FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
NEWS RELEASE
June 20, 2016
For More Information, contact:
Luther Strange
Mike Lewis (334) 353-2199
Alabama Attorney General
Joy Patterson (334) 242-7491
Page 1 of 2
AG LUTHER STRANGE LEADS ACTION PRAISED
BY WALL STREET JOURNAL IN MONDAY EDITORIAL
(MONTGOMERY) – In an editorial published today, the Wall Street Journal lauded a
letter by Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange and joined by 12 other state Attorneys
General calling upon their colleagues to resist abusing their subpoena powers to target energy
companies for their views in the climate change debate. Attorney General Strange led the
Attorneys General in questioning their colleagues about misuse of fraud allegations, noting that
if one company’s minimization of climate change might be fraud, so may another company’s
exaggeration of it. The Wall Street Journal agreed that those using their subpoena power in this
manner should heed the message of Attorney General Strange and the other 12 Attorneys
General in their letter.
The editorial may be found at this link–http://www.wsj.com/articles/two-can-play-at-
climate-fraud-1466373891 – with excerpts below:
Two Can Play at Climate ‘Fraud’
If Exxon can be sued, why can’t Al Gore for exaggerations that help his investments*
June 20, 2016, Editorial of the Wall Street Journal
Eric Schneiderman and Sheldon Whitehouse, call your office. The New York Attorney General and
Rhode Island Senator who helped to launch the prosecution of dissent on climate change may not
like where their project is headed. Thirteen state Attorneys General have sent a letter pointing out
that if minimizing the risks of climate change can be prosecuted as “fraud,” then so can statements
overstating the dangers of climate change.
That’s the news contained in a letter that the Republican AGs of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona,
Arkansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah and
Wisconsin dispatched to Mr. Schneiderman and other AGs on June 15.
The letter from the 13 Republican AGs asks, “Should these statements justify an investigation into all
contributions to environmental non-profits by Kleiner Perkins’s partners?” They quickly add that
they want to undertake no such action. But they deserve credit for pointing out the political
Pandora’s box that left-wing AGs have opened by “policing viewpoints” on climate change.
We don’t think anyone should be prosecuted for engaging in political debate, but progressives have
shown (see independent counsels) that they’ll cease their abuses only when the same methods are
used against them.
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501 Washington Avenue * Montgomery, AL 36104 * (334) 242-7300
www.ago.state.al.us Page 2 of 2
