Environmental groups are calling on big oil companies to "come clean"about climate change.
Members of the New York Public Interest Research Group and others held a brief rally in front of a large oil barrel in Niagara Square in downtown Buffalo on Monday.
NYPRIG's Upstate Supervisor Patricia Ceravolle says the groups are applauding State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman's effort to get Exxon Mobil and other big oil companies to release research on climate change they've had since the early 1980s.
"Release it so that we can do something to benefit society, to benefit the environment, and to benefit public health with that information that they have," Ceravolle said.
Schneiderman is also seeking the release of the companies' political strategies to block government regulations. Exxon recently went to court to block the Attorney General's investigation.
Ceravolle believes that big oil companies are standing in the way of the truth on one of the planet's most urgent issues.
"There are people that argue that global warming, indeed, is not something that is happening, the reason that all of this is going on is because of the information that Exxon and similar companies have held back from the public."