The pendulum continues to swing against major global oil companies as a leftist anti-fossil fuel movement continues to blame global oil and gas companies for a myriad of problems for which they also played a part, particularly greenhouse gas emissions. This well-funded movement is now going into hyper drive, joining hands with a left leaning media and global political correctness run amuck.
However, their agenda took a hit on Tuesday when The New York State Supreme Court ended a four year saga for storied oil and gas major ExxonMobil by putting to rest a $1.6 billion lawsuit brought by the state. The Court found that the New York Attorney General “failed to prove” that ExxonMobil mislead shareholders over the true cost of climate change.
“The Office of the Attorney General failed to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that ExxonMobil made any material misstatements or omissions about its practices and procedures that misled any reasonable investor,” Judge Barry Ostrager of the trial-level state Supreme Court wrote in his ruling.
“The office of the Attorney General produced no testimony from any investor who claimed to have been misled by any disclosure, even though the Office of the Attorney General had previously represented it would call such individuals as trial witnesses,” he added.
After the ruling, ExxonMobil responded in fashion. “Today’s ruling affirms the position ExxonMobil has held throughout the New York Attorney General’s baseless investigation,” company spokesperson Casey Norton said in a statement.
“We provided our investors with accurate information on the risks of climate change. The court agreed that the Attorney General failed to make a case, even with the extremely low threshold of the Martin Act in its favor.”
He added that ExxonMobil would continue to invest in technologies seeking to reduce emissions.
According to legal experts the case was “dismissed with prejudice” which means that it’s not going to be retried on the same facts in the state. It’s also not likely that the case will go to New York State Appellate Court or to a federal court.
Though this is a major win for ExxonMobil and for the oil and gas sector in general, more of these cases will materialize against other oil and gas majors in the future as the green left pursues its agenda.
However, as the left stirs up more anti-oil and gas problems, it has to be asked how they conducted their lives over the past several decades. How did the heat their homes, fuel their cars, what kind of fuel did/does the aircraft use when they fly? The same questions were asked of Al Gore a few years ago as he jet-set across the global in a hydrocarbon fuel burning airplane to push his global warming agenda.
It’s simply disingenuous to bring claims against companies that you knowingly benefited from both in the present and in the past. However, logic, fair play and common sense seldom matter to this group. For now, both the oil and gas industry as well as ExxonMobil can celebrate, but at the same time come to terms with the reality that they are and will be in the crosshairs of a growing, well-funded radicalized movement.
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