Nessel plans to sue oil and gas companies over Michigan's changing climate - Detroit News
Nessel plans to sue oil and gas industry over state’s changing climate
Nessel plans to sue oil and gas companies over Michigan's changing climate
Carol Thompson
Lansing — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Thursday her intention to sue the fossil fuel industry for its role in changing Michigan’s climate and threatening the state's recreational heritage.
The oil and gas industry profited while knowingly selling products that cause climate change, Nessel’s office said in a document disclosing the coming lawsuits. The industry also deceived the public about climate change, Nessel alleged, leaving the state with the expenses of adapting to and recovering from the effects of warming.
"Warmer temperatures are shrinking ski seasons in the (Upper Peninsula) and disrupting the wonderful blooms of Holland's Tulip Time Festival," Nessel said in a statement. "Severe weather events are on the rise. These impacts threaten not only our way of life but also our economy and pose long-term risks to Michigan's thriving agribusiness. The fossil fuel industry, despite knowing about these consequences, prioritized profits over people and the environment."
States such as Minnesota, New York, Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island have filed climate fraud lawsuits against oil and gas companies, alleging petroleum products played a central role in contributing to the climate crisis.
In Michigan, the Attorney General’s office is seeking outside help from attorneys at private law firms with experience and interest in pursuing similar claims against the fossil fuel industry. The deadline for applications is June 5.
Nessel took a similar tact in suing drugmakers for the opioid crisis, farming out much of the work to outside law firms in Michigan, Texas and Florida.
Under Nessel's plan to sue the fossil fuel industry, the private lawyers would serve as special assistant attorneys general.
In her request for a special assistant attorney general, Nessel’s office laid out some of the ways climate change impacts Michigan, such as fueling harmful algal blooms, welcoming invasive and disease-bearing pests, warmer temperatures, volatile weather, drought and more. Those issues cost Michigan money as the state responds to severe weather events, damages to state-owned properties and infrastructure and increased public health costs.
“The fossil fuel industry was aware of the negative impacts of extraction and use of fossil fuels, but continued to knowingly engage in business practices and conduct that harmed the public’s health, safety, and welfare and the environment,” the Attorney General’s office wrote in its request for a special assistant attorney general. “The fossil fuel industry also hid information and deceived the public and consumers, both in and outside of Michigan, about the role of their products in causing the global climate crisis.”
The Center for Climate Integrity, a nonprofit that supports communities that launch legal claims against fossil fuel companies, has tracked dozens of similar lawsuits against the industry by states, tribal governments, communities and foundations. Some lawsuits, like the one filed last year by Multnomah County, Oregon, are pursuing damages based on events such as deadly heat waves, rising sea levels and increasing storms.
More: Tepid winter brought record-low seasonal ice coverage to Great Lakes
Average temperatures in the Great Lakes region have increased by 2.3 degrees since 1951, and are expected to increase another 3-6 degrees by 2050 and 6-11 degrees by 2100, according to GLISA, a collaboration between the University of Michigan, Michigan State University and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.Winter warming is more pronounced.
Warmer temperatures cause stronger storms, put pressure on plants and animals that are suited for cooler environments, fuel harmful algal blooms and otherwise impact the Great Lakes.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate legislation
The federal government and states are in the process of implementing two laws — the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act — an investment of more than a trillion dollars to address climate change.