On Wednesday, Minnesota became the latest state to file a climate lawsuit against the energy industry. This marks the first lawsuit of this kind to be filed after the failure of the New York Attorney General’s case against ExxonMobil last fall. At a press conference, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced that his office was filing a civil consumer protection lawsuit against ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute (API), and Koch Industries, as well as a local energy company, alleging that the parties defrauded consumers by producing and selling petroleum products while deliberately concealing their link to climate change.
Ellison framed the lawsuit as a strike against corporate bad actors that would protect consumers and the environment. But the arguments sound very similar to cases that have already fallen short in the courtroom.
What is this case really about? And how is the Minnesota attorney general handling such a large and complex case without any help from outside groups or counsel?
Read the full blog at EIDClimate.org.
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