KEITH ELLISON Atty Gen

TRUMP TARGET 1 26

new disaggr 10/21

rule 23

see SAAG

academic and judicial suppression

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mmA 8 26

August 17, 2026, edition of America First, streamed on Rumble

NICK FUENTES (HOST): There's an alternate timeline by the way, where Candace Owens doesn't exist and Tucker Carlson doesn't exist. And a week after Charlie Kirk is assassinated, we round up antifa, we round up the DSA, we round up the far-left agitators and activists and foot soldiers and donors, and we make it so that they are never able to hold power over us ever again. There's an alternate timeline where that happens.

And by the way, there's a ripple effect. Think about the timeline. Charlie Kirk killed on September 10. Few months later, we discover the fraud in Somalia about the $8 billion these Somalis are stealing from us. We uncover the extent of this. We send Customs and Border Patrol and ICE into the city to clean it up. Who shut it down? When ICE came to Minneapolis to prevent these foreigners from stealing from us -- And this is in The New York Times, they said Somalians stole $9 billion from Minnesota taxpayers. And when the Minnesota attorney general found out about it, the Somalian community said, “If you try to press charges, we will accuse you of racism. We'll bring the DOJ down on you. We'll accuse you of racism and say you're discriminating against us.”

This is the contempt with which these fucking people hold us in -- the left and their foreign-born allies. We send in ICE to clean this up and who stood in the way and prevented ICE from deporting these people or shutting down the fraud? It was the same radical left that killed Charlie Kirk, that was chasing ICE through the streets in cars, that was punching them and trying to attack them as they apprehended illegal immigrants. And that's ultimately why we don't have mass deportations.

Think of the ripple effect. If we had held the left accountable in September 2025, we could have deported the Somalis in December 2025. We could carry out mass deportations without ICE agents having covered their face out of fear of retaliation. We could deport illegals without ICE agents having to fear being sniped at or blown up at ICE facilities.

---

TARGET?

February 12, 2026, edition of Newsmax's Carl Higbie Frontline

CARL HIGBIE (HOST): So the fact of the matter is, this guy, by all available information, Keith Ellison, stifled the investigation until it couldn't be kept quiet. And he said, oh, I cooperated with the investigation. No, you did not. Here, this is from the House's own -- Democrat House, their own report said, look at those two middle ones.

Minnesota Department of Education received 30 complaints involving Feeding Our Future between June 2018 and December 2021. Minnesota Department of Education did not investigate some complaints about Feeding our Future despite their frequency or serious -- this is from 2018 and only after whistleblowers started going public three years later, and the FBI got involved and the IRS got involved. Only then did Keith Ellison's attorney general's office even lift a single finger, just so they wouldn't look like they're trying to cover it up. This case was entirely, entirely driven by whistleblowers, and then it was prosecuted by U.S. federal attorneys, not local attorneys. So don't sit there and lie through your teeth about how you tried to stop your law -- we didn't like this fraud. But here's the part that should probably land him in handcuffs, and I hope this committee refers him for criminal charges.

...

HIGBIE: Dead to rights. Ellison is sitting there denying this whole conversation that he had. But it's on tape. This is worse than Bill Clinton debating what the meaning of the word is is. I mean, is this guy stupid? And Hawley just kept dropping transcripts.

...

HIGBIE: He's just reading it. What did Ellison think was going to happen here? I mean, I've seen enough, and apparently so has the good senator.

...

HIGBIE: Yup. Let's do that. In fact, let's bury this guy under the jail. I mean, this is a layup for the DOJ. Josh Hawley just laid everything out. This is what I want, OK? This is what I voted for. All these people in jail. I think this is what basically everybody who voted for Trump wanted. Arrest the people who steal our money and break our laws and think they're above it. Pam Bondi could totally redeem herself from yesterday. I would be her number one cheerleader if she went out there and indicted him tomorrow. You have a politician soliciting and being offered a donation on tape in exchange for dropping a fraud investigation that is the sole responsibility of his office. That turned out to be over $250 million stolen from his people. Not to mention that he let another $9 billion just get lit on fire and thrown out the door. Some of which ended up in Mogadishu. Lock him up.

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an 2 26

Sen Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) couldn't hold back his emotions when Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison smiled during a Senate Homeland Security Committee hearing on Thursday.

"I, as a government official, would have said, 'Back off. Let us work with ICE. Let’s cooperate with them. Let’s see if we can de-escalate this,'" Johnson said, criticizing the way Ellison spoke out about the shooting deaths of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Jeffrey Pretti.

"Two people are dead because you encouraged them to put themselves into harm’s way, and now you’re exploiting those two murders," Johnson claimed, blaming Ellison and others for causing conflict. "That was a tragedy. It never should have happened. We can investigate, but I can’t imagine being a law enforcement official where I know my colleagues have been shot at, their vehicles rammed."

Johnson went on to claim that there were "trained activists" deployed to Minneapolis.

"By the way, we know at least one of those activists had a semiautomatic pistol with extra clips," he claimed. "So now you’re an ICE officer, you’re doing enforcement action. You’ve got a team behind you trying to protect you. You’ve got all these trained activists behind you. Is there any wonder they’re at hair-trigger alert? A tragedy was going to happen and you encouraged it."

"You ought to feel damn guilty about it. Thank you, Mr. Chairman," Johnson closed.

Ellison just grinned at his outburst.

"Yeah, sit there and smirk! Smirk! Sick! It is despicable what you’ve done!" Johnson yelled.

Ellison replied that everything Johnson said "was untrue."

"It was a nice theatrical performance, but it was all lies," Ellison added.

The chairman called on Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) to speak, when Johnson shouted off the microphone, "You disgust me."

---

an 2 26

President Donald Trump's administration rapidly withdrawing federal agents from the Minneapolis-St. Paul area was done to prevent Minnesota officials from obtaining federal records.

That's according to a new court filing the Trump administration submitted Thursday to U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Politico legal correspondent Josh Gerstein tweeted a link to the filing, noting that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) had "fortuitous timing" behind the recent announcement that the DHS was ending "Operation Metro Surge."

The DHS' filing alleges that the State of Minnesota and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison (D) want to go on a "fishing expedition" to obtain records about federal immigration enforcement operations in the Gopher State. The administration argued against Minnesota's motion for expedited discovery by pointing to Thursday's announcement by White House immigration advisor Tom Homan that all federal agents had been pulled out of Minneapolis.

"The unjustified nature of Plaintiffs’ request becomes even more apparent in the light of today’s announcement that Operation Metro Surge will conclude because of the significant progress that has been made in arresting public safety threats as well as the increased cooperation from state and local authorities," the filing read. "This significant development undercuts any need for this case to proceed on an expedited schedule at all ... the Court should deny plaintiffs' motion."

Homan's announcement that he was withdrawing agents from Minnesota's largest city comes after weeks of sustained and escalating protests in the wake of federal agents killing U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti. And Homan's claim of lowering violent crime is questionable, given that the Minneapolis-St. Paul area saw a "drastic decline in murders" between 2024 and 2025, according to Axios.

Additionally, Minnesota Public Radio reported in October that crime in the Minneapolis area has been on a steady decline since 2020 and 2021. The drop in murders, carjackings, robberies and homicides took place well before the Trump administration deployed federal agents to Minneapolis in January.

Following Homan's announcement, MS NOW host Mika Brzezinski argued that the "public is safer in Minneapolis if [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement] gets out" of the city, given agents' pattern of shooting, tear-gassing and pepper-spraying citizens.

"[T]hey didn't go after the worst of the worst," Brzezinski said. "They say they are now — and in a condescending way — say that Minnesota's finally working with them to go into the prisons. No, you are cowering away with your tail between your legs and going toward the prisons."

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AN 1 26

Officials in President Donald Trump's administration have accused both Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz of "domestic terrorism." One legal expert says is arguing that phrase is being used for a specific reason.

In a Tuesday interview with Slate legal writer Mark Joseph Stern, Julia Gegenheimer — a former attorney in the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Civil Rights Division who is now a special litigation counsel at the Georgetown University Law Center – said the Trump administration's use of the word "terrorism" is done with intent to cause harm to leading Democrats in Minnesota.

"It is profoundly disturbing. And the reason why this feels different to you is that it is a bit of a different flavor," she said. "It’s pitting the federal government against the states and creating tension where it doesn’t need to be. And frankly, it’s implicitly encouraging acts of political violence against these elected officials by turning them into the enemy."

The Trump administration has so far issued subpoenas to both Frey and Walz along with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and St. Paul Mayor Kaohly Her, alleging that they conspired to impede law enforcement operations. Stern remarked that the Trump administration was not only "falsely accusing" Frey and Walz of committing political violence, but effectively sowing the seeds for violence to be committed against them. Gegenheimer agreed and asserted this was part and parcel of Trump's agenda in Minneapolis.

"We’ve seen this throughout history, even recent history: When you put people in opposition like that — when you portray them as the enemy, when you describe them as kind of threatening a person’s way of life or things that they hold dear — that creates the conditions under which people are more likely to resort to political violence, and it becomes more and more the norm," Gegenheimer said.

Stern reminded readers that the Trump administration has taken numerous actions to antagonize residents of blue states, along with those states' leaders, in an effort to frame them as the "enemy of the federal government and even the American people." Gegenheimer pointed to the administration's deployment of troops in Washington D.C. and Chicago, Illinois as further illustrations of what she characterized as a politically motivated retribution campaign against people who didn't vote for him.

"It doesn’t take too much reading between the lines to see that that’s what’s going on," she said.

---

heated 2 25

Earthjustice has filed “the first environmental lawsuit against the Trump administration.”The environmental law firm sued “to stop the Trump administration from opening up vast new areas to offshore oil and gas drilling,” the New York Times reports. “The suit is an opening shot in what is likely to be a series of cases aimed at thwarting the White House’s push for what it calls “energy dominance” by pivoting toward fossil fuels and away from cleaner energy sources like solar and wind.

Minnesota’s lawsuit seeking to hold Big Oil financially responsible for climate change is moving forward. A state judge denied a motion seeking to dismiss Minnesota’s 2020 lawsuit accusing Exxon, the American Petroleum Institute, and Koch Industries of running a “campaign of deception” to mislead consumers about climate change.

===

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whoohoo win!

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/10/7/2127500/-WSJ-Mad-About-Anti-Climate-Disinfo-Efforts-As-CFACT-Pretends-Not-To-Be

WSJ Mad About Anti-Climate Disinfo Efforts, As CFACT Pretends Not To Be - Daily Kos

Daily Kos

We promise that next week it'll be back to bad news only here, but for the third day in a row we're going to do a bit of celebrating, because once again, deniers are losing!

Lesley Clark reported yesterday at E&E News that"Minnesota’s highest court has delivered a victory to Attorney General Keith Ellison in legal action surrounding the state’s climate liability lawsuit against the oil and gas industry."

More specifically, the Minnesota Supreme Court decided not to let tobacco-turned-fossil-fuel-backed lawyer and harasser of climate scientists and public servants Chris Horner's front group try and recreate Climategate, but this time with emails from Attorney General Keith Ellison's office concerning their litigation against fossil fuel companies.

Meanwhile, it was heartening to see that CFACT is so desperate for signs of its effectiveness that it's emailing people to brag about the "six hit pieces referencing [Marc] Morano since July."

Two of those are from MediaMatters, one where Morano is mentioned by name only once, in passing, and another where his appearance was noted in a larger piece on Tucker Carlson. The other four are from yours truly, who CFACT describes as seeming "to have a love-hate relationship" with Morano.

Which is true, in that we love how easy it is Morano makes it to write about how deniers are wrong on purpose for money by constantly saying dumb stuff, like that some 1930's New Deal book is proof of a 2022 plot for world domination through a Great Reset. The other example they linked also only mentioned Morano in passing, as one of many disinfo-spreaders proving YouTube is failing to enforce its demonetization policy. Not exactly evidence of effectiveness.

They unfortunately did not clear up the mystery of whether our memory that Marc Morano told Bill Nye that he uses Ambien to sleep at night is accurate, but the fact that even our petty sniping is enough to warrant an email blast to subscribers shows how little evidence they actually do have that they're making a real impact. People ridiculing you does not necessarily mean they're threatened by you. Sometimes it just means you're ridiculous.

Because this is, admittedly, not exactly a big news outlet with the largest readership in the world, and we're happy about that! This space is for people who have to deal with deniers, the general public shouldn't have to know about professional goobers!

Similarly, if some equally small-time, dedicated opposition outlet like the Daily Caller were to run something on anti-climate disinfo efforts, that wouldn't be worth writing home about either.

But if the paper that does have one of the largest subscriber lists, the Wall Street Journal, took the time to complain about something its opposition is doing, thatmight be something worth celebrating!

And what do you know, Thursday's print edition of the Wall Street Journal, going to some 2 million subscribers, featured an editorial complaining about "the climate-change censorship campaign."

Yes, one of the biggest papers in the country decided that a letter from green groups asking Big Tech companies to include climate disinformation when complying with the EU's Digital Services Act was worth its column inches and readers' attention.

Given that Bloomberg, Common Defense and The Hill were the only other coverage, landing news of the letter on the WSJ's pages was quite a score, if even in the shape of it calling on Elon Musk to use Twitter to "shut down the climate censors."

Sounds like the WSJ's the one that wants to censor its opponents!

---

ref $

Minn. AG wins climate skirmish weeks before election

Minnesota's Supreme Court sides with Attorney General Keith Ellison and says some office material is protected by attorney-client privilege and does not have to be disclosed to critics of his climate lawsuit against the oil and gas industry.

BY:

LESLEY CLARK

| 10/06/2022

CLIMATEWIRE | Minnesota’s highest court has delivered a victory to Attorney General Keith Ellison in legal action surrounding the state’s climate liability lawsuit against the oil and gas industry in what has become a campaign issue in the Democrat’s run for reelection.

The Minnesota Supreme Court in a decision last week sided with Ellison over whether internal office deliberations about Minnesota’s climate lawsuit can be kept confidential.

The case stems from a 2019 lawsuit filed by conservative critics of Ellison and other Democratic state attorneys general who have hired outside lawyers to work on lawsuits seeking damages from oil and gas companies for climate change-related damages (Climatewire, Aug. 19, 2019).

Energy Policy Advocates, based out of Washington state, had sought documents detailing the communication between Ellison’s office and a law firm that works on climate litigation against energy companies. The group had also asked for records related to Ellison's hiring of a lawyer through a Michael Bloomberg-backed fellowship program.

...

ref 2

leftist hit pieces showcase

CFACT's effectiveness

Friend,

CFACT’s Marc Morano has been on fire lately.

Over the past few months, Morano has appeared on TV countless times to expose and debunk the radical climate agenda. Morano has been on Tucker Carlson, Newsmax TV, Fox and Friends, the Mark Steyn show, Unfiltered with Dan Bongino, One America News, and TBN. His reporting has also been referenced in the New York Sun, the Washington Times, the Epoch Times, Eagle Forum, and more.

And now, he’s published a new book titled “The Great Reset: Global Elites and the Permanent Lockdown.” You can get your copy now on the CFACT store here.

No wonder the Left can’t stand him.

In fact, the Left is so riled up by Marc’s hard-hitting reporting that they’ve ran six hit pieces referencing Morano since July.

Media Matters called Morano a “notorious climate denier” and a “proponent of the Great Reset conspiracy theory.” Then later, they list Morano as one of the “high-profile climate skeptics” using “fearmongering” on ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance).

Daily Kos, another liberal outlet, seems to have a love-hate relationship with CFACT’s chief climate debunker.

They say Morano is someone who is pushing “climate lockdown conspiracies,” but Daily Kos can’t get enough of Morano, as they reference him in four articles over the last couple months.

As the Mariah Carey song goes, “Why you so obsessed with me?”

It seems that it’s not Morano that needs “conspiracy theories” to stay relevant – rather, its Daily Kos that needs Marc Morano!

For CFACT’s part, we’re proud of the incredible work Morano is doing in exposing the agendas of the radical Left.

That’s why we’ve added Marc’s new “Great Reset” book to the CFACT store. Make sure to grab your copy now before it’s sold out!

CFACT will continue to work to expose those assaulting freedom, sound science, and free markets.

As for the liberal media outlets, they can keep on hemming and hawing all they want. It just shows us we’re making an impact!

For nature and people too,

Craig Rucker

President

book

On Sale!

Buy it now at the CFACT store

---

realclear invest links to EID?!

no docs

https://eidclimate.org/failure-to-disclose-new-report-exposes-academics-with-financial-ties-to-law-firms/

no lnx see realclear invest

FAILURE TO DISCLOSE: NEW REPORT EXPOSES ACADEMICS WITH FINANCIAL TIES TO LAW FIRMS

MAY 24, 2021| WILLIAM ALLISON

Just a week after the bombshell admission that a Harvard academic is working under a retainer agreement with a top plaintiffs’ attorney firm without any previous disclosure,a new report puts the spotlight on this practice happening at universities across the country.

:{:{}:

The report, “Private Funders, Public Institutions: ‘Climate’ Litigation and a Crisis of Integrity,” published by [NOT THE REAL] Government Accountability & Oversight, P.C. (GAO), uncovers the coordination taking place between public officials, activist organizations, wealthy donors, and university faculty to bring climate change-related cases against energy companies, with a specific focus on the lawsuit filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in June 2020.

Why the Naomi Oreskes-Sher Edling Retainer Presents Multiple Conflicts of Interest

The GAO report’s release couldn’t have come at a more apt time. Earlier this month, news broke that Harvard professor and longtime climate litigation activist Naomi Oreskes is on retainer with Sher Edling, LLP, the environmental plaintiffs’ law firm representing the majority of municipalities and states, including Minnesota, that have filed climate change lawsuits against the energy industry in recent years.

When Oreskes and fellow Harvard researcher Geoffrey Supran released a new study focused on climate change communications (that was just as flawed as their previous work), they did not seem prepared for the news that Oreskes is on retainer with Sher Edling to break. Notably, this wasn’t disclosed via a game of telephone, either, but Oreskes herself said so while under oath in a recent deposition.

It now appears that Oreskes sought to redefine her business relationship with Sher Edling after it hit the press, as she and Supran provided several different explanations to reporters when asked about her retainer disclosure. While Oreskes may be uncertain about the nature of her involvement with Sher Edling and its implications, others are not.

Academics took to Twitter to point out that this relationship should absolutely been disclosed:

A significant (an undisclosed) conflict of interesthttps://t.co/IPX2PgtsJ8

— Judith Curry(@curryja) May 14, 2021

Shot ‘n Chaser

LEFT – Authors of new paper about Exxon-Mobil complicity in downplaying climate states they have no relevant financial ties

RIGHT – Same author disclosing in a recent deposition (Mann vs CEI) that she is on retainer for a law firm suing Exxon-Mobil

This is fine pic.twitter.com/UGTxjAPizf

— Roger Pielke Jr.(@RogerPielkeJr) May 14, 2021

The Academic-Activist Behind the Curtain in Minnesota

The report shows that Oreskes is far from the only academic who is working directly with top attorneys involved in the climate litigation campaign.

In Minnesota, the report outlines the critical role that University of Minnesota law professor Alexandra Klassplayed in orchestratingAttorney General Ellison’s lawsuit. In April 2019, she signed a memo titled “Potential Lawsuit against Fossil Fuel Companies for Minnesota Climate Change Damages” to be shared with the newly sworn-in Ellison.

Newly released documents in the report show that Klass was approached by anoutside activist groupthat provided funding for her students to write the memo, reviewed by other attorneys supporting climate litigation, and backed by theRockefeller network that has manufactured entire national litigation campaign.

None of this involvement by Klass was ever disclosed to the public, whether when moderating a forum on campus with Ellison, providing quotes in local newspapers, or in podcasts discussing the lawsuit.

Highlighting emails obtained through public records requests, the report shows that in late 2018, Klass was approached by Michael Noble, executive director of local activist group Fresh Energy about enlisting her help with potential litigation in Minnesota. In conversations with Klass, Noble spoke of a “big idea” and sent along climate pleadings from previously filed cases, and that he was looking for Klass’s “reaction (and hopefully enthusiasm).”

Roughly one month later, in December 2018, Noble asked if Klass wanted “to do a phone call with the lawyers advising the Rockefeller family fund” (sic) and the climate case was off to the metaphorical races.

Image via GAO

By early 2019, Klass had a contract through Fresh Energy to hire several law students to assist her in drafting the legal memo focused on a potential Minnesota climate change lawsuit that was eventually sent to Ellison.

Image via GAO]

In October 2019, Klass helped to host a panel discussion at the University of Minnesota Law School on “the legal and scientific case for recovering climate change damages in Minnesota from fossil fuel companies” which featured both Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and Sher Edling’s Vic Sher, whose law firm now represents Minnesota in its climate change deception case.

At the time, the event was framed as an academic discussion. But what the public didn’t know was that Klass had already written a memo to Ellison earlier that year laying out the proposed legal theories that could back a climate change-focused lawsuit targeting the energy industry. Furthermore, the event was coordinated by Sam Duggan – one of the students who helped write the memo.

Despite her direct involvement in the drafting of the lawsuit, Klass has continued to present herself as an impartial expert on Minnesota state law. When Ellison initially filed his climate case last summer, Klass was quoted in news stories, including coverage from the Minneapolis Star Tribune as a professor of environmental law and thus, a neutral third-party expert. To date, she has not publicly spoken about her lack of disclosure regarding her involvement in helping put the idea of climate litigation in front of Ellison.

Efforts to keep government actions hidden from the public has even extended to Ellison’s office.Earlier this year, Ellison wrote an op-ed in the Star Tribune touting his office’s transparency, but the hiring of two Bloomberg-funded Special Assistant Attorneys General from another university – the NYU Law School’s State Energy & Environmental Impact Center – raises serious questions. Ellison’s claim that these SAAGs “report to me and no one else,” and thus solely loyalty is to Minnesota taxpayers, is hard to believe when the job description for a similar position with the New York Attorney General explained:

“Fellows hosted by the OAG as special assistants will have responsibilities that include… preparing periodic reports of activities and progress for the State Impact Center.”

The Group in the Middle of It All? The Rockefellers

To the surprise of no one who has is even remotely familiar with the climate litigation campaign, the Rockefellers are one of the common threads between Oreskes and Klass.

The Rockefeller Family Fund supported all three of Oreskes’ major studies focused on the energy industry,and if there was any doubt that the wealthy foundation that supports climate litigation wouldn’t have any subjective effect on this research, then let Oreskes herself explain how the source of a researcher’s funding can lead to unconscious bias.

As Oreskes stated in published a letter she co-authored in 2015:

“But the issue is deeper than one of obeying rules; the important question is why those rules are necessary. The answer is that even if we think of ourselves as honest, objective, and independent, scientific evidence demonstrates that our research can be influenced by the sources of our funding… Many of us are reluctant to accept this funding because it seems to imply that our colleagues—including individuals we may know and respect—have been corrupted. Corruption exists, but the funding effect may more often be the result of unconscious bias.” (emphasis added)

In Minnesota, the Rockefeller Family Fund has been just as active. The group, and its director Lee Wasserman in particular, put the idea of a climate lawsuit in front of Michael Noble right after Ellison was elected in November 2018, as the report shows:

Image via GAO]

In turn, Noble then went to Klass where he explained the Rockefeller Family Fund’s role in supporting a climate lawsuit in Minnesota:

Images via GAO]

The “lawyers advising Rockefeller family fund” that Noble mentions is the Center for Climate Integrity, an activist group that’s supporting climate lawsuits across the country and which has received more than $3 million from the Rockefeller Family Fund. The group was also a sponsor of the 2019 panel that Ellison and Klass attended, and two senior officials from the group, Judith Enck andAlyssa Johl, provided feedback on Klass’s memo:

Images via GAO

With the memo prepared, Noble then went about bringing all the threads togethers by arranging a meeting of the key players, including Klass and officials with the Rockefeller Family Fund and the Center for Climate Integrity:

Finally, shortly after Ellison introduced the lawsuit, Noble couldn’t help but tout his own work when he admitted on a public webinar that he and the Rockefeller-funded Center for Center for Climate Integrity convinced the attorney general to file the case.

West Coast Edition

The coordination among academics and law firms is indeed happening from coast to coast, includingAnn Carlson, the UCLA Law professortaking a leave of absence to serve in the Biden Administration.

Previously, Carlson has worked as a consultant with Sher Edling, the same firm that has Naomi Oreskes on retainer. Carlson also appeared on a panel discussion on climate litigation alongside Vic Sher at the University of Hawai’i Richardson School of Law in May 2019, just ten months before the City & County of Honolulu filed its own climate lawsuit.

The report outlines Carlson’s work at theUCLA Law School and the financial support she received:

“Consider another relevant example, revealed in a recent public-record production obtained from UCLA Law School by Government Accountability & Oversight, P.C. That production of documents revealed certain details of how donors named Dan Emmett and Ralph and Shirley Shapiro gave a combined $1.5 million to a ‘Carlson discretionary fund’ which, according to the Shapiros’ instruction, is ‘to be used at the discretion of Professor Ann Carlson… in her sole discretion as she deems appropriate.’” (emphasis added)

Conclusion

As Energy In Depth as shown for years, the Rockefellers have manufactured the entire climate litigation campaign and their work hasn’t slowed down.

This new paper from Government Accountability & Oversight, P.C. uncovers the role that academics have played in supporting these lawsuits with Minnesota the latest example of the lack of disclosure between government officials, activist groups, and college professors.

Added on top of the bombshell news that Harvard professorNaomi Oreskes is on retainer with a top plaintiffs firm, this nationally coordinated campaign becomes more interconnected by the day.

---

https://dailycaller.com/2020/07/08/keith-ellison-minnesota-bloomberg-climate-lawsuit/

no lnx many

ENERGY

AG Keith Ellison Faces Lawsuit Accusing Him Of Coordinating With Bloomberg On Anti-Exxon Crusade

[pixRep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), a candidate for Democratic National Committee Chairman, speaks during a Democratic National Committee forum in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S., February 11, 2017. ]

Daily Caller News Foundation

CHRIS WHITE

TECH REPORTER

July 08, 2020

A Virginia-based law firm is suing Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison for access to records revealing his use of attorneys financed by former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg to engage in a climate crusade targeting oil companies.

:{:{}:

The nonprofit Government Accountability & Oversight (GAO) filed a lawsuit Wednesday for records detailing how the Democratic attorney general is allegedly deploying Bloomberg-financed lawyers to advance a lawsuit his office leveled against the fossil fuel industry. The firm’s complaint was filed on behalf of the nonprofit group Energy Policy Advocates.

This is the second lawsuit that GAO, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit launched in 2018, has filed against Ellison in the last two years. (RELATED: Emails Reveal Role Michael Bloomberg’s Climate Crusaders Are Playing In Maryland’s AG Office)

The law firm’s complaint also reveals that the Minnesota attorney general entered into confidentiality agreements and so-called common interest agreements requiring his office to obtain the consent of the private attorneys before releasing public information about such climate lawsuits.

[pix NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MARCH 04: Former Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg addresses his staff and the media after announcing that he will be ending his campaign on March 04, 2020 in New York City. Bloomberg, who has endorsed Joe Biden, spent millions of dollars in his short lived campaign for president.]

GAO attorney Chris Horner believes such contracts undermine open records laws and violate obligations of attorneys general to taxpayers.

“They likely are void as against public policy including that underlining open records laws, and probably violate obligations of state attorney generals to the people of their states by purporting to contract away the public’s right to access to public information such as is embodied in the MGDPA,” Horner staid in a statement Wednesday.

The agreements cover records related to lawsuits two Special Assistant Attorneys General (SAAGs) inside Ellison’s office leveled against ExxonMobil. Ellison announced lawsuits targeting Exxon, Koch Industries, and the American Petroleum Institute over what he calls “a campaign of deception” on climate change.

SAAGs are placed in attorney general offices around the country by New York University’s State Energy and Environmental Impact Center (SEEIC), which received $6 million from Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2018.

The NYU School of Law launched the group in 2017 to “identify and hire NYU Law Fellows who serve as special assistant attorneys general in state attorney general offices, focusing on clean energy, climate and environmental matters,” according to the NYU Law website.

Ellison submitted an application for SAAGs in March 2019, according to the GAO lawsuit.

He expressed in the application a willingness to do more in certain areas of “known public interest to Bloomberg and his SEEIC,” the complaint stated. Ellison’s application also suggested the attorney general intends on focusing on “multistate initiatives…including…supporting state-led efforts to investigate Exxon Mobil [sic].”

Neither Bloomberg nor Ellison’s office have responded to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requestS for comment about the lawsuit.

Content created by The Daily Caller News Foundation is available without charge to any eligible news publisher that can provide a large audience. For licensing opportunities of our original content, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

Tags : energy keith ellison michael bloomberg minnesota

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ref https://dailycaller.com/2019/09/09/michael-bloomberg-global-warming/

no lnx many

emails Reveal Role Michael Bloomberg’s Climate Crusaders Are Playing In Maryland’s AG Office

Former New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg speaks during the Presidential Gun Sense Forum in Des Moines]

Daily Caller News Foundation l

CHRIS WHITE

TECH REPORTER

September 09, 2019

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s legal fellows are likely too closely connected to the billionaire’s climate change crusading group, new emails show.

Analyst Chris Horner tells the Daily Caller News Foundation that the emails reveal how Maryland is “outsourcing” law enforcement activities to “activist donors.”

The emailsapparently contradict what the Bloomberg-financed climate group has said in the past about the legal fellows it places in state attorneys general offices.

A climate attorney inside Maryland’s attorney general’s office appears to be working at the direction of a group connected to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, according to documents published recently by awatchdog group.

The special assistant attorneymove to seek guidance contracts claims from the billionaire-financed group thatsuch attorneys are loyal only to the states where they are placed.The so-called SAAGs are being placed in state AG offices around the country by a group that received $6 million from Bloomberg in 2018.

“I’m considering moving from my current environmental-focused position to the energy position that the Maryland AG’s Office has open, ” SAAG John Howard said in an email to David Haynes, director of the State Environmental and Energy Impact Center,which works to plantattorneys in various AG offices.

The memo was published Sept. 3 by Energy Policy Advocates (EPA), a non-profit group founded in Washington state. (RELATED: One Of The Lawyers Targeting Oil Companies Worked In Bloomberg’s Office)

“Would you have a few minutes this afternoon to call me? I want to get a better sense than I currently have about what the Center envisions for these positions,” Howard added in the email, which is dated March, 13 2019. Haynes responded: “I’d be happy to chat with you about this. Could we talk tomorrow.”

Howard has been working at Maryland’s AG office since March 2018.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (C) speaks at a news conference with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (R) and other U.S. State Attorney's General to announce a state-based effort to combat climate change in the Manhattan borough of New York City, March 29, 2016. ]

Bloomberg’s grant went to the SEEI, which is designed to escalate attacks against President Donald Trump’s regulatory rollbacks. The Daily Caller News Foundation reported in February that Illinois, Maryland, and other states involved in the program hired attorneys with ties to the billionaire.

The exchange between Howard and Haynes appears to contradict SEEIC’s past claims that such fellows receive orders exclusively from their respective attorney general. The SEEIC operates out of the New York University of Law, media reports show.

The group’s website states: “NYU pays the salaries of the law fellows, but the fellows’ sole duty of loyalty is to the attorney general in whose office he or she serves. All work performed by the fellows is entirely identified and managed by their respective AG offices.”

Analysts argue Howard knew what was expected of him before he reached out.

“This scheme represents a dangerous outsourcing of law enforcement to an activist donor — and further undermines the AGs’ and Bloomberg Center’s insistence that these are simply more bodies,” Chris Horner, a senior fellow at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, told the DCNF.

Horner is on the board of directors at the Government Accountability & Oversight, which played a role in releasing the emails.

Howard, Haynes, and Maryland AG Brian Frosh have not responded to the DCNF’s request for comment about the nature of the program. Media reports have also raised questions about SEEI’s role in financing state attorneys general attempts to sue oil companies for supposedly contributing to climate change.

Gavin McCabe, a lawyer connected to Bloomberg Philanthropies, for instance, signed an amicus brief in 2018 supporting New York City’s yearlong climate lawsuit against Exxon and Chevron. Bloomberg founded Bloomberg Philanthropies in 2017 to provide AG offices with attorneys to help push green energy.

McCabe is one of at least eight attorneys hired by attorneys general across the country to work on environmental litigation.

McCabe’s involvement suggestsBloomberg’s money is playing a role in the anti-Exxon campaign. He made himself a part of the lawsuit demanding energy companies compensate the city for the alleged damages from global warming. U.S. District Judge John Keenan dismissed the case in July after months of arguments.

Bloomberg’s office did not respond to a request for comment.

Tags : donald trump energy michael bloomberg

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some lnx

“I’m considering moving from my current environmental-focused position to the energy position that the Maryland AG’s Office has open, ” SAAG John Howard said in an emailto David Haynes, director of the State Environmental and Energy Impact Center, which works to plant attorneys in various AG offices.

The memo was published Sept. 3 by Energy Policy Advocates (EPA), a non-profit group founded in Washington state. (RELATED: One Of The Lawyers Targeting Oil Companies Worked In Bloomberg’s Office)

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no lnx

one Of The Lawyers Targeting Oil Companies Worked In Bloomberg’s Office

cHRIS WHITE

TECH REPORTER

February 04, 2019

Some of the special assistant attorneys general involved in targeting energy companies have extensive ties to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Documents reveal attorneys behind the project targeting President Donald Trump’s regulatory rollback have deeper ties to Bloomberg than previously reported.

One of the attorneys hired by a group targeting Trump and energy companies previously worked in former Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s office.

Former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s ties to a group pushing to sue energy companies over climate change are a lot deeper than previously noted, according to documents obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation.

Four of the special assistant attorneys general involved in the State Impact Center project have significant connections to the New York City billionaire, the documents show. Past reports fleshing out Bloomberg’s effort focused only on his roughly $6 million donation to the project.

Bloomberg’s grant went to the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, which is designed to escalate attacks against President Donald Trump’s decision to eliminate several of his predecessor’s climate regulations. Documents appear to show Illinois, Maryland, the District of Columbia and others involved in the program hired attorneys with ties to the billionaire.

Sarah Kogel-Smucker of Washington D.C., for instance, worked in Bloomberg’s office as one of his top environmental lawyers, and implemented the former mayor’s bike share program [effing commie?!] in 2013.She began her career as an activist in 2004 with Sierra Club’s chapter before representing New York City in a 2017 lawsuit targeting the Trump administration’s regulation rollback.

Her career at the New York City Law Department’s Environmental Division coincided with Bloomberg’s tenure as mayor from Jan. 1, 2002, to Dec. 31, 2013. (RELATED: Judge Tosses Out New York City’s Climate Change Lawsuit)

Kogel-Smucker was also among the attorneys representing New York City in a federal lawsuit against ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and others seeking to hold the energy companies responsible for present and damage to the city from global warming. A judge tossed out the case in July 2018, arguing the court system is not responsible for addressing climate change.

Other attorneys involved in the State Impact Center have an indirect connection to Bloomberg. Jason James, a special assistant attorney general in Illinois, for instance, was colleagues with Daniel Firger, a former researcher at theColumbia Law School Center for Climate Change Law. Firger chairs the Impact Center and heads Bloomberg Philanthropies’ climate change program.

Oregon special assistant attorney general Steve Novick shares connections to Bloomberg as well. One of Bloomberg’s biggest lobbyists, Jake Weigler, ran the former mayor’s gun control advocacy group, Mayors Against Illegal Gunsin 2013. Weigler managed Novick’s campaign for unsuccessful run for U.S. Senate in 2008. He lost to then-House Speaker Jeff Merkley.

Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, a longtime Democrat, appointed the former Portland city commissioner as a legal fellow to the AG office in 2018. She raised alarms in June 2018 after her office hired Novick.

“Are we sure it is correct to refer to him as a ‘volunteer.’ And not an employee,” Rosenblum asked her deputy AG in a June 17, 2018, email. “Can you be an unpaid employee of the State? As a SAAG doesn’t that make one an employee?”

Her email was included in a June 2018 report from the Competitive Enterprise Institute detailing the extent of Bloomberg’s campaign.

Rosenblum added: “I find it strange to call someone who is working under our supervision with the title of SAAG and who is getting paid (by a third-party) the same as he would if he were working for [the Department of Justice] as a regular [assistant attorney general] — a volunteer.”

Novick, meanwhile, has a long track record of environmental activism and is responsible for promoting a series of proposals targeting oil companies. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: Court Memos Shed Light On Michael Bloomberg’s Role In NYC’s Climate Crusade)

Novick voted to divest Portland from the top 200 fossil fuel companies in 2015 during his time as the Portland City commissioner, though he said at the time, “This is obviously just one of the steps we need to take.”

He ultimately lost his re-election in 2016, becoming “the first sitting commissioner to lose re-election in 24 years.”

The billionaire environmentalist has since become something of a major liberal financier. Bloomberg, who spent $5 million on a television ad in favor of Democratic candidates two days ahead of the 2018 midterm elections, said in December 2018 he wants to see any plan potential presidential candidates have regarding climate change to make sure the plan could work. He made the demand while still considering a possible White House run in 2020.

Bloomberg has not yet responded to TheDCNF’s request for comment about what role his connections to Kogel-Smucker, Novick, James and Segal played in their current positions at the State Impact Center. The AG offices at Illinois, Maryland and the District of Columbia have not returned request for comment.

Follow Chris White on Facebook and Twitter

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ref

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/nyu-law-launches-new-center-to-help-state-ags-fight-environmental-rollbacks/2017/08/16

NYU Law launches new center to help state AGs fight environmental rollbacks

Former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg addresses the U.S. Conference of Mayors in Miami Beach in June. His philanthropy is helping to launch a new center that will support state attorneys general in fighting federal efforts to roll back energy and environmental policies. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

By Juliet Eilperin August 16, 2017

NYU School of Law will launch a new center, financed by Bloomberg Philanthropies, aimed at helping state attorneys general fight any federal moves to roll back renewable energy, environmental protections and climate policies.

The grant of nearly $6 million, which will establish the State Energy and Environmental Impact Center, marks a new step in the escalating battle between state attorneys general and the Trump administration over the nation’s energy and environmental trajectory. Although the center will provide assistance to states regardless of party, Democratic attorneys general have been particularly aggressive in challenging the administration’s efforts to unravel regulations and policies that aim to curb fossil fuel production in the United States as well as restrict drilling and mining on federal lands and in federal waters.

“Every day there’s something that goes on that endangers the health and safety of Americans,” Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh (D) said Wednesday. “Attorneys general don’t begin to have the resources to meet these challenges.

Former New York mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has spent tens of millions of dollars through his charitable group to address climate change, giving $80 million to the Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign to shut down coal-fired plants across the country. The new center will provide legal assistance to the attorneys general on renewable energy, climate and environmental issues and will sponsor 10 lawyers on two-year fellowships who will work directly on cases in different attorneys general offices.

David J. Hayes, who served as the Interior Department’s deputy secretary under both the Obama and Clinton administrations, will serve as the center’s executive director. In an interview Wednesday, Hayes said that although “there’s never enough” funding to support this sort of advocacy, the grant from Bloomberg Philanthropies could support not only litigation against the federal government but also enforcement activities on the state level.

How Trump is rolling back Obama’s legacy VIEW GRAPHIC ]

Hayes, who has taught at Stanford University Law School since leaving the federal government in 2013, said he thinks that Trump administration officials “are, as a general matter, very vulnerable” when it comes to court challenges.

“They are moving very quickly, and too quickly from a legal point of view,” Hayes said.

[Interior’s shift on energy advances Trump’s goals-and prompts lawsuits]

Justice Department spokesman Mark Abueg said the department “is fully prepared and committed to defend the administration’s decisions on energy and environmental matters in federal court.”

In many ways, the new initiative reflects the extent to which the parties have switched sides now that President Trump is in the Oval Office. When Barack Obama was president, Republican attorneys general — including Oklahoma’s Scott Pruitt, who now heads the Environmental Protection Agency — challenged federal policies on issues including immigration and water quality.

Now it is Democratic attorneys general such as Frosh, New York’s Eric Schneiderman, California’s Xavier Becerra and New Mexico’s Hector Balderas who have filed multiple suits against the White House.

Schneiderman alone has spearheaded more than half a dozen suits challenging changes to federal energy and environmental policies, including leading a coalition of 23 state and local governments intervening to defend the Obama-era rule limiting greenhouse gas emissions from existing power plants. This month, after 15 states and the District of Columbia sued to implement the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for smog, the EPA reversed course and announced that it would enforce them.

“There may be no better example of how the Trump administration is quickly and quietly trying to deregulate, defund, and destabilize our basic regulatory infrastructure than environmental policy,” Schneiderman said in a statement Wednesday.

In recent years Republican attorneys general have been able to mobilize substantial resources to support their statewide political campaigns. The Republican Attorneys General Association raised more than $19 million during the 2016 election cycle, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, including nearly $1.4 million from theU.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Institute for Legal Reform and $500,000 from Republican casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson. That total compared with about $6.7 million raised by the Democratic Attorneys General Association.

It remains unclear whether any Republican state leaders will collaborate with the new center. Frosh said the lawsuits he has filed against the administration have not needed the approval of Gov. Larry Hogan (R). But Maryland officials have informed the EPA that they plan to sue unless the agency ensures that coal-fired plants in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia install pollution controls so their output doesn’t harm Maryland’s air quality.

Juliet Eilperin is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist at The Washington Post, editing climate and environmental coverage. She has written two books, "Demon Fish: Travels Through the Hidden World of Sharks" and "Fight Club Politics: How Partisanship is Poisoning the House of Representatives." Follow

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peeling back onion

https://dailycaller.com/2018/10/13/michael-bloomberg-climate-exxonmobil-lawyer/

https://dailycaller.com/2018/07/19/judge-new-york-climate-change-lawsuit/

no lnx

ENERGY

Judge Tosses Out New York City’s Climate Change Lawsuit

Daily Caller News Foundation

MICHAEL BASTASCH

CONTRIBUTOR

July 19, 2018

A federal judge tossed a lawsuit New York City brought against five major oil companies, demanding compensation for the alleged damages from man-made global warming.

“The Court recognizes that the City, and many other governmental entities around the United States and in other nations, will be forced to grapple with the harmful impacts of climate change in the coming decades,” U.S. District Judge John Keenan ruled on Thursday.

“However, the immense and complicated problem of global warming requires a comprehensive solution that weighs the global benefits of fossil fuel use with the gravity of the impending harms,” Keenan ruled.

“To litigate such an action for injuries from foreign greenhouse gas emissions in federal court would severely infringe upon the foreign-policy decisions that are squarely within the purview of the political branches of the U.S. Government,” Keenan wrote for the court.

It’s the third such lawsuit brought against oil companies ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Royal Dutch Shell and ConocoPhillips. A U.S. District Court judge in Northern California struck down identical lawsuits in June brought by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland.

Trial lawyers with Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP handled climate lawsuits on behalf of the two California cities and New York City in exchange for a percentage of any winnings, called a contingency fee. (RELATED: Trial Lawyers Handling Cities’ Global Warming Lawsuits Stand To Make Billions)

Hagens Berman stood to earn billions of dollars in contingency fees depending on the total winnings, from a favorable judgement against oil companies. The three cities claimed billions of dollars worth of damage from global warming induced by fossil fuels.

Cities and trial lawyers argue the alleged effects of global warming, including sea level rise and extreme weather,violate public nuisance laws. Cities want oil companies to pay for past damages and future mitigation projects.

However, two judges have shot down this argument this year. Both judges found the Clean Air Act supplanted common law on global warming nuisance complaints, and ruling otherwise would circumvent elected officials.

“Global warming and solutions thereto must be addressed by the two other branches of government,” Keenan wrote.

At least a dozen state and local governments have filed suit against fossil fuel companies over global warming since 2017, including six California cities and the state of Rhode Island. (RELATED: Trial Lawyers Are BehindRhode Island’s Global Warming Lawsuit Against Big Oil)

Those lawsuits are also being handled by trial lawyers in exchange for a percentage of any winnings.

Hagens Berman, for example, is also handling a climate lawsuit against oil companies brought by King County, Washington. (RELATED: Washington Joins Growing List Of Locals Suing Oil Companies Over Climate Change)

“This case is, fundamentally, about shifting the costs of abatement back onto the companies,” reads King County’s complaint. “After all, it is Defendants who have profited and will continue to profit by knowingly contributing to global warming, thereby doing all they can to help create and maintain a profound public nuisance.”

Tags : energy new york city u s district court

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no bio affiliations one of many pp:

Michael Bastasch

Contributor

OPINION

BASTASCH: It's Now Clearer Than Ever Before, Science Bends Itself To Fit Left-Wing Politics

2020 Democrats Eschew Climate Change For 'Crisis,' 'Chaos' In Debate

Hickenlooper: 'Socialism Is Not The Solution' To Climate Change

Democrats Dodged An Important Question: Who Pays For Trillion-Dollar Climate Change Plans?

Jay Inslee Says He Can Save Miami From Climate Change By Ending The Filibuster

Jay Inslee Says McDonald's Employees Are 'Slinging Hash' In Democratic Debate

Top EPA Official Steps Down After Spearheading Trump's Deregulatory Agenda

2020 Hopeful Claims Global Warming Made Parts Of Central America 'Uninhabitable'

2020 Hopeful Proposes Tax Plan That Voters In His Home State Twice Rejected

House Democrats Haven't Held Their Latest Climate Change Hearing And A Scientist Is Already Debunking It

Will The Philadelphia Refinery Explosion Send Gas Prices Skyrocketing? Experts Weigh In

Trump's EPA Gets Unexpected Challenge From The Right

New York Passes 'Very Expensive' Climate Change Bill To Cut Global CO2 Emissions 0.3% Over 30 Years

Trump's EPA Repealed The Centerpiece Of Obama's Climate Agenda

Here's What Amy Klobuchar Said Her First Act As President Would Be

Crumbling Roads, Dilapidated Buildings, Sewage Leaks: Iconic National Parks Are Falling Into Disrepair

Population Bomb? China Expected To Have 400 Million Fewer People By 2100

Why Is Pope Francis Backing Energy Taxes? Here's A Hint: Big Oil

US Reliance On OPEC Oil Hits 30-Year Low

West Coast Heat Wave: Experts Say It's Weather, Not Global Warming

UN Chief Poses For TIME Cover Off 'Sinking' Pacific Island Nation That's Actually Growing In Size

Trump Is Doing What Obama Didn't: Putting Forward New Policies To Stop Catastrophic Wildfires

'Climate Change' Isn't Alarming Enough For The Liberal Media. Here's What They Now Call It

Peak Coal? Not Anytime Soon, Says One Of The World's Biggest Energy Companies

Why Won't Democrats Talk About The Green New Deal? Republicans Want To Know

Mike Bloomberg Declared War On Coal, So West Virginia Declared War On Mike Bloomberg

'Contempt For Working Families': Miners' Union Blasts Mike Bloomberg's Anti-Coal Push

Dozens Of Conservative Groups Signed A Stinging Rebuke Of A Policy Mitt Romney Just Said He Was 'Looking At' Supporting

Gone By 2020? National Park Quietly Changes Its Alarming Imminent Glacial MeltClaim

Mike Bloomberg Devotes $500 Million To Ending Coal Industry, Influencing 2020 Elections

EPA Reassigns Top Bureaucrat Critics See As Key Resistor Of Trump's Agenda

Did The DNC Reject A Climate Change Debate To 'Protect' Joe Biden?

Allied Weather Forecasters Saved D-Day From Failure. 75 Years Later, We’re Very Grateful

We Found Another Serious Gaffe In Biden's Climate Change Plan. It's Embarrassing

2020 Hopeful Jay Inslee Has A New Climate Change Plan - More Immigration

'He Is Really Into Climate Change': Trump Told Piers Morgan About His Conversation With Prince Charles

Trump Says 'Plagiarism Charge' Against Biden's Climate Change Plan 'Is A Big Problem'

Trump's EPA Chief Fires Back At Reporters Who Spread Fake News About Him

Liz Warren Pitches Climate Change 'Jobs' Plan. It Costs $2 Million Per Job

Joe Biden Signals Willingness To Provoke A Trade War With China Over Global Warming

Tags : donald trump energy exxon mobil michael bloomberg

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June 24–25, 2020

API was highlighted in a lawsuit from the Minnesota Attorney General’s office that also called out Exxon Mobil Corporation, ExxonMobil Oil Corporation, Koch Industries, Inc., and the Koch-owned Flint Hills Resources LP and Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend for allegedly misleading consumers about climate change. [87]

“When corporations and trade associations break the law and hurt Minnesotans, it’s my job and my duty to hold them accountable. The fraud, deceptive advertising, and other violations of Minnesota state law and common law that the lawsuit shows they perpetrated have harmed Minnesotans’ health and our state’s environment, infrastructure, and economy,” said Attorney General Keith Ellison, as reported in the AG office press release. [88]

“Previously unknown internal documents were recently discovered that confirm that Defendants well understood the devastating effects that their products would cause to the climate, including Minnesota, dating back to the 1970s and 1980s. But Defendants did not ever disclose to the public—or to Minnesotans—their actual knowledge that would confirm the very science they sought to undermine. Instead, Defendants, both directly and through proxies, engaged in a public-relations campaign that was not only false, but also highly effective. This campaign was intended to, and did, target and influence the public, and consumers, including in Minnesota,” the lawsuit reads. [89]

Discussing API‘s role:

“API has been a member of at least five organizations that have promoted disinformation about fossil-fuel products to consumers, including the Global Climate Coalition, Partnership for a Better Energy Future, Coalition for American Jobs, Alliance for Energy and Economic Growth, and Alliance for Climate Strategies. These front groups were formed to provide climate disinformation and advocacy from a seemingly objective source, when, in fact, they were financed and controlled by ExxonMobil and other sellers of fossil-fuel products. Defendants benefited from the spread of this disinformation.”

On Koch, the lawsuit suggests that the company is liable for the various actions of its numerous subsidiaries involved in the manufacturing, refining, and distribution of petroleum products. It also notes:

“Koch also supports numerous foundations including the Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation, the Koch Institute, and the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation. Koch expects the foundations that it supports to fund groups that further its financial interests. Koch constructively controls how the foundations that it supports direct their philanthropic activities.”

It also notes that, like numerous other oil companies, “Koch also understood climate-change science, the connection to sales of its fossil fuel products, and the potential for catastrophic consequences before the science was widely understood by the general public.”

It highlights what appeared to be a coordinated effort by companies including Koch to “combat climate change ‘alarmists’ through a campaign focused on science, information dissemination, and politics.” It highlights a 2006 memo from the Intermountain Rural Electric Association that outlined how Koch Industries was working with other large corporations including the Competitive Enterprise Institute, Southern Company, American Electric Power (AEP), and National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).

Shortly after, the D.C. Attorney General’s Office joined in a similar lawsuit against BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, and Shell. The lawsuit alleges the four largest investor-owned oil and gas companies violated the District’s Consumer Protection Procedures Act by promoting and selling fossil fuel products contributing to global warming, while knowing about the harmful consequences since at least the 1950s. [90]

The lawsuit highlights the industry’s use of fake grassroots groups, such as the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition, which started out as a front group for tobacco giant Philip Morris in 1993. This group had transitioned to become the Advancement of Sound Science Center in 1997 and was run out of the home of climate science denier Steve Milloy, who most recently worked in public relations for coal company Murray Energy, before being disbanded. [90]

According to a press release from the D.C. Attorney General’s Office, “The [oil] companies not only employed the Advancement of Sound Science Coalition — a fake grassroots citizen group created by Big Tobacco as part of the industry’s misinformation campaign — they also funded and promoted some of the same scientists hired by tobacco companies. These scientists disputed the conclusions of climate researchers, despite not having any training in climate science themselves.” [91]

“For decades, these oil and gas companies spent millions to mislead consumers and discredit climate science in pursuit of profits,” said AG Racine. “The defendants violated the District’s consumer protection law by concealing the fact that using fossil fuels threatens the health of District residents and the environment. OAG filed this suit to end these disinformation campaigns and to hold these companies accountable for their deceptive practices.

March 20, 2020

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Other climate lawsuits, including one filed in Minnesota, allege the oil firms’ campaigns of deception and denial about the climate crisis amount to fraud. Minnesota is suing Exxon, Koch Industries and an industry trade group for breaches of state law for deceptive trade practices, false advertising and consumer fraud over what the lawsuit characterises as distortions and lies about climate science.

[How cities and states could finally hold fossil fuel companies accountable