First appearance on Fox: A climate-focused California law firm backed by millions of dollars from left-wing nonprofits has quietly joined Massachusetts’ relentless legal battle against oil giant ExxonMobil.
According to court filings reviewed by Fox News, Scher Edling’s founding partners Vic Scher and Matt Edling, at the request of Massachusetts Attorney General and Department of Energy Senior Counsel Seth Schofield, Approved in the case against ExxonMobil. Department of the Environment. Mr. Shah and Mr. Edling each affirmed in separate affidavits that they would appear on behalf of the state.
The text of both affidavits filed in Suffolk County Superior Court states: “I am familiar with the facts and law relevant to the claims and defenses in this case, and my appearance and participation in this case is by the Attorney General.” “This will assist in the prosecution of…” ”
What exactly will Shah Edling’s role be in this case, and how will his involvement affect the many other Big Oil cases he is pursuing on behalf of more than a dozen states and cities? It remains unclear whether it will be granted. Sher Edling and the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
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Democratic Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell will speak in Boston on November 14, 2023. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)
In October 2019, then-Attorney General Maura Healey (D), now the state’s governor, filed the first complaint against ExxonMobil, accusing the company of disclosing the risks of climate change posed by fossil fuels. He accused the company of engaging in deceptive practices. The lawsuit was filed after a multi-year investigation into the company’s day-to-day operations.
Healey said at the time that ExxonMobil “has known for decades that the burning of fossil fuels, the company’s flagship product, has a devastating impact on the climate.”
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But ExxonMobil fought back in court, arguing that Massachusetts’ motions implicate the company’s “First Amendment right to petition.” He added that the state is objecting to the company’s conservation efforts solely because they “impact climate change policy in a manner that is contrary to the Attorney General’s policy goals.”
Photo of the entrance to the ExxonMobil campus in Houston, February 1, 2022. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, the list of cases taken on by the firm continues to grow due to Shah Edling’s involvement. The group was founded in 2016 to pursue climate-related lawsuits against oil companies, arguing that they have been aware of their impact on global warming for decades.
Our firm has locations in Delaware, Minnesota, Rhode Island, New Jersey, New York City, Chicago, Washington DC, San Francisco, Baltimore, Honolulu, and Several local governments across the country. Overall, more than 25% of Americans live in jurisdictions that are suing big oil companies for deceiving them about climate change.
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The full extent of Shah Edling’s funding structure is unknown, but the company has raised millions of dollars from nonprofits over the years. These nonprofits protect the identities of individual donors, effectively ensuring that anonymous individuals and entities play a key role in their climate litigation efforts.
According to tax filings, from 2017 to 2020, a secret organization called the Collective Action Fund for Accountability, Resilience and Adaptation (CAF), which is financially supported by the Washington, D.C.-based New Venture Fund, sent more than $5.2 million to Shah Edling. CAF injected $3 million into the company in 2021 and wired the company a total of $2.5 million worth of grants in 2022.
Vic Shah, a partner at the law firm Shah Edling, will discuss the climate change litigation he is involved in during a virtual panel discussion in December 2021. (American Tort Museum/YouTube)
2021, CAF switched financial aid From a small dark new money group to a new venture fund managed by Arabella Advisors, a firm that oversees a liberal multi-billion dollar dark money network.
The individual donors of CAF and, by extension, Sher Edling are also unknown; Previous Fox News Digital reviews Previous funding has come from the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation.
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“As I have warned, it is clear that radical left-wing black finance groups are paying for Shah Edling’s climate change movement with the goal of bankrupting America’s energy employers.” Sen. Cruz (R-Texas) previously told Fox News. Digital. “The New Venture Fund and Shah Edling’s litigation gamble is nothing less than an attempt to eliminate fossil fuels, a goal that lacks the support of a majority in Congress.”
Mr. Cruz is the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee. Rep. James Comer, Republican, Kentucky., of Chairman of the House Oversight Committee, We are conducting an extensive investigation into Shah Edling’s ties to the Biden administration, and that investigation is ongoing.
ExxonMobil did not respond to requests for comment regarding the purpose of this article.
