JURIST - Paper Chase: Oil execs should be charged with crimes against humanity: NASA climatologist

[JURIST] The head executives of oil companies should be tried for crimes against humanity and nature for misleading the public about the impact of oil on global warming [EPA materials; JURIST news archive], according to a NASA climatologist who testified [briefing advisory] before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming [official website] Monday. James Hansen [NASA profile; background and publications page], the long-time director of NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) [official website], told the Guardian that

When you are in that kind of position, as the CEO of one the primary players who have been putting out misinformation even via organisations that affect what gets into school textbooks, then I think that's a crime.

Hansen first testified [text, PDF; New York Times report] about global warming before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee on June 24, 1988; Monday's testimony marked the 20th anniversary of that address. The New York Times has more. The Guardian has additional coverage.

In late 2007, participants in the United Nations Climate Change Conference [official website; JURIST report] agreed to a timetable for negotiating a new international treaty on global warming. Under the Bali Roadmap [PDF text; press release, PDF], the 187 participating nations will negotiate a new agreement to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol [text; JURIST news archive] by 2009.