Washington, D.C. – Amid allegations that ExxonMobil ignored its own scientists and instead fueled climate science denial for decades, the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is launching an effort to communicate with voters about House candidates with ties to the oil giant. The effort is being launched with digital advertising targeting Cresent Hardy, running for re-election in Nevada’s 4th Congressional District. Other candidates will be targeted with a variety of tactics.

“The documents uncovered by journalists and activists raise troubling questions about what Exxon knew about climate change and whether they chose to cover up those findings in an attempt to fight environmental regulations,” said LCV National Campaigns Director Clay Schroers. “The voters of Nevada’s fourth district have a choice, and get to decide on Election Day whether they want a Representative who works for oil companies, or will work for them.”

The $200,000 digital advertising campaign launched last Friday and will run through Election Day. You can view the ad, “Connection” here, with script and backup here.

“Newly-released documents show oil giant Exxon had scientific evidence forty years ago that climate change is being fueled by carbon pollution and spent millions covering it up, propping up politicians to block action to protect us,” reads the ads voiceover. “The local connection – fourth district Congressman Cresent Hardy. Hardy’s one of the politicians listed taking more than thirty thousand from oil and gas interests, and voting their way. Cresent Hardy protected big oil. Not us.”

This investment follows LCV naming Hardy to its signature Dirty Dozen list in September. Over the course of his federal campaigns, Cresent Hardy has taken $32,000 from the oil & gas industry. With an LCV score of 0%, Hardy has consistently voted in favor of the fossil fuel industry’s agenda, including voting to kill the Clean Power Plan and to continue subsidies for the polluting oil industry.

In October 2015, Scientific American wrote, “Exxon was aware of climate change, as early as 1977, 11 years before it became a public issue, according to a recent investigation from InsideClimate News. This knowledge did not prevent the company (now ExxonMobil and the world’s largest oil and gas company) from spending decades refusing to publicly acknowledge climate change and even promoting climate misinformation—an approach many have likened to the lies spread by the tobacco industry regarding the health risks of smoking. Both industries were conscious that their products wouldn’t stay profitable once the world understood the risks, so much so that they used the same consultants to develop strategies on how to communicate with the public.”  [Scientific American, 10/26/15]

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Paid for by the League of Conservation Voters, www.lcv.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.