"350,000 Sign Petition Asking for Federal Probe of Exxon"

"House Democrats also announced they are planning a broader probe into other fossil fuel companies and their climate research."

"Environmental leaders delivered a petition with more than 350,000 signatures to U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch Thursday afternoon calling on her to launch an investigation into whether ExxonMobil misled the American public on global warming.

'Exxon has known about the threat of climate change since the 1970s and 80s,' the letter says. 'But Exxon chose to protect their profits over the planet, and proceeded to cover up their findings for nearly forty years…Decades later, we're in the midst of a rapidly-unraveling crisis—one that we could have been well on our way toward solving, had we acted much sooner.'

The 350,000-plus signees join dozens of activist groups and politicians in calling for a Justice Department probe into what Exxon knew about climate change and when, including the Democratic presidential field, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman subpoenaed ExxonMobil earlier this month for any documents related to its climate science research and communications to shareholders and the public as part of a year-long investigation into the company."

Katherine Bagley reports for InsideClimate News November 19, 2015.