‘This actually looks like an attempt to bankrupt the energy companies in America,’ says consumer group.
Cities and states across the United States have filed more than 30 lawsuits against energy companies, accusing them of causing climate-related issues and bad weather, according to a June report by Climate in the Courts.
Simultaneously, the Trump administration is carrying out a campaign to counter the growing pile of climate lawsuits.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order on April 8 that directed the attorney general’s office to “take all appropriate action” to stop state-level climate litigation that could be considered unconstitutional or preempted by federal law.
The order states that state-level climate lawsuits threaten to increase energy costs for all Americans, curtail the U.S. energy supply, and undermine federalism.
As a result of the executive order, on April 30, the Justice Department (DOJ) filed preemptive lawsuits against Hawaii and Michigan in an attempt to stop the states from filing suits of their own.
“At a time when States should be contributing to a national effort to secure reliable sources of domestic energy, Hawaii is choosing to stand in the way,” the DOJ stated in its lawsuit against Hawaii. “This Nation’s Constitution and laws do not tolerate this interference.”
The language in the Michigan lawsuit was similar.
O.H. Skinner, executive director of the Alliance for Consumers, said federal officials are “trying to stop what hasn’t started yet, which is a different problem than dealing with the cases that are already ongoing.”
“Clearly the Trump administration thinks that this [climate litigation] is effectively an attempt to gain control of our entire energy sector nationwide through little courtroom actions,” Skinner told The Epoch Times.
Undeterred by the DOJ, Hawaii filed a climate lawsuit the next day. Another lawsuit out of Multnomah County, Oregon, alleged that energy companies owe the county $50 million in existing damages, $1.5 billion in future damages, and another $50 billion to establish an abatement.
Defendants in that suit include the American Petroleum Institute; Anadarko Petroleum; BP; Chevron; ConocoPhillips; Exxon Mobil; Koch Industries; Marathon Petroleum; McKinsey & Co.; Motiva; Occidental Petroleum; Peabody Energy; Shell; Space Age Fuel; Total Specialties USA; Valero Energy; and Western States Petroleum Association. The county alleges that the companies misled the public and created a “heat dome” over its residents.
“These businesses knew their products were unsafe and harmful, and they lied about it,” Multnomah County Board of Commissioners Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said in a statement.
