DOJ sues Minnesota to block climate lawsuit against oil companies
Flint Hill refinery (FOX 9)
(FOX 9) - The Department of Justice is suing Minnesota in an attempt to block the state's years-long lawsuit against several oil companies over claims that it engaged in a decades-long deception campaign to mislead the public about climate change.
Climate deception lawsuit
The backstory:
The DOJ's lawsuit stems from a 2020 lawsuit by the State of Minnesota against several oil companies, including trade group the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, and Minnesota-based Flint Hills Resources.
Minnesota sued the oil companies, claiming that for years the companies have worked to deceive the public about the impacts of climate change.
The Minnesota lawsuit accused the companies of "making misleading statements in advertising and other public materials directed at consumers and the general public, paying outside organizations to make misleading statements in advertising and other public materials directed at consumers and the general public, and paying scientists to produce misleading materials that were then cited and promoted by [the oil companies] and outside organizations to lend credibility to their misleading statements."
Timeline:
Since 2002, the lawsuit has been dragged out for years in the courts.
On April 15, the Minnesota Supreme Court denied a petition by the oil companies after an attempt to get the case dismissed. According to Ellison's office, the decision allowed the case to finally proceed to discovery, an exchange of information between parties before trial.
DOJ files lawsuit
What we know:
The DOJ filed its lawsuit on Monday, however, attempting to block the lawsuit from moving forward. The DOJ lawsuit comes as a stay on the stay lawsuit was dissolved on Monday.
In its complaint, the DOJ is claiming that the Minnesota lawsuit itself is a complete overreach by the state. The DOJ argues that the state is using the lawsuit as an end-around to regulate greenhouse gases.
DOJ attorneys argue only the federal government has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions under law and thus the Minnesota lawsuit should be dismissed.
What they're saying:
In a statement to FOX 9, Attorney General Keith Ellison called the DOJ lawsuit frivolous, saying it was another attempt to delay the state lawsuit.
Ellison's statement reads: "In 2020, I sued Big Oil for lying to Minnesotans about the true causes of climate change, then sticking us with the bill for the harms it is causing. Six years later, we are still waiting to go to trial because Big Oil has pulled every procedural trick in the book to delay facing the consequences of their unlawful actions. This frivolous and meritless lawsuit is just their latest attempt to hide from accountability, and I will move to have it dismissed immediately. The American people deserve a Department of Justice that fights for us, and it’s a tremendous shame that Trump’s DOJ would rather sell us out to Big Oil."