ExxonMobil has been the target of a growing number of state attorneys general investigating whether the company lied about its climate change research since last November.
Alaska’s new Attorney General Jahna Lindemuth has jumped into that fight. Some lawmakers say it’s a flip-flop from the state’s original decision not to investigate the company.
Some also say the state shouldn’t waste money getting tangled up in a lawsuit.
While Alaska’s attorney general isn’t yet willing to weigh in on whether ExxonMobil lied about its climate change research, she is ready to battle the company in regards to its tactics in fighting the investigation.
Some states have subpoenaed financial and research records from the company. Exxon has fought back in court by suing to block those subpoenas.
Former Attorney General Craig Richards signed a memo in June cautioning attorneys general nationwide against aligning themselves with environmentalists and investigating the company.
Lindemuth, who took the top lawyer’s job earlier this month, signed onto a amici curiae, or friend of the court, brief arguing against Exxon’s move to block one such investigation.
Exxon is asking a federal court in Texas to block a Massachusetts state subpoena and Lindemuth said this is an issue of federal overreach.
“The issue in that case is whether a large corporation — and it could be Exxon, it could be any large corporation — can go to a jurisdiction outside of the state where those investigations are happening and try to quash the investigation from a federal court in a different state,” she said.
States should have the right to protect consumers and investigate fraud cases in state courts rather than battling them out in federal courts, Lindemuth said.
Two House Republicans are criticizing her for what they say is a reversal of course for the state: House Speaker Mike Chenault and Judiciary Committee Chair Gabrielle LeDoux say the state shouldn’t have a role in the lawsuit.
LeDoux, a former attorney, said she has not read the brief Lindemuth’s signed, but she doesn’t think the state should get involved.
“I just don’t think that in our time of limited resources that we should be spending money going to war with our major industry,” LeDoux said.
The attorney general’s office said just because Lindemuth signed the brief, doesn’t mean state will be compelled to appear in court as the lawsuit plays out in other states.
No one from Exxon returned a phone call seeking comment.
