Friday, May 26, 2017

Examining Rex on Exxon's Climate Change Records

Exxon Climate Change Cover Up: What Did Exxon and CEO Rex Tillerson Know and What Did They Do About It?

by TRNN


May 26, 2017

To discuss the latest development in this investigation, we are joined by one of the investigative journalists who first broke the story, David Hasemyer from San Diego. David is a reporter with Inside Climate News. He is also a co-author of, "Exxon, the Road not Taken," which was a 2016 litzer Prize finalist and winner of the John B. Oakes Award for distinguished environmental journalism. He also co-authored, "Dilbit Disaster, Inside the Biggest Oil Spill You've Never Heard of," which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for national reporting.




Rex Tillerson now acknowledges climate change science, but as CEO of Exxon Mobile did he do anything about it? The New York State Attorney General wants to know says Investigative journalist David Hasemeyer


In 2015, investigative reports by Inside Climate News and the Columbia School of Journalism revealed that Exxon had known as early as 1968 about climate change risks, and that it had misled its shareholders and the public about those risks. In November 2015 following these revelations, New York's attorney general Eric Schneiderman launched an investigation under states securities and consumer protection laws into whether Exxon properly disclosed those climate change risks.

Schneiderman issued to Exxon a subpoena seeking decades of records related to Exxon's history of research into and knowledge of climate change. Nine months later, Schneiderman expanded his investigation by issuing a subpoena to Exxon's auditors, PriceWaterhouse Coopers. The accounting firm, which has expertise in climate related risks faced by fossil fuel companies, has remained neutral in the legal fight, but has honored Exxon's request not to turn over documents pending the outcome of litigation over those documents.

In 2016, the attorney general of Massachusetts, Maura Healey, joined the investigation against Exxon. Earlier this week, there was a significant development in the New York State investigation. A New York State Appeals court dismissed Exxon's appeal from a lower court decision upholding Schneiderman's subpoena to Exxon's auditors. Exxon had asked the lower court to quash the subpoena on the basis that under the laws of Texas, where Exxon is head quartered, communications between Exxon and its auditors are privileged.

InsideClimate News reporter David Hasemyer is co-author of "Exxon: The Road Not Taken" which was a 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist and winner of the John B. Oakes Award for Distinguished Environmental Journalism. He was also the co-author of "Dilbit Disaster: Inside the Biggest Oil Spill You've Never Heard Of," which won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for National Reporting. Prior to joining ICN in 2012, he was an award-winning investigative reporter at the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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