MINNEAPOLIS (Legal Newsline) – Exxon and others want to fight a lawsuit by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison in federal court, claiming he is pushing an agenda crafted by private lawyers to regulate the energy industry.
On July 27, Exxon removed Ellison’s lawsuit that accuses it of deceptive acts associated with climate change. Also named as defendants are the American Petroleum Institute and three Koch Industries entities.
The lawsuit was said to be put in Ellison’s head by a group called Fresh Energy last year shortly after he was sworn in. The AG – and several of his colleagues – has taken in two assistants who are paid by climate change advocate Michael Bloomberg, through a fellowship program at New York University School of Law.
A lawsuit against Exxon that claimed it misled its shareholders about the impacts climate change would have on it failed spectacularly in a New York state court.
Exxon is also fighting to have climate change lawsuits filed by private lawyers working for government entities on contingency fees heard in federal court.
The Minnesota lawsuit says Exxon, the API and the Koch entities deceived the public about climate change science in order to safeguard their business interests.
Exxon calls the lawsuit the culmination of a plan concocted by plaintiffs lawyers, activists and special interests to force an agenda that has gained no traction with lawmakers or regulators.
“While the Attorney General is entitled to disagree with particular statements about climate and energy policy, he is not entitled to use state power to suppress speech and deter free association as part of a coordinated campaign to change federal climate and energy policy,” lawyers for the company wrote in their removal notice.
“This suit is neither about consumer protection nor properly brought under state law. Plaintiff purposefully wades into complex federal statutory, regulatory and constitutional issues, and attempts to substitute one state’s judgment for longstanding decisions by the federal government about national and international energy policy and environmental protection.
“A suit of this nature should be heard by a federal court.”