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Virgin Islands and Exxon Agree to Uneasy Truce Over Climate Probe | InsideClimate Ne... Page 4 of 10
General Eric Schneiderman. They have vowed
to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for
their conduct on climate change. Of the 17,
only three—Schneiderman, Walker and Maura
Healey of Massachusetts—have subpoenaed
Exxon. When the coalition was announced on
March 29, Walker described the Virgin Islands'
fight against Exxon as one of David versus
Goliath and pledged to do something
"transformational" to end reliance on fossil
fuels. So far, he is the only attorney general to
say he is investigating the company for
racketeering, and he also widened the probe by
subpoenaing CEI, tactics that some now say
were overreaching.
Had Walker continued with his subpoena
against Exxon and Exxon continued its lawsuit
against the attorney general, some said it could
have undermined the entire coalition.
"He [Walker] gets out of a case which could
have threatened the game plan of the attorney
general coalition that he belongs to," said
Robert Collings an energy and environmental
attorney with the law firm Schnader Harrison
Segal & Lewis LLP. "If one federal court looks at
the Virgin Islands' subpoena and decides that it
is faulty, then you could have a case created
that establishes at least an influence on other
state litigation, if not a precedent, that would
control their ability to bring their own actions
and subpoenas in the future."
Daniel Rlesel, an attorney with New York based
environmental law firm Sive, Paget & Riesel,
said the damage may have already been done.
"You have the attorney general from the Virgin
Islands doing this grandstand act where he has
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https://insideclimatenews.org/news/06072016/virgin-islands-exxon-agree-climate-probe-sub... 8/1/2016