Michigan plans to sue oil industry over climate change - E&E News by POLITICO
Michigan plans to sue oil industry over climate change - E&E News by POLITICO
Michigan could be the next state to sue the fossil fuel industry to pay up for contributing to climate change.
State Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat, said Thursday that her office will begin seeking proposals from lawyers and law firms to serve as special assistants to pursue litigation against oil and gas companies for climate disruption in the state.
“Our ‘Pure Michigan’ identity is under threat from the effects of climate change,” Nessel said in a statement. She added that warmer temperatures are shrinking ski season in the state’s Upper Peninsula and are disrupting blooms at a famed tulip festival.
“Severe weather events are on the rise,” she said, adding that although oil and gas companies were aware of the consequences of burning fossil fuels, they “prioritized profits over people and the environment.”
Related Knowledge Center: Air emissions
More than 30 years after the last major update of the Clean Air Act, the U.S. Supreme Court has upended the ability of Congress to give the Environmental Protection Agency and other federal agencies broad scope to combat air pollution, including the emission of greenhouse gases. Meanwhile, further Biden administration efforts to limit emissions face opposition in the courts.