Schneiderman’s investigation follows reports by the non-profit Inside Climate News and by the Los Angeles Times that Exxon deliberately played down the impact of fossil fuels on the Earth’s climate, even though Exxon’s own scientists were working closely with academic and government organizations to rectify the problem.
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A few see this as a chance to open up new lines of attack for climate change litigation.
In addition, the NY Attorney General is also investigating The Peabody Energy Corporation, a leading coal company.
The attorney general’s office declined comment. What are the laws that allow AG Schneiderman to investigate Exxon?
Contrasting such differences between the lawsuits brought against the two industries, Reuters quotes Daniel Riesel, defense attorney at Sive, Paget & Riesel, as stating: “The tobacco companies knew they were selling a product that was killing people and they failed to disclose that”.
Brandon Garrett, a professor at the University of Virginia College of Law, said DOJ might look into a case if it could find investors who could prove harm. “Whether the same smoking guns will emerge, we don’t know yet”. They had discovered in the 1950’s, that tobacco could be harmful, but conducted campaigns to keep this information secret.
If world leaders ever get serious about tackling global warming, these assets will end up stuck in the ground, meaning the only thing getting burned will be the billions of dollars spent to acquire and develop them.
The history at Exxon Mobil appears to differ, in that the company published extensive research over decades that largely lined up with mainstream climatology.
Schneiderman has the power to go after the companies because of a broad-ranging anti-fraud statute called the Martin Act.
Exxon Mobil has included information about the risks of climate change on its business “for many years” in shareholder reports and other filings, Silvestri noted.
Since Exxon does business in NY, Schneiderman has jurisdiction.
The NY state AG investigation threatens to expose many new details about Exxon Mobil’s apparent efforts to mislead the public about climate science and climate policy and may expand to other companies as well. That struck a few experts as similar to the activities of tobacco companies. Exxon scientists knew about climate change as early as 1977. “Frankly, we made the call that we needed to back away from supporting the groups that were undercutting the actual risk” of climate change. The Company is engaged in production and the investigation of crude oil and natural gas. This maxim informed much of Exxon’s public posturing on climate change in the 1990s, when it famously opposed action on the Kyoto Protocol.
A few are also pushing for the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to probe whether the company broke federal law.
At Peabody, spokeswoman Kelley Wright said the company continues to work with the Attorney General’s Office “regarding our disclosures, which have evolved over the years”. Evercore ISI upgraded shares of Exxon Mobil from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $95.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday.
To be sure, there’s a financial risk to investors from stronger efforts to regulate emissions.
Rex Tillerson, the chief executive, supports a carbon tax and has publicly endorsed action to curb emissions – although this reporter heard him accuse the Obama administration of straying from “sound science” and responding to climate “noise” this April at an IHS Cera forum in Texas.
The 2012 book did describe how, when Flannery approached climate modelers at the MA Institute of Technology, he directed them, by his own admission, to “embrace the uncertainty in all of this”.
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Exxon said it had worked closely with the USA energy department and the United Nations climate panel (IPCC) over the years, and accused hostile elements in the media of cherry-picking snippets from old documents to paint a false picture.
