Their demands come as gas prices are the highest in eight months.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., Ed Markey, D-Mass., Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., sent a letter Monday to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, urging him to take action against the fossil fuel industry for making climate change a “non-issue” and costing the United States trillions of dollars.

“Big oil has known for decades that they are fueling the climate crisis and lied to hide it,” Markey wrote in a tweet Monday. “Now, we’re seeing record-breaking temperatures and unprecedented damage. We must hold them accountable for their misleading, unforgivable campaigning.”

…In the three-page letter, the senators argued “The actions of ExxonMobil, Shell and potentially other fossil fuel companies represent a clear violation of federal racketeering laws, truth in advertising laws, consumer protection laws and potentially other laws, and the department must act swiftly to hold them accountable for their unlawful actions.”

The American Petroleum Institute fired back at the Senators issuing a statement saying the group supports reducing carbon emissions.

“The record of the past two decades demonstrates that the industry is achieving its goal of providing affordable, reliable American energy to U.S. consumers while substantially reducing emissions and our environmental footprint,” a spokesperson for API told Fox News Digital. “Any suggestion to the contrary is false.”

In 2021, API published its Climate Action Framework, which stated the group shares the “goal of reduced emissions across the broader economy and, specifically, those from energy production, transportation and use by society.”

None the less, instead of playing defense, the petroleum industry should take a more offensive position and refute the pseudoscience Senator Bernie Sanders and company are using to make their case. What groups like API do is reminiscent of the ancient Chinese proverb that says: You cannot reason with a tiger when your head is in its mouth.