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Oil-Dependent New Mexico Joins Climate-Change Coalition

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — New Mexico Attorney General Hector Balderas has joined a coalition of 17 state attorneys general to combat global warming by examining whether fossil fuel companies misled investors or the public on the impact of their business.

State Deputy Attorney General Tania Maestas met Tuesday in New York with other prosecutors in the coalition. New Mexico depends heavily on the oil and natural gas industries to fund government operations and endowments.

New York, California, Massachusetts and the U.S. Virgin Islands are actively investigating whether Exxon Mobile deceived shareholders and the public about the effects of climate change.

Those investigations follow news reports by InsideClimate News and others that internal Exxon documents from the late 1970s showed an awareness that global warming might threaten the company's existence.