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posted by martyb on Friday November 06 2015, @10:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the "ExxonMobil"-is-not-"Exxon-Mobil" dept.

Exxon Mobil is facing an investigation by New York's attorney general:

New York's attorney general would like to know: Did Exxon Mobil lie to you about the risks of climate change and to investors about how those risks might reduce profits?

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman's office confirms that a New York Times story is correct in reporting that an investigation has been launched into Exxon Mobil. That story said Schneiderman issued a subpoena on Wednesday, seeking financial records, emails and other documents.

The goal is to examine whether back in the 1970s, Exxon Mobil funded groups to undermine scientific studies involving climate change. Also, the attorney general is investigating whether the oil giant properly informed its investors of the profit risks that might arise as countries cut back on fossil fuels.

In a statement, Exxon Mobil confirms it is under investigation and says its executives "unequivocally reject allegations that ExxonMobil suppressed climate change research."

[More after the break.]

From that New York Times story:

According to people with knowledge of the investigation, Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued a subpoena Wednesday evening to Exxon Mobil, demanding extensive financial records, emails and other documents. The investigation focuses on whether statements the company made to investors about climate risks as recently as this year were consistent with the company's own long-running scientific research. The people said the inquiry would include a period of at least a decade during which Exxon Mobil funded outside groups that sought to undermine climate science, even as its in-house scientists were outlining the potential consequences — and uncertainties — to company executives.

[...] News reporting in the last eight months added impetus to the investigation, they said. In February, several news organizations, including The New York Times, reported that a Smithsonian researcher who had published papers questioning established climate science, Wei-Hock Soon, had received extensive funds from fossil fuel companies, including Exxon Mobil, without disclosing them. That struck some experts as similar to the activities of tobacco companies. More recently, Inside Climate News and The Los Angeles Times have reported that Exxon Mobil was well aware of the risks of climate change from its own scientific research, and used that research in its long-term planning for activities like drilling in the Arctic, even as it funded groups from the 1990s to the mid-2000s that denied serious climate risks.

Related: Investigation Finds Exxon Ignored its Own Early Climate Change Warnings


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @08:34AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 07 2015, @08:34AM (#259874)

    Gov't agencies? Better funded than the petroleum industry? I'mma bustagut laughing....

    Newsbreak: Petroleum industry owns the government.

  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:36PM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 07 2015, @03:36PM (#259991) Journal

    Gov't agencies? Better funded than the petroleum industry? I'mma bustagut laughing....

    The petroleum industry doesn't do a thing with climate research any more than the US military does. If you're going to compare like to like, you need to compare who's actually doing stuff in climate research or the associated propaganda. For example, much has been made (as in this story) of Wei-Hock Soon's funding by the fossil fuel industry. But almost nothing has been said about Jagadish Shukla [wikipedia.org], the initiator of the recent "RICO" letter [nationalreview.com] who received about ten times as much funding over a similar period from the US government for climate research that swings the other way.

    Petroleum industry owns the government

    Which, if you think about it, is a completely delusional thing to say. There wouldn't even be climate research in the US government, if that were the case. There wouldn't be onerous OSHA and EPA regulations on oil drilling or refining. The Keystone XL pipeline expansion wouldn't be blocked for transparently bogus reasons, but would have been hustled through to approve seven or more years ago. The US government has cost the petroleum industry (including the big companies) a lot of money which just wouldn't happen, if your assertion were even remotely correct.