mofo morrison & foerster
<div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">2 4 22</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The House Oversight and Reform Committee is extending a new deadline for a group of five Big Oil board members to testify as part of its investigation of fossil fuel misinformation.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">In <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/2022-02-02.CBM%20Khanna%20to%20Karsner-Exxon%20re%20Witness%20Invitation.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">letters</a> sent Wednesday, the committee said board members from Exxon Mobil Corp., BP PLC, and Chevron Corp. declined to appear at a planned hearing on Feb. 8. Jane Holl Lute, a member of Shell’s board of directors, said she would be willing to testify but “declined to participate on that date after other invited board members refused to appear,” <a href="https://oversight.house.gov/sites/democrats.oversight.house.gov/files/2022-02-02.CBM%20Khanna%20to%20Lute-Shell%20re%20Witness%20Invitation.pdf" target="blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">according</a> to the committee.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The panel will reschedule the hearing for March 8, wrote full committee Chair Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.) and Environment Subcommittee Chair Ro Khanna (D-Calif.). The full committee will hold a separate hearing with climate science experts on the original Feb. 8 date.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“The Big Oil companies should consider the March hearing their last chance to cooperate,” Maloney said in a statement. “If their board members refuse to appear, they should expect further action from this Committee.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The Oversight Committee first called the oil company board members to testify in another round of letters late last month. In addition to Lute, the other invitees are <b>Alexander Karsner and Susan Avery of Exxon, </b>Melody Meyer of BP, and Enrique Hernandez of Chevron.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Some of the companies and board members indicated that they are indeed willing to participate.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>Brad Wine, counsel for Exxon’s Karsner,</b> said that his client informed the committee that he will “cooperate with their investigation and will testify voluntarily but that he was unavailable to participate in a hearing on Feb. 8,” due to “family commitments.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The hearings are part of a larger investigation into the industry’s past science denial and obstruction of climate policy, a probe that has been on the environmental community’s wishlist for years.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Top executives from all four companies testified before the committee in October, alongside officials from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the American Petroleum Institute (<a href="https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2021/10/29/after-historic-hearing-panel-to-issue-subpoenas-to-oil-companies-282588" target="_blank" rel="noopener" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); outline: none; box-sizing: border-box; background-color: transparent; transition: all 0.3s ease-in-out 0s;">E&E Daily</a>, Oct. 29, 2021). Maloney subpoenaed all six organizations for documents a few days later.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">This week’s letters asked the companies to turn over all relevant documents by the March 8 hearing, or face “further action by the Committee.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The panel’s Democrats are looking to question board members on the companies’ various net-zero emissions pledges and whether they go far enough.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The companies pushed back on the idea that their board members are refusing to cooperate with the committee. Rather, they said it’s a scheduling issue.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">The October hearing with chief executives was formally requested more than a month in advance, whereas board members were given less than three weeks after the initial round of letters from the committee on Jan. 20.</font></p><p style="margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">“Our chairman and CEO voluntarily appeared at an earlier hearing, and the committee was informed that Dr. Avery and Mr. Karsner would also appear voluntarily when both are available,” Exxon spokesman Casey Norton said in an email. “We have been in regular communication with the committee since last summer and have provided staff with hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, including board materials and internal communications.</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">”</span></font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A BP spokesperson said of its board member: “we understand that Melody is working with the committee on a mutually agreeable time to testify.” A Shell spokesperson said the company “will continue to cooperate with the committee.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">A Chevron spokesperson did not return a request for comment. Lawyers for Avery and Meyer did not respond to requests for comment. A lawyer for Hernandez declined to comment.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Khanna said he hopes the eventual testimony will be revealing because the board members are involved in sustainability efforts at their respective companies.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Avery, for instance, is a climate scientist, while Karsner joined Exxon’s board last year as part of a bid by activist firm Engine No. 1 to overhaul the company’s climate strategy.</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">“Their answers will provide a behind the scenes look at the internal discussions occurring at these companies,” Khanna said in a statement. “If the members do not provide them voluntarily, all options are on the table.”</font></p><p style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); margin: 0px 0px 25px; box-sizing: border-box; padding: 0px; line-height: 23px;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="box-sizing: border-box;">This story also appears in</span> Climatewire <span style="box-sizing: border-box;">and </span>Energywire.</font></p></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">=</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">ref ltr</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Mr. Alexander A. Karsner</b><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"> c/o Alex Iftimie</span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);"> Morrison & Foerster </span></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">425 Market Street San Francisco, CA 94105 </font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Dear Mr. Karsner: On January 20, 2022, we invited you to testify before the Oversight Committee at a February 8 hearing to examine whether oil and gas companies’ climate pledges are adequate to reduce emissions and avert a looming climate disaster. You declined to participate on the date requested. The Committee plans to move forward with our hearing on February 8, to learn the truth about the fossil fuel industry’s climate pledges. </font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">We will hear from witnesses who have studied these pledges and will explain whether they will truly reduce global warming—or instead are simply another effort by oil and gas companies to deceive the public and “greenwash” the industry’s destructive impact on our planet<b>. In light of your role on the board of directors of Exxon, a major source of carbon emissions, the Committee continues to require your testimony on this topic. </b>As we previously explained, boards of directors of fossil fuel companies have a key role to play in holding management accountable for meaningful actions to reduce emissions. </font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">As an accommodation to you, we plan to divide this hearing into two panels on different</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">dates, and we will reschedule your testimony for March 8, 2022. This will be your last</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">opportunity to appear voluntarily before the Committee. Please confirm by February 7 that you</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">will comply with this request.</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Because the Committee is postponing your testimony for four weeks, we expect that</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">Exxon will complete production of all records responsive to our November 2, 2021, subpoena in</font></div><div style="font-size: small;"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 102);">advance of your testimony. </span><span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><b>This subpoena was issued four months ago, and the remaining</b></span></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>documents are long overdue.</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">
</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">Among other documents, Exxon must produce in full and without redaction all</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman">responsive board materials,<b> including those previously placed inside a restrictive electronic</b></font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font size="4" face="Times New Roman"><b>reading room without the Committee’s consent. </b>Failure to produce these documents in advance ...</font></div><div style="font-size: small; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><font face="Times New Roman" size="4">===</font></div>