Exxon Adds New York Attorney General To Lawsuit Seeking To Block Climate Probes

Exxon Mobil has added New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to a lawsuit attempting to block Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s investigation into whether Exxon lied to its investors about what it knew about climate change, Inside Climate News reported.

In the newly expanded lawsuit, Exxon argues that the state probes are motivated by political beliefs about climate change.

“Attorneys General Schneiderman and Healey have joined together with each other as well as others known and unknown to conduct improper and politically motivated investigations of ExxonMobil in a coordinated effort to silence and intimidate one side of the public policy debate on how to address climate change,” the complaint reads.

The New York attorney general, along with attorneys general in other states, has launched a probe into Exxon, looking into whether the company committed financial fraud by allegedly hiding from investors what it knew about climate change and its effects. The probes prompted Exxon to launch a counter-lawsuit in Texas seeking to block the investigations launched by New York and Massachusetts.

Exxon has already shared some documents with Schneiderman’s office regarding the probe. And a New York court ruled last month that Exxon and its auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC, must comply with a subpoena from the New York attorney general seeking additional documents.

The investigations by the state attorneys general have come under scrutiny by Republicans on the House Science Committee, who have charged that the states are conducting a partisan witch hunt.