ExxonMobil seeks revocation of New York subpoena

ExxonMobil recently filed an amended complaint in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, requesting that the court invalidate a subpoena from New York Attorney General Eric Schnederman on the basis of the state’s investigation being biased.

“Attorney General Schneiderman has publicly accused ExxonMobil of engaging in a ‘massive securities fraud’ without any basis whatsoever, and (Massachusetts) Attorney General (Maura) Healey declared, before her investigation even began that she knew how it would end: with a finding that ExxonMobil violated the law,” the complaint said. “The improper political bias that inspired the New York and Massachusetts investigations disqualifies Attorneys General Schneiderman and Healey from serving as the disinterested prosecutors required by the Constitution.”

Schneiderman and other state attorneys general, including Healey, have been investigating ExxonMobil’s history of climate research. Shneiderman also recently began investigating a stranded asset theory, which examines whether ExxonMobil will be able to produce its oil and gas reserves in the future due to efforts to address climate change and, therefore, how those assets should be reported in the company’s estimation of proved reserves.

“It is now apparent that Attorney General Schneiderman is simply searching for a legal theory, however flimsy, that will allow him to pressure ExxonMobil on the policy debate over climate change.”