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Joined By Former VP Gore, AGs Investigating Fossil Fuel Companies

Former Vice President Al Gore joins a group of state attorneys general Tuesday in announcing a coalition aimed at combating climate change. Top: New York AG Eric Schneiderman speaking. Bottom: Former Vice President Al Gore speaking
Facebook: Eric T. Schneiderman
Former Vice President Al Gore joins a group of state attorneys general Tuesday in announcing a coalition aimed at combating climate change. Top: New York AG Eric Schneiderman speaking. Bottom: Former Vice President Al Gore speaking

Former Vice President Al Gore joined a number of state attorneys general Tuesday in announcing a coalition aimed at combating climate change.The law enforcement leaders of 15 states, including New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Vermont, are working together to investigate whether fossil fuel companies misled investors and the public on the impact of climate change on their businesses. A Nobel Prize winner for his climate work, Gore joined the AGs for the one-day conference.

“Today may well be looked back upon as a real turning point in the effort to hold to account those commercial interests that have been, according to the best available evidence, deceiving the American people, communicating in a fraudulent way both about the reality of the climate crisis and the dangers it poses to all of us and committing fraud in their communications about the viability of renewable energy, efficiency and storage that together are posing this great competitive challenge to the long reliance on carbon-based fuels.”

New York’s Eric Schneiderman convened the group with the help of William Sorrell from Vermont. Schneiderman, a Democrat, says some fossil fuel companies use leading climate science to plan for raising oil rigs as sea levels rise and drilling in Arctic areas where they couldn’t 20 years ago as ice sheets recede.

“And yet they have told the public for years that there were no competent models – that was the specific term used by an Exxon executive not so long ago – to project climate patterns, including those in the Arctic,” Schneiderman said. “And we know that they paid millions of dollars to support organizations that put out propaganda denying that we can predict or measure the effect of fossil fuels on our climate or even denying that climate change was happening. There have been those who have raised the question, ‘Aren’t you interfering with people’s First Amendment rights?’ The First Amendment, ladies and gentleman, does not give you the right to commit fraud.”

Gore likened the ongoing battle over climate change to the crackdown on the tobacco industry in the 1990s.

“From the time the tobacco companies were first found out as evidenced by the historic attorneys general’s report of 1964, it took 40 years for them to be held to account under the law,” Gore said. “We do not have 40 years to continue suffering the consequences of the fraud allegedly being committed by the fossil fuel companies where climate change is concerned.”

Last year, New York reached a settlement with Peabody Energy – the world’s largest private-sector coal company – concerning Peabody’s misleading financial statements and disclosures. The company agreed to more fully disclose to its investors financial risks from future government regulations related to climate change that could reduce product demand.  New York and Massachusetts are investigating ExxonMobil for similar alleged conduct. Maura Healey is the commonwealth’s attorney general.

“We can all see today the troubling disconnect between what Exxon knew, what industry folks knew and what the company and industry chose to share with investors and with the American public,” said Healey.

Conveying that the coalition members share the same climate change goals, Schneiderman stressed that states have different statutes for pursuing alleged misconduct.

“This is not a situation where financial damages alone can deal with the problem,” Schneiderman said. “We have to change conduct.”

In a statement, ExxonMobil Vice President of Public and Government Affairs Suzanne McCarron said that allegations the company deceived the public about climate change are politically motivated and based on the false premise that Exxon reached definitive conclusions about climate change before the world’s experts and before the science itself had matured. She said the allegations are an attempt to limit free speech and the investigations could have a chilling effect on private sector research. Exxon says it recognizes the risks posed by climate change and believes everyone should be engaged in meaningful action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Members of the attorneys generals’ group also filed a brief with the D.C. District Court Tuesday defending President Obama’s Clean Power Plan.

Jim is WAMC’s Associate News Director and hosts WAMC's flagship news programs: Midday Magazine, Northeast Report and Northeast Report Late Edition. Email: jlevulis@wamc.org
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