Alex Epstein had a terse response to a subpoena sent by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey Wednesday.
Healey demanded the oil giant ExxonMobil hand over 40 years of documents, including information pertaining to the company’s dealings with about a dozen think tanks and trade associations, which have been targeted by environmental groups for opposing left-wing global warming policies.
Healey’s subpoena targeted the Center for Industrial Progress (CIP), a for-profit think tank founded by Epstein. Epstein wasn’t exactly happy about being targeted for disagreeing with Healey on global warming, so he sent the AG’s office the following response:
My response to Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey. pic.twitter.com/lFFhIPFMls
— Alex Epstein (@AlexEpstein) June 15, 2016
Healey subpoenaed Exxon as part of a multi-state effort among liberal prosecutors to investigate the company for allegedly trying to cover up global warming science. Healey alleges the oil giant lied to shareholders and consumers about the risks of global warming in its communications and shareholder filings, according to a copy of the subpoena obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.
She’s targeting CIP and other prominent conservative groups, like the Heritage Foundation and Americans for Prosperity (AFP), because of their supposed ties to Exxon. The only problem is, neither CIP nor AFP are funded by Exxon.
Healey isn’t the first AG to target groups that disagree with her on global warming policy. Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker subpoenaed Exxon for records regarding dozens of conservative think tanks, policy experts and scientists in March.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman was the first state law enforcer to investigate Exxon’s global warming stance, based on reporting by liberal journalists at InsideClimate News and Columbia University that Exxon had been covering up climate science for decades while funding right-wing activist groups.
“Financial damages alone may be insufficient,” Schneiderman said in March. “The First Amendment does not give you the right to commit fraud.”
Exxon has fought back against Healey’s subpoena, filing a complaint against the attorney general’s legal salvo.
Exxon’s lawyers said the subpoena “constitutes an abusive fishing expedition into ExxonMobil’s climate change research over the past 40 years, without any basis for believing that ExxonMobil violated Massachusetts law.”
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