Exxon says N.Y. attorney general distorting company’s climate data

Exxon Mobil Corp. accused New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman of wildly distorting in court how the company calculates the long-term financial impact of climate change on its assets.

Last week, Schneiderman revealed detailed findings from the two-year probe, including “significant evidence” that Exxon may have been using two sets of numbers — one public and one secret — to calculate the impact of climate change on its oil and gas reserves.

He also accused Irving-based Exxon of allowing emails relevant to the probe to be deleted, including those in a secondary account for former Chief Executive Officer Rex Tillerson under the alias Wayne Tracker.

That filing was “filled with inflammatory, reckless and false allegations of an ‘ongoing fraudulent scheme’ and ‘sham’ business practices,” Exxon said Friday in a court filing in Manhattan. The oil giant urged a judge to reject a fresh subpoena in the case.

Schneiderman’s probe into whether Exxon misled investors about its approach to global warming is a cover for the attorney general’s “transparent political ambitions,” Exxon said.

Schneiderman’s press office didn’t immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment. A hearing in the case is scheduled June 16 in Manhattan.

Exxon, which also owns XTO Energy based in Fort Worth, has a separate lawsuit against Schneiderman pending in federal court in New York in which the company seeks to force an end to the probe on the grounds that it was started in “bad faith” as part of an environmental witch hunt.

This story contains material from the Star-Telegram archives.

This story was originally published June 9, 2017 at 4:18 PM with the headline "Exxon says N.Y. attorney general distorting company’s climate data."