GOP demands climate docs from AGs

WASHINGTON — The House science committee has issued a pair of subpoenas this week to the attorneys general of New York and Massachusetts, demanding documents and communications with federal agencies related to climate change, environmental research and the Clean Power Plan.

It’s the second time in a year that the committee has subpoenaed the pair, who are leading investigations into whether energy giant ExxonMobil deliberately concealed its knowledge of climate change in the past. Neither complied with the previous subpoena, which was issued in July 2016.

The subpoena issued this week demands that the attorneys general appear to testify before the committee, as well as turn over certain climate-related documents and communications from their offices and any documents related to the “investigation or potential prosecution of companies, nonprofit organizations, scientists or other individuals related to the issue of climate change.”

Not all members of the House committee stand behind its recent action. In a statement Thursday, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, ranking Democrat of the committee, said the subpoenas “are symbolic of the Majority’s anti-science agenda and their efforts to shield oil, gas, and mining interests, such as ExxonMobil, from legitimate oversight and public accountability.”