Case 3:17-cv-06011-WHA Document 170 Filed 03/20/18 Page 1 of 9

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CITY OF OAKLAND
BARBARA J. PARKER, State Bar #069722
City Attorney
MARIA BEE, State Bar #167716
Special Counsel
ERIN BERNSTEIN, State Bar #231539
Supervising Deputy City Attorney
MALIA MCPHERSON, State Bar #313918
Attorney
One Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, 6th Floor
Oakland, California 94612
Telephone: (510) 238-3601
Facsimile: (510) 238-6500
Email: ebernstein@oaklandcityattorney.org

CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO
DENNIS J. HERRERA, State Bar #139669
City Attorney
RONALD P. FLYNN, State Bar #184186
Chief Deputy City Attorney
YVONNE R. MERÉ, State Bar #173594
Chief of Complex and Affirmative Litigation
ROBB W. KAPLA, State Bar #238896
Deputy City Attorney
MATTHEW D. GOLDBERG, State Bar
#240776
Deputy City Attorney
City Hall, Room 234
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, California 94102-4602
Telephone: (415) 554-4748
Facsimile: (415) 554-4715
Email: matthew.goldberg@sfcityatty.org
Attorneys for The People of the State of
California
[Additional Counsel Listed on Signature Page]

Attorneys for The People of the State of
California

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UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA
SAN FRANCISCO DIVISION

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THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF
CALIFORNIA, acting by and through Oakland
City Attorney BARBARA J. PARKER,

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PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO
MOTIONS TO FILE AMICUS CURIAE
BRIEF AND TUTORIAL
PRESENTATION, AND STATEMENT
OF NONOPPOSITION

Plaintiff and Real Party in Interest,

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Case No.: 3:17-cv-06011-WHA

v.
BP P.L.C., a public limited company of England
and Wales, CHEVRON CORPORATION, a
Delaware corporation, CONOCOPHILLIPS
COMPANY, a Delaware corporation,
EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, a New
Jersey corporation, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL
PLC, a public limited company of England and
Wales, and DOES 1 through 10,

Date: March 21, 2018
Time: 8:00 AM
Judge: Hon. William Alsup
Location: Courtroom 8, 19th floor

Defendants.

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 Case 3:17-cv-06011-WHA Document 170 Filed 03/20/18 Page 2 of 9

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THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF
CALIFORNIA, acting by and through the San
Francisco City Attorney DENNIS J. HERRERA,

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Plaintiff and Real Party in Interest,

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v.
BP P.L.C., a public limited company of England
and Wales, CHEVRON CORPORATION, a
Delaware corporation, CONOCOPHILLIPS
COMPANY, a Delaware corporation, EXXON
MOBIL CORPORATION, a New Jersey
corporation, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, a
public limited company of England and Wales,
and DOES 1 through 10,

Case No.: 3:17-cv-06012-WHA
PLAINTIFF’S RESPONSE TO
MOTIONS TO FILE AMICUS CURIAE
BRIEF AND TUTORIAL
PRESENTATION, AND STATEMENT
OF NONOPPOSITION
Date: March 21, 2018
Time: 8:00 AM
Judge: Hon. William Alsup
Location: Courtroom 8, 19th floor

Defendants.

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The People respond herein to the recent motions by certain individuals seeking leave to file
an amicus brief (ECF 153) and to make a presentation in response to the Court’s tutorial request
(ECF 157). The People do not oppose either motion. But the People do wish to advise the Court that
publicly available information1 indicates that (1) the principal amici and one of their attorneys are
affiliated with the Heartland Institute, an organization with ties to the fossil fuel industry, (2) one of
the amici has received large sums of money directly from defendant Exxon Mobil Corporation and
from the American Petroleum Institute, (3) the amici are (with one exception, who presents other
issues of which the Court should be aware) not climate scientists, and the principal amicus has a
history of misstatements on a bizarre range of topics, including Barack Obama’s birth certificate and
his own cure for HIV, and (4) two of the individuals seeking to file a presentation in response to the
Court’s tutorial request are current board members of the CO2 Coalition, an organization whose
board of directors and board of advisors include retired employees of defendant ExxonMobil
Corporation (“Exxon”) with backgrounds in business, communications and marketing.

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The statements below are largely based on statements by the amici or their lawyers about
themselves, or on reporting by third parties such as the New York Times.
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ARGUMENT

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First, the proposed amicus brief states that some of the amici have “in the past, received

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research grants or expenses from coal-owning interests, though most [amici] have never received

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such grants or expenses and none has done so for some years.” Br. 6, ¶ 3. But the proposed amicus

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brief shows several connections to the Heartland Institute, an organization tied to the fossil fuel

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industry. One of the two attorneys on the brief identifies himself as a lawyer for Heartland, and the

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first four proposed amici (Monckton, Soon, Legates, and Briggs) are also affiliated with Heartland;

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three are explicitly listed by Heartland as its “policy advisors.”2 And Heartland has a well-known

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history of attacking scientific conclusions to gratify its corporate funders, including defendant Exxon

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Mobil Corporation. Between 1997 and 2006 Heartland reportedly received at least $676,000 directly

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from Exxon or its predecessors or subsidiaries;3 at one time Heartland’s “Government Relations

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Advisor” was apparently an Exxon executive.4 Heartland previously accepted money from Philip

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Morris, and its solicitations for more cash boasted about its prior attacks on the science on second-

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hand smoke and its publication of articles like “Joe Camel Is Innocent.”5 Heartland is a veteran anti-

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science mercenary.

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Second, Willie Soon – the amicus listed second in the proposed brief – is known to have

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accepted more than $1.2 million from the fossil-fuel industry, including Exxon and the American

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Petroleum Institute (an organization supported by all Defendants directly or through their

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See https://www.heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/lord-christopher-monckton;
https://www.heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/willie-soon; https://www.heartland.org/aboutus/who-we-are/william-briggs;
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http://climateinvestigations.org/heartland-institute/. This website includes copies of Exxon’s
documentation of payments to the Heartland Institute.
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https://exxonsecrets.org/html/personfactsheet.php?id=626 (describing Walter Buchholtz as
Exxon executive who served as Heartland lobbyist);
http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2005/363/309/2005-363309812-0295fbb2-9.pdf, at 15
(Heartland tax return describing Walter Buchholtz as a “government relations advisor” and an
“officer, direct, trustee, or key employee” of Heartland); https://www.linkedin.com/in/waltbuchholtz-14963331 (LinkedIn profile published by Walt Buchholtz, describing himself as a retired
“Public and Government Affairs Executive” at Exxon).
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https://www.scribd.com/document/220221575/Joe-Bast-s-bottom-line, at 2-3.
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predecessors and/or operating subsidiaries, see, e.g., Oak. Compl. ¶ 57).6 As the New York Times has

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reported, Soon’s correspondence with his corporate funders “described many of his scientific papers

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as ‘deliverables’ that he completed in exchange for their money.” Id. For example, a 2008 “request

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for payment” from Soon to Exxon has been published, and in it Soon specifically names the climate

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research he performed in return for the money.7 Soon’s scientific papers repeatedly failed to disclose

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his conflict of interest, a behavior that his employer described as “inappropriate.”8 Simply put, Soon

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has received substantial sums of money for his climate “research” from Exxon, one of the parties to

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this action.

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Third, the proposed amici are (with one exception) not climate scientists, and at least one of
them has a history of public misstatements. Specifically:


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Christopher Monckton. Monckton, who has a master’s degree in “Classical

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Architecture” and not in any branch of climate science, Br. 6, ¶ 2, has as a long history of

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unreliability. It appears that he has falsely claimed to be a member of the House of

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Lords,9 and to have discovered an “invention” that “shows much promise” to cure HIV,

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malaria, and multiple sclerosis.10 He prepared a 55-paragraph affidavit to provide what

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he called “expert testimony” to an American court, to show that there was only a “1 in 75

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quadrillion” chance that President Obama’s birth certificate was genuine.11 He appears to

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have made misleading statements about whether an article he wrote was peer-reviewed,12

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https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/us/ties-to-corporate-cash-for-climate-change-researcherWei-Hock-Soon.html?_r=0.
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The invoice is attached as Exhibit A.
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https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/22/us/ties-to-corporate-cash-for-climate-change-researcherWei-Hock-Soon.html?_r=0.
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http://www.parliament.uk/business/news/2011/july/letter-to-viscount-monckton/.
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https://vimeo.com/45097141, at 0:30 forward.
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http://www.wnd.com/2012/11/win-or-lose-obama-was-not-and-is-not-the-president/;
http://www.wnd.com/files/2012/11/monckton_affidavit.pdf, ¶¶ 2, 47.
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https://wattsupwiththat.com/2012/01/11/monckton-responds-to-potholer54/ (Monckton
defending his claim to peer review: “The review editor reviewed it in the usual way and it was
published in the July 2008 edition” and “Peer-review takes various forms”);
http://www.aps.org/units/fps/newsletters/200807/monckton.cfm (editor: article in question was not
peer reviewed).
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and also claimed to be an “appointed expert reviewer” for the Intergovernmental Panel on

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Climate Change, even though he was not “appointed” by anyone, and merely signed up

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on the IPCC’s website to submit a review of the IPCC’s report.13 He is a policy advisor

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at the Heartland Institute.14
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Willie Soon. Soon is an astrophysicist, not a climate scientist, and, as noted above, for

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years Soon took money from Exxon and the American Petroleum Institute to write about

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climate change. He has co-authored articles with Monckton, Legates, and Briggs,15 and is

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currently a policy advisor at the Heartland Institute.16
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David Legates. In the amicus brief, Legates identifies himself as a “former State

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Climatologist” for Delaware, Br. 6, ¶ 2, but he does not mention that the Delaware

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governor ordered him not to use that title in connection with any statement on climate

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change, or that he was eventually asked to resign that position by officials at the

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University of Delaware.17 He is a research fellow at the Independent Institute (which

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previously received funding from Exxon and other fossil fuel interests), has previously

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been affiliated with the George C. Marshall Institute (another denialist group funded in

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the past by Exxon), and has given talks at the Heartland Institute.18 He also frequently

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co-authors papers with Monckton, Soon and/or Briggs.

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https://www.desmogblog.com/2012/11/01/climate-science-denialist-lord-monckton-s-ipccappointment-wasn-t; http://www.wnd.com/2012/10/global-warming-did-not-cause-sandy/.
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https://www.heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/lord-christopher-monckton.
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See, e.g., https://www.theguardian.com/environment/climate-consensus-97-percent/2015/jun/03/research-downplaying-impending-global-warming-is-overturned.
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https://www.heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/willie-soon.
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https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2015/02/26/uds-david-legates-caught-climate-changecontroversy/24090273/; see also https://www.desmogblog.com/david-legates-asked-step-downdelaware-state-climatologist.
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http://www.independent.org/aboutus/person_detail.asp?id=949 (Legates website with
Independent Institute); https://www.desmogblog.com/independent-institute (Exxon funding of
Independent Institute);
https://web.archive.org/web/20110808025719/http://www.marshall.org/pdf/materials/207.pdf;
(Marshall Institute talk by Legates);
https://web.archive.org/web/20161125020736/http://marshall.org/events/shattered-consensus-fourauthors-discuss-their-new-book-on-climate-science/ (Marshall Institute book co-authored by
Legates); https://www.desmogblog.com/george-c-marshall-institute (Exxon’s funding of Marshall
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

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William Briggs. Briggs is a former adjunct professor of statistics at Cornell’s medical

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school, who describes his specialty as “uncertainty analysis of all kinds”; his published

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work on climate change is almost entirely pieces co-authored with Monckton and/or

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Soon.19 He is a “policy advisor” on climate change at the Heartland Institute.20
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The others. The remaining five amici (many of whom appear to be Monckton’s frequent

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collaborators) are “electronics engineer[s],” a “specialist in the electricity supply

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industry,” a lecturer in “applied control theory,” and a college student. Br. 6, ¶ 2.

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Fourth, at least two of the individuals who have proposed filing a presentation in response to
the Court’s tutorial request – William Happer and Richard S. Lindzen – are affiliated with an

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organization called the “CO2 Coalition.” Both Mr. Happer and Mr. Lindzen are currently members

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of the CO2 Coalition’s board of directors.21 Other members of the Coalition’s board include retired

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Exxon employees with backgrounds in business, communications and marketing.22 Another board of

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directors member, Norman Rogers, is a “policy advisor” to the Heartland Institute, the organization

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discussed above.23

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CONCLUSION

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The People wish to make the Court aware that the amici are, with a single exception, not

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climate scientists, and that some of them have been paid directly or indirectly by the Defendants.

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But the People do not oppose the filing of the amicus brief or the proposed presentation.

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Dated: March 20, 2018

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** /s/ Erin Bernstein
BARBARA J. PARKER (State Bar #069722)
City Attorney

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Respectfully submitted,

Institute); http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/28/business/exxon-backs-groups-that-question-globalwarming.html (same); https://www.heartland.org/multimedia/videos/david-legates-iccc1 (Legates
talk at Heartland Institute); https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JmX8BjKILc (same).
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http://wmbriggs.com/public/briggs_cv.pdf; http://wmbriggs.com/contact/.
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https://www.heartland.org/about-us/who-we-are/william-briggs.
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http://co2coalition.org/about/.
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http://co2coalition.org/members/bruce-everett-phd/; http://co2coalition.org/members/lorraineyapps-cohen/; https://web.archive.org/web/20170215232924/http://co2coalition.org/about/membersof-the-co2-coalition/#1463142183603-4fb55d6d-de33.
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http://co2coalition.org/members/norman-rogers/.
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MARIA BEE (State Bar #167716)
Special Counsel
ERIN BERNSTEIN (State Bar #231539)
Supervising Deputy City Attorney
MALIA MCPHERSON (State Bar #313918)
Attorney
One Frank H. Ogawa Plaza, 6th Floor
Oakland, California 94612
Telephone: (510) 238-3601
Facsimile: (510) 238-6500
Email: ebernstein@oaklandcityattorney.org

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Attorneys for The People

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** Pursuant to Civ. L.R. 5-1(i)(3), the electronic
filer has obtained approval from this signatory.
** /s/ Matthew D. Goldberg
DENNIS J. HERRERA, State Bar #139669
City Attorney
RONALD P. FLYNN, State Bar #184186
Chief Deputy City Attorney
YVONNE R. MERÉ, State Bar #173594
Chief of Complex and Affirmative Litigation
ROBB W. KAPLA, State Bar #238896
Deputy City Attorney
MATTHEW D. GOLDBERG, State Bar #240776
Deputy City Attorney
City Hall, Room 234
1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place
San Francisco, California 94102-4602
Telephone: (415) 554-4748
Facsimile: (415) 554-4715
Email: matthew.goldberg@sfcityatty.org
Attorneys for The People
** Pursuant to Civ. L.R. 5-1(i)(3), the electronic
filer has obtained approval from this signatory.

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/s/ Steve W. Berman
STEVE W. BERMAN (pro hac vice)
steve@hbsslaw.com
HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP
1918 Eighth Ave. Suite 3300
Seattle, Washington 98101
Telephone: (206) 623-7292
Facsimile: (206) 623-0594
SHANA E. SCARLETT (State Bar #217895)
HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP
715 Hearst Avenue, Suite 202
Berkeley, California 94710
Telephone: (510) 725-3000
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Facsimile: (510) 725-3001

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MATTHEW F. PAWA (pro hac vice)
mattp@hbsslaw.com
BENJAMIN A. KRASS (pro hac vice)
benk@hbsslaw.com
HAGENS BERMAN SOBOL SHAPIRO LLP
1280 Centre Street, Suite 230
Newton Centre, Massachusetts 02459
Telephone: (617) 641-9550
Facsimile: (617) 641-9551

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Of Counsel Attorneys for The People

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 Case 3:17-cv-06011-WHA Document 170 Filed 03/20/18 Page 9 of 9

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CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE

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I hereby certify that on March 20, 2018, I electronically filed the foregoing document using

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the CM/ECF system which will send notification of such filing to the e-mail addresses registered in

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the CM/ECF system, as denoted on the Electronic Mail Notice List, and I hereby certify that I have

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caused to be mailed a paper copy of the foregoing document via the United States Postal Service to

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the non-CM/ECF participants indicated on the Manual Notice List generated by the CM/ECF system.

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s/ Steve W. Berman
STEVE W. BERMAN

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