The election of Donald Trump has not calmed the climate cult’s obsession with frivolous lawsuits. This week, Maine’s Attorney General Aaron Frey, a Democrat, announced that the Pine Tree State is filing suit against several oil giants, alleging that they willingly hid the role of fossil fuels in climate change and put profits over the environment for more than half a century.
The Lawsuit
Maine is seeking a jury trial and compensatory damages for mitigation of the impact that so-called climate change has had on their state for decades. The defendants include Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP, Sunoco, and the American Petroleum Institute (API).
Said Maine Governor Janet Mills, also a Democrat:
For decades, big oil companies have made record profits, taking billions out of the pockets of Maine people while deliberately deceiving them about the harmful impacts of fossil fuels — impacts that Maine people see and feel every day. Last winter’s devastating storms are just further proof that climate change is harming our lives, our health, and our economy — and it is time for the fossil fuel industry to be held responsible. Attorney General Frey has always stood up for what is best for Maine people, and I applaud him for doing so yet again by filing this important lawsuit on their behalf.
Maine alleges in its suit that it is the victim of the careless disregard that the oil companies showed when they continued to sell fossil fuels even though they knew that continued use of such fuels risked causing extreme weather effects, which adversely affected the state. Claimed Frey:
For over half a century, these companies chose to fuel profits instead of following their science to prevent what are now likely irreversible, catastrophic climate effects. In so doing, they burdened the State and our citizens with the consequences of their greed and deception.
Specifically, the suit claims that the oil companies ran afoul of state law due to their negligence, nuisance, trespass, unfair trade practices, and failure to warn about the consequences of fossil fuel use.
The “Defense”
The defendants, of course, disagree with the accusations.
“This ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicized lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of taxpayer resources,” said API’s Ryan Meyers in a statement. “Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not a patchwork of courts.”
Exxon told The New York Times that claims in Maine’s lawsuit “ignore the state’s historic dependence on oil and natural gas, do nothing to address the risks of climate change and waste taxpayer dollars.”
“Addressing climate change requires a coordinated federal and international policy response, not meritless state court litigation attacking essential energy production,” said Chevron’s attorney Ted Boutrous. “Identical claims have been dismissed by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and state courts in Delaware and Maryland. As the Baltimore city circuit court recently held, ‘state law cannot provide a remedy to claims involving foreign emissions.’”
Thus far, the oil companies have pursued a strategy of claiming these lawsuits ultimately belong in federal rather than state courts. However, in January the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Minnesota lawsuit can proceed in state court.
Other Lawsuits Against Big Oil
Around 20 states and localities have sued “Big Oil” for their supposed role in climate change — including New Jersey, California, Delaware, Minnesota, Vermont, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and the District of Columbia.
Climate zealots were greatly encouraged by a lawsuit win in the European Court of Human Rights in Switzerland when the court found that the Swiss government failed “to quantify, through a carbon budget or otherwise, national greenhouse gas emissions limitations.”
Alarmists were further encouraged when the state of Hawaii chose to settle a climate lawsuit brought by climate scare group Our Children’s Trust, supposedly brought on behalf of a group of children. In essence, Hawaii promised to enact certain “climate friendly” measures.
But Maine and the other states involved in the lawsuits are suing the oil companies and expecting monetary compensation — not just concessions from climate-friendly governments. Their hill is much harder to climb, and they can expect fierce opposition from Big Oil.
Perhaps all of these lawsuits would quickly go away if the oil companies simply stopped providing those horrific fossil fuels to the states that hate them so much. Let Maine and the other climate-obsessed states go without the fuels they’ve willingly become addicted to. Then possibly they’ll understand their own role in the “climate crisis” they’re supposedly facing.
