Exxon Seeking Injunction Against Climate-Change Investigation
June 15 2016 - 07:01PM
Dow Jones News
By Bradley Olson
Exxon Mobil Corp. is seeking an injunction against the
Massachusetts attorney general, alleging that a wide-ranging
investigation into the oil company is politically motivated and
violates its constitutional rights.
Exxon, based in Irving, Texas, wants to block a Massachusetts
subpoena that sought documents relating to climate change science
research and investor communications on the topic dating back 40
years. The company filed its motion on Wednesday in a federal court
in the Northern District of Texas in Fort Worth.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, Massachusetts
Attorney General Maura Healey and U.S. Virgin Islands Attorney
General Claude Walker are all investigating whether Exxon
misrepresented its understanding of climate change to investors and
the public. The company already has turned over hundreds of
thousands of pages of documents to Mr. Schneiderman.
Exxon, in its court filing, called Ms. Healey's allegations
"nothing more than a weak pretext for an unlawful exercise of
government power to further political objectives."
Exxon also said that the subpoena violates its right to free
speech, Fourth Amendment protection against unreasonable search and
seizure and the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.
"Our investigation is based, not on speculation, but on
inconsistencies about climate change in Exxon documents which have
been made public," Ms. Healey's office said.
The 33-page injunction filing is the company's most sharply
worded rebuttal so far to investigations launched last year into
what Exxon has known about climate change since the 1970s.
Republican lawmakers have criticized the probes into Exxon by
Democratic state attorneys general, a development that shows the
degree to which the matter has become political football.
The initial probe began last year when Mr. Schneiderman
subpoenaed Exxon. It took on renewed urgency in March when he, Ms.
Healey and Mr. Walker joined former Vice President Al Gore and
several state representatives gathered to discuss their work to
examine the company's record.
In its Wednesday filing, Exxon said the probes are "the
culmination of years of planning," referring to a 2012 meeting in
which environmental activists discussed a strategy that included
using the subpoena power of attorneys general to obtain records of
fossil fuel companies.
Participants in the legal gathering, which took place in La
Jolla, Calif., also discussed how such documents could pave the way
for litigation akin to that leveled successfully against tobacco
companies for their role in researching and misconstruing the risks
of smoking. Exxon and its supporters dismiss the comparison with
tobacco.
Write to Bradley Olson at Bradley.Olson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 15, 2016 18:46 ET (22:46 GMT)
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