Professor Frank Comments on Potential for ExxonMobil Investigation

Professor of Environmental Practice Richard Frank commented for Inside Climate News on the potential for California to join New York in investigating whether ExxonMobil misrepresented the risks of climate change to investors and the public.  New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman opened such an investigation last year, and R. L. Miller, a co-founder of Climate Hawks Vote and the chairwoman of the California Democratic Party's environmental caucus, has called for California and other states to open similar probes.

Professor Frank said that California has statutes "powerful and broad enough" to support an investigation. "The facts seem pretty obvious based on what's been put on the public record that there are serious questions or alarms to incentivize the attorney general to proceed in a more formal way," said Frank. "If the facts become as obvious here as they appear to be to the New York attorney general, then I think moving forward with a formal investigation would be something the attorney general would consider."

Frank, a 1974 graduate of King Hall, is a leader in the field of environmental law and the founding Director of the California Environmental Law and Policy Center at UC Davis School of Law.

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