Environmentalists Lean on RICO Laws To Pressure Oil Companies Over Climate Change

Environmentalists allege that oil companies violated the 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by organizing media campaigns and lobbying against efforts to restrict the use of fossil fuels.

AP/Sue Ogrocki, file
A pump jack at an oil well at Oklahoma City on March 22, 2012. AP/Sue Ogrocki, file

Climate change activists and their foes in the fossil fuel industry are increasingly turning to laws normally used against criminal organizations in their efforts to force their opponents to capitulate on the topic of global warming.

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