The U.S. Justice Department announced Monday that it’s suing the state of Minnesota to stop a lawsuit the state filed against the oil industry over climate change.
At issue is a 2020 lawsuit filed by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison alleging ExxonMobil, Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute deceived and defrauded Minnesotans about climate change — leaving the state to bear the costs of that climate change. It seeks unspecified restitution.
Nearly six years later, that lawsuit is still making its way through the courts.
In its new lawsuit to block the 2020 case, the DOJ says Minnesota is overstepping its authority — and that only the federal government has oversight on greenhouse gas emissions. The department said Minnesota’s lawsuit “usurps exclusive federal authority and unreasonably burdens domestic energy development.”
“The case we filed against Minnesota today is an attempt to rein in another unconstitutional state effort to invade an area of exclusive federal control,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Adam Gustafson said in a news release Monday. “It is in America’s interest to have independent and secure sources of energy. Minnesota’s attempted overreach would undermine our economic and national security to advance the climate agenda of politicians and activists.”
In a statement Monday, Ellison said he will move to have the federal lawsuit dismissed.
“We are still waiting to go to trial because Big Oil has pulled every procedural trick in the book to delay facing the consequences of their unlawful actions. This frivolous and meritless lawsuit is just their latest attempt to hide from accountability,” Ellison said in a statement.
