I have previously reported that a coalition of 17 state attorney generals has formed (AGs United for Clean Power), which intends to promote the climate change agenda by targeting the fossil fuel industry.

The first victim of the Climate Change purge was the Competitive Enterprise Institute (CEI), a non-profit organization that has assisted businesses in countering climate justice activism, when Attorney General Claude E. Walker of the U.S. Virgin Islands issued a subpoena in an attempt uncover the content of CEI’s comprehensive work on climate change policy.

Now, in a dramatic turnaround, thirteen Republican members of the Science, Space, and Technology Committee Republicans sent letters to 17 state attorneys general and eight environmental groups requesting documents related to the groups’ coordinated efforts to deprive companies, nonprofit organizations, scientists and scholars of their First Amendment rights and their ability to fund and conduct scientific research free from intimidation and threats of prosecution.

“The Committee is concerned that these efforts to silence speech are based on political theater rather than legal or scientific arguments, and that they run counter to an attorney general’s duty to serve ‘as the guardian of the legal rights of the citizens’ and to ‘assert, protect, and defend the rights of the people,’” said the letter. The Republicans also requested information from eight environmental groups and activists pushing for prosecutors to pursue climate skeptics, as shown in emails and documents obtained through open-records requests by the Energy & Environment Legal Institute. The House letter asks for communications and documents between the attorneys general and environmental groups, including materials related to “the potential prosecution of companies, nonprofit organizations, scientists, or other individuals related to the issue of climate change.”

The letters are available online, but I must admit my favorite is to California Attorney General Kamala Harris (who is likely to be my state’s next U.S. Senator).

Meanwhile, the CEI has taken out a full-page ad in the New York Times decrying the thuggery of Gore’s group.

The ad is entitled: ABUSE OF POWER

The right to speak out is among the most fundamental principles of American democracy. It should never be taken away. Yet, around the country, a group of state attorneys general have launched a misguided effort to silence the views and voices of those who disagree with them. ….This abuse of power is unacceptable. It is unlawful. And it is un-American. Regardless of one’s views on climate change, every American should reject the use of government power to harass or silence those who hold differing opinions. This intimidation campaign sets a dangerous precedent and threatens the rights of anyone who disagrees with the government’s position—whether it’s vaccines, GMOs, or any other politically charged issue. Law enforcement officials should never use their powers to silence participants in political debates….

It is good to see that the AGs for Clean Power are not going to be allowed to practice climate justice “lawfare” unchallenged.

(Featured Image from the CEI Color Ad .pdf).



