When Corporations Kill, It’s Not an Accident

Why we must criminally investigate Big Oil for knowingly causing climate change

This summer, we have watched the horror of our children drowning in Texas floods. We saw our elderly neighbors trapped in sweltering apartments during NYC’s record-breaking heat waves. Earlier I personally traveled to Los Angeles to provide pro bono legal services to fire victims after wildfires leveled entire communities.

Here’s the truth: these are not random acts of nature—but the foreseeable consequences of deliberate corporate greed. And they are killing us. When people knowingly cause harm that results in death or destruction, that’s not a policy disagreement, it’s a potential crime. So the question is, where is the accountability for these crimes? Let’s Address This.

Extinction Rebellion stages a funeral precession at an ExxonMobil fuel terminal. (Matt Hrkac/Wikipedia)

Big Oil knew, and chose death anyway

In the early 1980s, ExxonMobil’s scientists ran climate models so accurate that they rival today’s observations in the 2020s. Internally, executives called the consequences of unchecked emissions from the burning of their fossil fuel products “potentially catastrophic” and “globally disastrous.” They predicted “more violent weather—more storms, more droughts, more deluges”—the exact extreme weather disasters we are seeing today.

But did these fossil fuel mega giants sound the alarm? Or begin to transition to clean energy? Or, at the very least, allow others to take action to resolve this crisis?

No. Instead, they did the exact opposite, all for the sake of the almighty dollar.

They funded disinformation campaigns. They worked to, as one fossil fuel coalition put it, “Reposition global warming as theory (not fact),” to inject uncertainty into the public’s understanding of climate change. They expanded drilling and burning fossil fuels despite knowing that doing so would kill people. And they worked to conceal these facts, all while preparing their own business operations for the rising seas and increasing storms they knew were coming.

As a human rights lawyer, let me put this plainly: when considering criminal culpability, the law looks for something called mens rea, a latin term which literally translates to “guilty mind.” When someone has a mens rea, it means they had “the intention or knowledge of wrongdoing that constitutes part of a crime.”

When we review what big oil has done the last half century, what else is it but a textbook definition of mens rea? They knew their actions would cause harm, engaged in those actions anyway (while knowingly censoring the truth), and it has resulted in immeasurable loss of life and property. Thus, when the actions of Big Oil demonstrably lead to deadly floods and fatal heatwaves that their own scientists predicted with prophetic accuracy—what else do we call it but deliberate homicide?

Civil suits are not enough. We need criminal investigations.

To date, most accountability efforts against fossil fuel companies have been civil lawsuits—states and cities suing for damages, trying to recoup the massive costs of rebuilding from floods, fires, and heat. That’s incredibly necessary, but it’s also insufficient. Why? Because climate change isn’t only causing monetary damages. It’s also causing mass death. These are crimes.

That’s why leading legal advocates are now calling for something unprecedented: criminal prosecutions. Investigations by Attorneys General. Grand juries convened by District Attorneys. Accountability that matches the scale of the criminal acts. Indeed, if corporations truly are people, when will one stand trial for killing human beings?

Moreover, we already prosecute corporate executives for insider trading. For tax fraud. For dumping toxic waste. So why not prosecute them for knowingly fueling a climate crisis that’s killing Americans?

This isn’t fantasy—it’s sound legal theory. Public Citizen’s David Arkush has laid out the legal case in the Harvard Environmental Law Review. He testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee just last month and faced strong backlash from the GOP. But Arkush held his ground, and the facts speak for themselves. Watch his powerful testimony below or on Twitter:

During Arkush’s hearing, Ted Cruz (whose campaign is funded by those same destructive fossil fuel corporations) mocked the idea as “whacky moonbeam.” And while obviously Cruz is wrong, let’s be honest—when has Cancun Ted Cruz ever been on the side of truth anyway?

How You Can Help Fight For Justice

For longtime subscribers to Let’s Address This, you know I do not highlight injustices without also sharing meaningful calls to action to overcome those injustices. Here are three things you can do right now to put pressure on our elected officials to criminally prosecute those responsible for these mass deaths.

1. Call your State Attorney General and your local District Attorney. Ask them to open a criminal investigation into the fossil fuel industry’s role in climate-related deaths and destruction.

   1. Visit this website to find the name and contact of your State Attorney General: https://www.usa.gov/state-attorney-general

   2. Here is a sample script to use when emailing or calling them:
      

      Hello, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a resident of [Your City/County/State].

      I’m calling to ask that your office open a criminal investigation into the fossil fuel industry’s role in causing climate-related death and destruction in our communities. For decades, fossil fuel corporations knowingly polluted our planet. Internal documents show they understood the catastrophic consequences of their emissions, yet they chose to lie to the public and lobby against climate action — all to protect their profits.

      We are now paying the price: deadly heat waves, devastating floods, wildfires, hurricanes, food insecurity, and rising mortality. This is not just negligence — it's premeditated harm on a mass scale. If any other industry caused this level of destruction with full knowledge of the consequences, they would face prosecution. Fossil fuel executives should not be above the law.

      I'm asking you — as someone charged with protecting public safety — to act. Please open a criminal investigation into fossil fuel companies for their role in climate-related deaths and damage. Thank you for your time, and I hope to see your office take bold action in defense of our future.

      [Optional: Leave your contact info for a response.]
      

2. Support the organizations doing this work. Groups like Public Citizen are leading the legal strategy to combat these injustices. They deserve our support and attention because they are taking the fight to these corrupt corporations devastating our lives and our futures. You can visit Public Citizen here and sign up for regular updates, calls to action, and ways to donate.

3. Share this post. Spread the word: Climate denial wasn’t just deception. It may have been criminal. Share this on your social media, in your email and text groups, and with your elected officials. We must fight back against the mass propaganda and disinformation we’ve been fed for decades. That starts one person at a time.

Conclusion

Let’s not allow another child to drown or another heat wave to kill low-income seniors before we act. Let’s not let our planet burn while billionaires buy bunkers. When corporations knowingly cause harm, they must face consequences. Not just financial settlements that represent a tiny fraction of their ill gotten trillions, but meaningful justice and criminal accountability for the untold death and devastation they’ve enabled (and yet continue to enable).

Thanks for being part of this community and this movement. Thank you for subscribing to Let’s Address This so I can continue to elevate these critical human rights issues. Let’s keep speaking the truth, and let’s demand accountability that matches the crime.