On Tuesday, the Free Market Environmental Law Clinic (FME Law) filed a lawsuit against New York attorney general Eric Schneiderman, in an attempt to obtain correspondence between Schneiderman’s office and progressive billionaire Tom Steyer. FME Law alleges that the correspondence may reveal a political motive behind the attorney general’s controversial probe into ExxonMobil — specifically, that Attorney General Schneiderman hoped to gain Steyer’s support for a potential 2018 gubernatorial run, and that launching an investigation into one of Steyer’s enemies represented a quid pro quo.
Schneiderman’s ExxonMobil probe began last November, when he subpoenaed the energy giant for 40 years’ worth of internal documents related to climate change. In March of this year, he launched Green 20, a coalition of 20 Democratic attorneys general, with one mission: “Limiting climate change and ensuring the dissemination of accurate information about climate change.” Schneiderman, Massachusetts attorney general Maura Healey, and others have argued that ExxonMobil was aware of climate change and its consequences for decades, but failed to disclose its findings to the public. Green 20 critics such as Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, however, have contended that the coalition is making a “grave mistake”: using its law-enforcement authority in the context of a public-policy debate.
The timing of Schneiderman’s suit is certainly suspicious. Just four months after Schneiderman filed, he attempted to arrange a meeting with Steyer, an environmental activist and the founder of NextGen Climate Action — a political action committee that focuses on climate change. “Eric Schneiderman would like to have a call with Tom regarding support for his race for governor . . . regarding Exxon case,” a March 10 e-mail by Steyer’s lawyer Ted White read.
Two months after that email was written, FME Law requested correspondence between Steyer and the attorney general’s office under New York’s freedom of information law. But the attorney general’s office denied FME Law’s requests on the grounds that Schneiderman was investigating ExxonMobil; “disclosure of the requested records,” Schneiderman’s office argued, “would interfere with the Attorney General’s law enforcement powers.” It’s certainly unclear how granting FME Law access to correspondence with a billionaire donor would interfere with Schneiderman’s law-enforcement powers.
