Republicans on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology are threatening to subpoena records from Democratic states attorneys general investigating ExxonMobil and supposedly affiliated global warming skeptic groups.
“Your office’s written responses to the Committee’s request thus far, as well as those of your fellow ‘Green 20’ attorneys general, are a deliberate attempt to mask the true purpose of your investigation and mischaracterize the Committee’s oversight,” Texas Rep. Lamar Smith, who chairs the committee, wrote in a letter sent to the AGs of Massachusetts and New York.
Smith is reiterating his demand for documents related to AGs and environmentalists investigating Exxon based on reports by liberal reporters the company allegedly misled investors and the public on climate science.
New York AG Eric Schneiderman kicked off Exxon investigations in November, alleging the company misled investors on the risks global warming pose to its business. Massachusetts and the U.S. Virgin Islands quickly followed Schneiderman’s lead and began their own probes into Exxon.
“Characterizing your investigation as solely focused on Exxon and its statements is a misrepresentation,” Smith wrote. “The publicly available subpoenas issued by members of the ‘Green 20’ are overbroad and would, in fact, capture communications between and among scientists at universities conducting federally funded scientific research, as well as between and among numerous non-profit organizations.”
