CLW previously reported that:
newly released records shed further light on the dangerous deployment of law enforcement to advance private ends, at the request of private parties.
Reviewing the request, and a transcript from The People of the State of New York v. Exxon Mobil — which discussion prompted the request and proved these records exist — we note that NY OAG seems to have omitted a key record.
Either the Pawa-to-Schneiderman email is privileged, or it isn’t — as the release and content of the emails confirm, it isn’t, and was wrongly sealed from public view by the court; if it isn’t, neither is the memo the tort lawyer passed along in support of his request that the AG help make energy companies the next tobacco companies, cash cows for massive settlements to be distributed to political uses and constituencies (you might call that a “sustainable funding stream”).
This involved a request that produced some very informative correspondence about the climate litigation industry and its support network, but the response to which was facially incomplete.
On administrative appeal by the transparency group Energy Policy Advocates (EPA), NY OAG has now released one such document, a memo sent by “climate nuisance” tort lawyer Matt Pawa to Eric Schneiderman, who then forwarded it to his staff.
