Tom Steyer, the liberal billionaire who bankrolled opposition to the Keystone XL oil pipeline, has turned his sights on ExxonMobil, and is using his well-funded super PAC to push New Hampshire’s attorney general to investigate the oil company.
Steyer’s political action committee, NextGen Climate Action, will hold a rally Thursday to “call on New Hampshire Attorney General Joseph Foster to join the investigation of Exxon Mobil and find the truth about whether Exxon Mobil intentionally misled the public about the risk climate change and fossil fuels pose to our communities,” according to a press release.
NextGen wants Foster to join state prosecutors from California, Massachusetts, New York and the U.S. Virgin Islands who are investigating whether Exxon allegedly misled the public on the science behind global warming.
The investigations are based on reporting by InsideClimate News and Columbia University claiming Exxon has known the risks of global warming for decades, but funded groups, largely right-wing ones, skeptical of global warming and environmental regulations.
New Hampshire has not begun any investigation into Exxon, but has joined liberal states in supporting the Environmental Protection Agency’s so-called Clean Power Plan. Foster was the only New England attorney general to not attend a recent meeting hosted by New York AG Eric Schneiderman to show support for EPA rules and probe Exxon’s global warming stance.
Foster’s office, however, has requested “to be included in the groups’ emails and phone calls,” reports the Concord Monitor. Foster will now be up to date on Schneiderman’s coalition actions when it comes to probing Exxon.
New Hampshire may be hesitant to join such a politically-charged investigation, especially in light of recently uncovered emails showing Schneiderman and other AGs met behind closed doors with environmental activists.
Energy & Environment Legal Institute released emails showing the New York attorney general’s office invited two prominent environmental activists to give presentations to a group of state prosecutors about “climate change litigation” and the “imperative of taking action now on climate change.”
Eco-activists gave these presentations behind closed doors the same day New York AG Eric Schneiderman was joined by more than a dozen other attorneys general and former Vice President Al Gore in condemning Exxon for “fraud” and “deceiving the American people.”
Emails also show Schneiderman’s staff told environmentalists coming to lecture state AGs on global warming to not confirm their attendance of the closed-door meetings.
“These emails show Schneiderman’s office suggested their outside-activist green allies deceive the press; meanwhile, AGs in his coalition have subpoenaed at least one policy group’s correspondence with the media,” David Schnare, general counsel with the Energy & Environment Legal Institute said in a statement.
NextGen’s New Hampshire office did not respond to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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