BTW, I’m a securities lawyer. This is total BS.
- The actual issue would be whether Exxon misled investors during the 1980s and 1990s until it started mentioning global warming in its filings circa 2001.
- But there is no evidence that, to date, global warming has harmed Exxon’s business (or shareholders).
- Exxon has been “disclosing” the risk of global warming since 2001. So no wrongdoing.
Case closed. This investigation is pure political persecution.
Read the International Business Times report.
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This could be a boon for those of us that have been trying to show the world that catastrophic global warming is a fraud. Exxon will probably have to fight this, hopefully they won’t roll over like BP did on the gulf oil spill.
The state must prove that Exxon didn’t share with investors that global warming was a business risk. In other words, the state must prove that global warming is a sugnificant business risk, that Exxon knew this, and consciously held the information from their investors. Exxon did significant research on the potential impact, and I’m sure that there were differing opinions at the time. However, I’m willing to bet that the corporate decision was that the problem was not significant. Today, there’s a plethora of experts more than willing to support that decision, plus many more that will share their research on other contributing factors to climate change, with AGW being effectively insignificant. This is one venue where the opposing view cannot be shut out, where warmists can be cross examined and data can be demanded, examined, and critiqued.
If Exxon decides to take the high road, the state prosecutors could get much more than they ever expected.