Exxon Mobil is asking a federal court to block a state attorney general’s investigation into the oil giant’s handling of climate change data, saying the probe infringes on the company’s constitutionally protected rights.
Exxon’s filing for relief Wednesday in Texas district court comes as more than a dozen Democratic state attorneys general are investigating the company for possible fraud in its handling of global warming. The AGs have subpoenaed the company for 40 years of records detailing its communications about climate change.
Wednesday’s court filing targets one of the attorneys general, Maura Healey of Massachusetts, in the hope that a favorable ruling against one will cover the rest.
Exxon Mobil in the filing says Healey is abusing her law enforcement and investigative powers “to silence a speaker she disfavors.”
“Through her actions, Attorney General Healey has deprived and will continue to deprive Exxon Mobil of its rights under the United States Constitution, the Texas Constitution, and the common law,” the court motion says.
Many scientists blame the burning of fossil fuels such as crude oil for raising the temperature of the Earth’s atmosphere, resulting in sea-level rise, more drought and flooding.
The investigations were initiated after news organizations reported that Exxon in the 1970s refrained from releasing its own internal findings on the effects of global warming from burning fossil fuels.
Environmental activists say the company covered up its findings to protect its sizable market interest in producing and distributing fossil fuels. But the company disagrees.
The allegations the attorneys general raise “are nothing more than a weak pretext for an unlawful exercise of government power to further political objectives,” it says. Exxon argues that the investigations are actually detering it from “participating in ongoing public deliberations about climate change.” It has had a “longstanding public recognition of the risks of climate change,” the company says.
The company’s filing also says that the attorneys general investigating the firm have been collaborating with climate change activists for years about leveraging their prosecutorial powers to drive action on climate change.
Ahead of the court action, a group of congressional Republicans sent a letter to the Justice Department, asking U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch to not open a federal investigation of Exxon as the state AGs have done.
Rep. John Radcliffe, R-Texas, chairman of the infrastructure panel on the homeland security committee, and four other lawmakers, said the investigations are only meant to silence political rivals.
“In America, we do not prosecute our political opponents, much less those who merely express views on policy that differ for our own,” the letter reads. “It is not the role of law enforcement officials [the AGs] to address perceived shortcomings in our legislative process by using their investigative and prosecutorial powers to bully private entities into compliance with their preferred policies.”
