{"id":12543,"date":"2026-05-05T11:12:50","date_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:12:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/05\/the-trump-admin-is-trying-to-stop-state-climate-lawsuits-it-isnt-working-ee-news-by-politico\/"},"modified":"2026-05-05T11:12:50","modified_gmt":"2026-05-05T11:12:50","slug":"the-trump-admin-is-trying-to-stop-state-climate-lawsuits-it-isnt-working-ee-news-by-politico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/2026\/05\/05\/the-trump-admin-is-trying-to-stop-state-climate-lawsuits-it-isnt-working-ee-news-by-politico\/","title":{"rendered":"The Trump admin is trying to stop state climate lawsuits. It isn\u2019t working. – E&E News by POLITICO"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Trump administration has escalated its bid to protect the oil industry from costly climate litigation \u2014 even after its earlier efforts faced decisive setbacks in federal court.<\/p>\n

In its latest push, the Department of Justice on Monday sued Minnesota in federal court<\/a>, claiming the state\u2019s lawsuit seeking payment from oil companies for contributing to climate change undermines federal authority and burdens U.S. energy development.<\/p>\n

The argument has fallen flat with judges in two other federal courts, who rejected DOJ lawsuits that sought to prevent Michigan and Hawaii from filing climate liability cases. Like Minnesota\u2019s, those lawsuits seek to hold the oil industry financially responsible for the effects of climate change. If the states\u2019 cases are successful, they could cost the oil industry billions.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis naked political intimidation tactic should meet the same fate,\u201d said Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, which backs climate lawsuits against the oil and gas industry. \u201cThis is a desperate effort to shield the architects of Big Oil\u2019s decades-long climate deception from facing accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n

DOJ\u2019s lawsuit against Minnesota advances an industry priority and follows President Donald Trump\u2019s directive last April ordering the department to take \u201call appropriate action to stop\u201d the growing number of climate lawsuits. There are more than two dozen climate liability cases working their way through state courts nationwide.<\/p>\n

Under former Attorney General Pam Bondi, whom Trump ousted last month, DOJ sued Michigan and Hawaii to prevent the states from filing climate lawsuits, arguing the actions would complicate U.S. energy policy. Both states filed suit, regardless, and two federal judges this spring dismissed the administration\u2019s complaints.<\/p>\n

The judges said the federal government had not demonstrated a concrete injury. But DOJ has argued that it won the Michigan case because it forced the state to \u201ccontent itself\u201d with raising allegations against the oil industry that haven\u2019t been tried before.<\/p>\n

Michigan also filed its case in federal court. That\u2019s a departure from most of the other climate liability lawsuits, which have been filed in state court, and the oil industry has spent years trying to move those cases to federal benches.<\/p>\n

DOJ under Bondi also sued New York and Vermont in an effort to invalidate state laws creating \u201cclimate superfunds\u201d that seek payment from energy producers for greenhouse gas emissions. Those lawsuits are pending.<\/p>\n

The department\u2019s lawsuit against Minnesota is the first of its kind filed under acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.<\/p>\n

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, filed the state\u2019s lawsuit in 2020 against Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute, alleging they misled the public about the dangers of global warming for decades to \u201cpad their own pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s complaint claims the industry violated Minnesota state laws against consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices and false statements in advertising. DOJ\u2019s lawsuit says that federal law \u2014 not state \u2014 controls regulation of greenhouse gases.<\/p>\n

Ellison, who said he will move to have DOJ\u2019s lawsuit dismissed, said the state still wants to go to trial with its climate liability case \u201cbecause Big Oil has pulled every procedural trick in the book to delay facing the consequences of their unlawful actions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pat Parenteau, emeritus professor at the Vermont Law and Graduate School, who has provided pro bono advice to one of the law firms behind the climate cases, called DOJ\u2019s claim that Minnesota\u2019s lawsuit interferes with federal authority \u201cworthy of 4 Pinocchio\u2019s, if not an SNL skit.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added the lawsuit comes on the heels of EPA\u2019s decision to repeal the endangerment finding, removing the linchpin of the agency\u2019s climate regulations.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s \u201canother example of Trumpian lawfare intended to harass and intimidate blue states from enforcing their valid consumer protection laws,\u201d Parenteau said.<\/p>\n

Minnesota\u2019s lawsuit is one of dozens of challenges from state and local governments that want oil and gas companies to foot the bill for the costs of addressing floods, wildfires and other effects of a warming planet. Most of the lawsuits accuse the fossil fuel industry of deceiving the public about the effects of burning fossil fuel.<\/p>\n

The oil industry has convinced several judges \u2014 including in California and Washington state \u2014 to put the cases on hold because the Supreme Court recently agreed to review a separate climate liability lawsuit filed by Boulder, Colorado.<\/p>\n

In that case, the oil industry has asked the high court to find that federal law precludes local governments from suing fossil fuel producers for global greenhouse gas emissions. A decision is not expected until 2027.<\/p>\n

The Trump administration isn\u2019t alone in its campaign to stop climate liability cases.<\/p>\n

DOJ\u2019s lawsuit against Minnesota comes two weeks after Republicans in Congress introduced legislation<\/a> to shield oil companies from being held liable for the burning of their products and as several red states have granted legal immunity to the industry.<\/p>\n

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, in March became the first governor<\/a> to sign a law that provides a legal shield to corporations and individuals for causing climate-related harm. In Iowa, Gov. Kim Reynolds, also a Republican, last Thursday signed legislation to bar climate change lawsuits.<\/p>\n

DOJ\u2019s lawsuit says Minnesota\u2019s case has \u201cignited a conflict among the states.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Trump administration has escalated its bid to protect the oil industry from costly climate litigation \u2014 even after its earlier efforts faced decisive setbacks in federal court. In its latest push, the Department of Justice on Monday sued Minnesota in federal court, claiming the state\u2019s lawsuit seeking payment from oil companies for contributing to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12544,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12543"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12543\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12544"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpinitiate.com\/echo-test\/demo973e36f5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}