ACTIVISTS’ COORDINATED EFFORT TO PUSH BOGUS CLIMATE LITIGATION DESCENDS ON MICHIGAN By MANDI RISKO

After nearly five years of deliberation and activist pressure, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced her intent to file a climate lawsuit against American energy producers.

ACTIVISTS’ COORDINATED EFFORT TO PUSH BOGUS CLIMATE LITIGATION DESCENDS ON MICHIGAN

MAY 22, 2024 | MANDI RISKO

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After nearly five years of deliberation and activist pressure, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced her intent to file a climate lawsuit against American energy producers. This time, however, out-of-state activists are calling on the attorney general to turn the dial up a notch and include auto manufacturers and utilities in its meritless “deception” suit, a move that would serve as a clear threat to the lifeblood of the state’s economy.

While Democratic politicians in coastal states have been eager to file climate lawsuits against energy companies, the Rockefeller-funded campaign has fared far less well in Appalachia and in the Midwest, where lawmakers representing manufacturing and oil and gas workers have taken heat for considering politically-motivated lawsuits against homegrown industries.

When Activists Say Jump, AGs Ask How High

During a press conference announcing the release of an RFP for proposals from private law firms to serve as outside counsel in a potential climate lawsuit, AG Nessel said that her office “wouldn’t rule out” naming utility companies or other industries alongside energy companies.

Eager at the prospect of a lawsuit that isn’t a copy-and-paste job like Washington, D.C.’s suit or Minnesota’s, climate activists took to X to suggest other defendants for AG Nessel.

Robert Brulle – a core member of Brown University’s Climate Social Science Network, which produces foreign-fundedresearch to support climate lawsuits – was quick to jump in, suggesting the AG sue “the car companies.” Those would be General Motors and Ford, Michigan-based companies that have been the engine of the state’s economy for decades.

This isn’t the first time Brulle has tried to attack Michigan’s top industry. Back in 2020, Brulle worked with former E&E Newsreporter Maxine Joselow on a five month investigation into Ford and GM. The end product was an article that mimicked the Rockefeller-funded #ExxonKnew reporting series.

DeSmog, a foreign-funded activist fuel outlet, covered Brulle’s report with a comically familiar headline: “Detroit Knew: GM and Ford Were Aware of Climate Risks Decades Ago Too, Investigation Reveals.”

In addition to Brulle, Dave Anderson of Energy and Policy Institute (EPI) said on X that AG Nessel’s apparent willingness to sue far and wide is “promising.” The group has pushed another #ExxonKnew copycat narrative, “Utilities Knew,” for years with little traction.

But this is all to be expected. EPI, a dark-money group with unknown funders, has been part of the climate litigation campaign since the very start, and was even present alongside the Rockefeller nonprofits at a meeting with the New York Attorney General in early 2015 where the first climate lawsuit was pitched to the office.

From oil and natural gas to utilities, automakers, and agriculture, the day-one supporters of climate litigation have long hoped to expand the effort to target other industries.

For example, not long after the architects of the climate litigation campaign held a long brainstorming session at Harvard about how to gin up lawsuits targeting the agriculture industry, New York State filed a greenwashing lawsuit against meat producer JBS, suggesting that politically-charged lawsuits against utilities or automotive companies are not far-fetched at all.

Michiganders Are Used to Battling The Climate Crowd 

Regardless of what the Rockefellers try and place on the Attorney General’s desk, Michiganders are ready for a fight, especially after having to continuously defend their right to produce internal combustion engines from regulators and activists trying to “phase out” the vehicles most Americans depend on.

In fact, state legislators have already stated pushing back. Last week, every member of the Michigan Senate Republican Caucus joined State Senator Aric Nesbitt in sending a letter calling on AG Nessel to divert tax dollars away from “publicity stunts”:

“Beyond attempting to cripple an industry critical to our state’s economy and well-being, such overtly political litigation sets a dangerous precedent. The legal system should not be used as a tool for advancing political agendas or targeting political adversaries. Such an abuse of power threatens the public’s trust in our institutions.

“Much like your misguided and failed attempts to shut down one of Michigan’s critical energy arteries, this publicity stunt will do nothing but waste taxpayer dollars, discourage investment in our state, and weaponize our legal system.” (emphasis added)

The lawmakers are right to be concerned: even if AG Nessel does not take a direct shot at Michigan’s auto industry, lawsuits aimed at “bankrupt[ing]” the companies that produce gasoline would cripple the state’s core industry, especially as electric vehicle sales across the country flounder.

Bottom line: Feeling emboldened after filing a municipal lawsuit in the energy-producing state of Pennsylvania, the left-wing billionaires behind the climate litigation campaign are trying to push their luck with a new lawsuit in Michigan, the car capital of the world. As the RFP process moves forward, Michigan AG Nessel should listen to the state’s workers instead of billionaire climate fanatics.