In response, Robert Weissman, co-president of Public Citizen, issued the following statement:

"Big Oil's capture of the U.S. government is now complete. Instead of enforcing the nation's environmental laws, the new so-called Energy and Natural Resources Division at the Justice Department explicitly aims to abuse emergency powers to drive oil and gas production, override state environmental enforcement and generally serve at the beck and call of Big Oil.

Nothing could make that more clear than the naming of Robert Levy, ExxonMobil's former executive counsel, a position that had him leading the company's legal strategy on advocacy and civil justice, to run the division.

"The Justice Department that should be fighting to protect clean air and water and avert catastrophic climate change will now work on behalf of polluters to advance the poisoning of people and the planet."