Fossil fuel companies have known about the threat of the climate crisis at least since the 1970s, when the industry predicted global warming with incredible accuracy.

Still, these corporations have spent billions to spread doubt and misinformation about the dangers of fossil fuels and to elect climate deniers at all levels of government–robbing a generation’s worth of time to transition our economy onto renewable energy and reverse the devastating impacts we’re currently experiencing.

Fossil fuel companies knew that their decisions were advancing the climate crisis and they ignored the science and lied to the general public. We must hold the fossil fuel industry accountable.

Democratic senators are calling on Attorney General Merrick Garland to sue fossil fuel companies for misleading the public on climate change. There’s established precedent for this accountability: In the 1990s, the DOJ held major tobacco companies liable for violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. The fossil fuel industry has broken laws in perpetuating lies about the climate crisis–the DOJ must hold the industry accountable.

As we continue to grapple with the impacts of climate change, we are faced daily with the repercussions of the fossil fuel industry’s lies. The cost of climate and weather disasters in the United States last year totaled more than $165 billion—making it the third most costly year on record. Marginalized communities, which have made the fewest contributions to greenhouse gases, have faced the most devastating impacts to their health and livelihoods.

For over 50 years the fossil fuel industry has used illegal methods to lie and distort public perception of a global crisis. It’s time for accountability NOW!