ExxonMobil is preparing for two court dates this month after alleging that a climate change probe initiated by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey is politically motivated.
According to the Boston Globe, Exxon has filed a lawsuit claiming that Healey violated the company’s right to free speech and other constitutionally protected rights.
The oil giant is also looking to demonstrate that Healey reached conclusions about the case before launching her probe.
Healey launched a probe into Exxon earlier this year to determine if the company properly disclosed potential impacts climate change could have on investors and consumers.
Exxon will ask the Suffolk County Superior Court this week to order Healey to testify and provide documents about her office’s probe, the Globe said.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Ed Kinkeade from the Northern District of Texas ordered Healey to appear for questioning on December 13, according to Bloomberg.
“We have no choice but to defend ourselves against politically motivated investigations that are biased, in bad faith, and without legal merit,” Exxon media relations manager Alan T. Jeffers told the Boston Globe.
Exxon has previously denied any wrongdoing and has noted that it has included information about climate related business risks for many years in its 10-K, Corporate Citizenship Report, and in other reports to shareholders.
In October, Judge Kinkeade said Healey may have demonstrated “bad faith” during her investigation.
Kinkeade said he was concerned that Healey issued a subpoena requesting information from Exxon while presupposing what her probe would uncover.
Healey is one of several attorney generals who attended a joint press conference in March announcing plans to investigate Exxon.
Exxon confirmed in November 2015 that it received a subpoena from New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman for documents “relating to climate change.”
Schneiderman’s office has not publicly commented on the case.
News of Schneiderman’s investigation broke late last year following reports from InsideClimate News and the L.A. Times alleging that Exxon utilized climate change data to make operational decisions while working to publicly downplay science on global warming.
Exxon called those reports “inaccurate and deliberately misleading” and said they ignored evidence Exxon provided of its “continuous and publicly available climate research.”
