House GOP Panel Now Targeting The SEC For Probing Exxon On Climate Change

House Science Committee Chair Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX) has taken his climate change denialism crusade to the Securities and Exchange Commission, demanding information about the independent body’s new investigation into Exxon.

Smith sent a letter to the SEC on Thursday expressing concern that the commission’s probe “advances a prescriptive climate change orthodoxy that may chill further climate change research.”

Several states and the SEC are looking into how Exxon has treated climate change and whether the company has fully acknowledged how global warming could impact the company.

State attorneys general are looking into whether Exxon lied to investors about the company’s scientific research into climate change and how it could impact Exxon. Smith has been engaged in a months-long standoff with the state attorneys general, demanding communications between the states and environmental groups related to investigations into Exxon.

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey have both refused to comply with subpoenas issued by Smith’s committee, prompting him to hold a hearing to affirm his right to subpoena state officials.

The SEC is probing how Exxon has calculated the value of its assets given the potential impact of climate change and future costs of complying with greenhouse gas regulations. The Wall Street Journal reported that the SEC received documents provided to the New York attorney general’s office by Exxon.

Smith has now broadened his probe to include the SEC’s investigation. He wrote in his Thursday letter that the SEC’s probe is “couched in concerns related to the science of climate change” and that the investigation could intimidate scientists.

“The Committee’s jurisdiction over energy and environmental research includes an obligation to ensure that such research advances the American scientific enterprise to the fullest extent possible, free from threat of intimidation or prosecution,” Smith wrote. “The Committee is concerned that the SEC, by wielding its enforcement authority against companies like Exxon for its collection of and reliance on what is perhaps in the SEC’s view inadequate climate data used to value its assets, advances a prescriptive climate change orthodoxy that may chill further climate change research through the public and private scientific R&D sector.”

Smith also linked the SEC’s probe to the New York attorney general’s investigation into Exxon.

“More disturbingly, media coverage has directly linked the Commission’s ‘far reaching’ inquiry to New York Attorney General (AG) Eric Schneiderman’s ongoing investigation into Exxon under state securities fraud law,” he wrote.

“Although the Committee is not interested in the merits of the New York AG’s nearly year-long probe, the AG’s efforts, characterized variously as a ‘witch hunt’ and ‘fool’s errand,’ an ‘abuse of powers,’ ‘pathetic,’ a ‘schtick,’ and an ‘uphill battle,’ have failed to uncover any indicia of wrongdoing by Exxon,” he continued. “This raises questions as to why the SEC would assume the mantle of the New York AG’s fruitless investigation.”

Smith demanded the SEC’s internal communications about the probe, as well as communications the SEC had with other agencies in the Obama administration, state attorneys general, and environmental groups.