CAMBRIDGE (April 13, 2018)—Massachusetts’s highest court affirmed that Massachusetts’ attorney general has the authority to investigate ExxonMobil for allegedly seeking to confuse the public and its shareholders about the dangers of its products.
Below is a statement by Ken Kimmell, Union of Concerned Scientists president.
“Massachusetts’ highest court has unanimously ruled that Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey has the authority to investigate ExxonMobil. There is ample evidence that the company knew decades ago that its products, fossil fuels, are the main contributor to climate change. The question is whether ExxonMobil broke any of the Commonwealth’s laws when, despite that knowledge, it sought to confuse the public and policymakers about climate science and block state and federal action to address global warming.
“The public and ExxonMobil’s shareholders have a right to know that the impacts of climate change are worse because we’ve been sitting on our hands rather than addressing the problem. Sea levels rise are higher, heavy rains are heavier and the wildfire season has gotten longer and is more severe. ExxonMobil bears an outsize responsibility for climate change—not only due to emissions from the burning of its products, but also for its support of a documented, concerted disinformation campaign. It is entirely appropriate that Massachusetts’ Attorney General gets to the bottom of it.”