California Critic Cites Climate Hypocrisy, Urges SEC Probe

Bloomberg Politics covers CEI’s letter to the SEC urging an investigation of potential bond fraud by local governments in California.

California officials are downplaying the risks of climate change to bond investors while citing those same risks as the basis for a lawsuit against oil companies, according to a conservative think tank that has asked securities regulators to investigate.

The Washington-based Competitive Enterprise Institute sent a letter to the Securities and Exchange Commission, urging it to investigate a group of cities and counties in California for making contradictory claims about climate risks.

“In these lawsuits the plaintiff cities and counties apparently describe these climate risks in ways that are far different than how they described them in their own bond offerings,” says the letter, dated Feb. 1. “In our view, this inconsistency raises serious questions of municipal bond fraud.”

Read the full article at Bloomberg Politics.