Massachusetts environmental advocacy group sues ExxonMobil

BOSTON – A Massachusetts environmental advocacy group is suing ExxonMobil for what it calls “a decades-long campaign to discredit climate change.”

Conservation Law Foundation President Brad Campbell said Tuesday the company’s strategy of publicly denying the risks that its own scientists have known about for decades has harmed local communities, including neighbourhoods near its Everett facility.

ExxonMobil spokesman Alan Jeffers calls the lawsuit part of a “well-publicized, co-ordinated assault on ExxonMobil’s reputation” that he says includes deliberately inaccurate reporting on the company’s nearly 40 years of publicly conducted climate research.

Jeffers says the Everett terminal complies with federal and state environmental standards, including monitoring and treating ground water.

In March, state Attorney General Maura Healey said she was investigating whether ExxonMobil deceived the public and investors about the effects of climate change.