In a Wednesday letter to House of Representatives Science, Space and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith, Leslie Dubeck, counsel to Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, wrote that the AG’s office again declines to provide documents related to that investigation.
Advertisement
A congressional committee has taken the virtually unprecedented step of sending subpoenas to the attorneys general of NY and MA over a multi-state probe of Exxon Mobil.
Exxon has called the state investigations an effort to silence the company in the public debate about climate change.
Smith’s investigation stems from reports published previous year in the Los Angeles Times and InsideClimate News that Exxon knew as early as the 1970s that fossil fuels cause climate change, yet chose to sow doubt about the link publicly.
Texas Republican Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Science, Space and Technology Committee, announced at a Wednesday afternoon press conference at the U.S. Capitol that formal subpoenas would be going out to the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Maura Healey of MA. They’ve demanded documents and testimony from various conservative and industry groups along with Exxon.
“The attorneys general have appointed themselves to decide what is valid and what is invalid regarding climate change”, Smith said in a statement. The two officials and their allies want an out-of-court settlement with Exxon and other companies “so they can obtain funds for their own purposes”, Smith said.
Smith said he expects responses from attorneys general within two weeks.
“We are 100 percent confident that we are not engaging in any action that would go beyond our jurisdiction or beyond our obligations”, he said, adding, “I don’t see that this has anything to do with states’ rights”. “The attorneys general are pursuing a political agenda at the expense of scientists’ right to free speech”. Smith requested information involving the activities and communications between environmental groups and attorneys generals, as well as other details of the states’ investigations.
Advertisement
A spokesman for Schneiderman said the science panel had no legal authority to issue subpoenas to a “duly elected, constitutional officer of a separate sovereign government”. “Chairman Smith and his allies have zero credibility on this issue, and are either unwilling or unable to grasp that the singular objective of these investigations is to determine whether Exxon committed serious violations of state securities fraud, business fraud and consumer fraud laws”.
