One of the attorneys general investigating Exxon Mobil’s climate record signed a letter urging President-elect Donald Trump to continue the Obama administration’s environmental regulations.
Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, who has spent the past year investigating Exxon’s climate research, was one of several attorneys general to sign a letter asking Trump not to trash the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan.
The letter was signed by 19 attorneys general and paints a dire, almost apocalyptic picture of what the U.S. would look like if President Barack Obama’s CPP is not allowed to take effect.
The letter hashes out a laundry list of reasons why the CPP must be implemented.
“[W]e advocate that you reject misguided advice that the Clean Power Plan be discarded; advice that, if followed, would assuredly lead to more litigation,” the letter reads. “Instead, we urge you to support the defense of this critically-important rule and the implementation of its carefully constructed strategies to reduce emissions from the nation’s largest sources.”
Healey has been embroiled in a legal battle over the past three months with Exxon’s lawyers and a Texas judge who believes her investigation is a political gambit rather than a legitimate quest for truth.
Texas federal judge Ed Kinkeade said in October that he suspected the Massachusetts Democrat of acting in “bad faith” when she issued a subpoena to the oil company for 30-years worth of documents related to the company’s information about climate change.
Healey’s investigation was part of a multi-state effort among liberal attorneys general, lawmakers, and celebrities to probe Exxon for allegedly trying to cover up decades of global warming science.
New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a Democrat who has made no bones about his disdain for Trump’s environmental positions, was among those who signed the letter. He is also investigating Exxon for similar reasons.
Schneiderman was not satisfied with merely grousing about Trump, so he launched a probe of Donald J. Trump Foundation in September to ensure its compliance with state regulations governing charities. The New York Democrat has also refused to allow Trump to dissolve the foundation until his investigation is completed.
He hosted a conference in March with other AGs, which included Healey, when it was announced that more prosecutors would probe Exxon and fight back against what they called Republican attacks on federal environmental regulations.
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