(The Center Square) — Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey has filed a lawsuit against a handful of major oil companies, alleging they have “deceived” the state for decades about the role fossil fuel products played in climate change.
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court, names Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP, Sunoco and other companies, alleging that their business practices have created “public health impacts, property damage and other harms across Maine as a result of extreme weather, sea-level rise, and warmer temperatures.”
Frey said big petroleum companies whose products have generated a significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions that scientists say are contributing to a warmer planet while “deceiving” consumers about the impact of those products.
“For over half a century, these companies chose to fuel profits instead of following their science to prevent what are now likely irreversible, catastrophic climate effects,” Frey said in a statement. “In so doing, they burdened the State and our citizens with the consequences of their greed and deception.”
The legal challenge is backed by the state’s top Democratic leaders, including Gov. Janet Mills, who accused petroleum companies of “taking billions out of the pockets of Maine people while deliberately deceiving them about the harmful impacts of fossil fuels – impacts that Maine people see and feel every day.”
“Last winter’s devastating storms are just further proof that climate change is harming our lives, our health, and our economy – and it is time for the fossil fuel industry to be held responsible,” she said in a statement.
Nationwide, dozens of states and local governments have filed lawsuits alleging that fossil fuel companies deceived the public about how their products contribute to climate change.
The legal challenges, including those from New York, are collectively seeking billions of dollars of damage from such things as severe storms, wildfires and rising sea levels.
Republican attorneys general in 19 states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to block several Democratic-led climate change lawsuits against the oil and gas industry that have been filed in state courts.
In Congress, Democrats have pushed for federal prosecution of oil companies for alleged price fixing and big oil’s alleged role in covering up the climate crisis they argue is primarily caused by the burning of fossil fuels.
Those efforts have been blocked in the House, where Republicans have argued that the move will drive up energy costs and do little to blunt the impact of climate change.
In a recent statement on the legal challenges, the American Petroleum Institute described lawsuits against the fossil fuel industry as “meritless” and a “waste of taxpayer resources.”
