Recently, Senate Budget Chair Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and House Oversight and Accountability Ranking Member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) called for a Department of Justice investigation of Big Oil for a long-running “disinformation campaign to mislead the public about the climate effects of fossil fuel.”

If found guilty, major oil companies — previously involved in state lawsuits alleging similar behavior — could be required to pay billions in damages to the states.

It may indeed be true that elements of Big Oil have sought to avoid clean air regulation or denied the connection between human activity and climate change. But the federal government’s own continuing history of confusing environmental stances makes one wonder if the skillet is calling the frying pan black.

Raskin pointed out that Big Oil’s behavior paralleled that of Big Tobacco’s denial of the negative health effects of smoking. Since being sued and settling with the 50 state attorneys general over the matter in 1998, Big Tobacco is scheduled to pay $246 billion.

What Raskin did not point out is that the attorneys general encouraged the tobacco firms to collude and raise prices and then enforced a cartel that blocks new tobacco sellers, assures higher profits for the original cartel members and keeps the state payments flowing. Big........

© The Hill