" will only make the poor more miserable and keep them in poverty longer.

Greenpeace Is A Global Fraud

According to a lawsuit filed on May 31, 2016, Greenpeace is “a global fraud” that has “fraudulently induced people throughout the United States and the world to donate millions of dollars based on materially false and misleading claims about its purported environmental purpose and its ‘campaigns’ against targeted companies.” The suit says “maximizing donations, not saving the environment, is Greenpeace’s true objective.”

Join The Heartland Institute

The Heartland Institute is “the world’s most prominent think tank promoting skepticism about man-made climate change” [The Economist, May 26, 2012]. Heartland is a 32-year-old national think tank based in Arlington Heights, Illinois. We address a wide range of topics (not just global warming) from a free-market perspective. Our work is supported by more than 5,000 donors. Interested in becoming a contributor? Visit the homepage of our Website or go to our donor page.