California Dems back attorney general’s Exxon investigation

Nineteen Democratic members of California’s congressional delegation are encouraging their attorney general to continue her investigation into ExxonMobil Corp.’s climate science. 

In a letter to Attorney General and Senate candidate Kamala Harris (D), the Democrats said they were “supportive of your investigation” into allegations that Exxon misled the public about what it knew about climate change. 

{mosads}They said a probe from House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) into the validity of the investigation amounts to “baseless allegations against you” that “are nothing more than part of his continued agenda to assault climate science.”

“If ExxonMobil and other oil companies hid the science of climate change and embarked on a massive campaign of public deception, the American people deserve to know,” the members, led by Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), wrote in their letter.

Harris is one of a score of state attorneys general looking into Exxon, and was one of the first to launch an investigation into the company after news articles about the oil giant’s climate science came out late last year.

Exxon has denied that it covered up its studies into climate change. GOP members of Congress and oil-state attorneys general have said the investigations amount to a violation of the company’s free speech rights, and Smith asked many of the investigating attorneys general last month to report to him on potential collusion during their probes.

“The actions of the attorneys general and the environmental activist groups have the potential to chill the scientific process,” he said in a statement earlier this month.

Many of the attorneys general declined Smith’s request, with Harris’s office calling it “inaccurate and unfortunate.” 

In their letter, the California Democrats backed her position.

“We support your investigation into whether ExxonMobil lied about the truth of climate change and misled investors, and we denounce Chairman Smith’s actions as a flagrant abuse of power,” they wrote.