Michigan accuses big oil of being ‘cartel’ that fuels climate crisis and high energy costs | Michigan

Amid growing concern about global warming and soaring energy costs, Michigan sued Big Oil companies for allegedly fueling both crises — a move that experts hailed as groundbreaking.

In a first-of-its-kind complaint, state Attorney General Dana Nessel last month accused four fossil fuel majors and America’s top oil lobbying group of acting as a “cartel” to stifle the growth of renewable energy and electric vehicles (EVs), while suppressing information about the dangers of the climate crisis. According to the lawsuit, this conduct violates federal and state antitrust laws.

Corporate “collusion” drove up Michigan utility costs and slowed the transition away from gas-powered cars, the filing says. Without industry efforts to crack down on clean technology, electric vehicles “would be commonplace in every neighborhood — rolling off assembly lines in Flint, parked in driveways in Dearborn, charging in front of grocery stores in Grand Rapids and cruising leisurely down Woodward Avenue,” he said.

Electricity costs in Michigan have skyrocketed, with average residential rates increasing nearly 120% over the past two decades. And although electric car adoption is increasing, electric and hybrid vehicles accounted for less than 4% of total vehicles registered statewide last year.

“Michigan is facing an energy affordability crisis as our home energy costs skyrocket and consumers are left without affordable transportation options,” Nessel said in a statement. “These uncontrollable costs are not the result of natural economic inflation, but of the greed of these companies who prioritized their own profit and market domination over competition and consumer savings. »

The Michigan case specifically targets BP, Shell, Chevron and Exxon Mobil, as well as America’s largest oil lobby group, the American Petroleum Institute (API).

“This is yet another legally incoherent attempt to regulate through litigation,” an ExxonMobil spokesperson said. “It won’t reduce emissions, it won’t help consumers and it won’t comply with the law.”

Ryan Meyers, API general counsel, said: “These baseless lawsuits are a coordinated campaign against an industry that powers daily life, drives the American economy, and actively reduces emissions. We continue to believe that energy policy belongs in Congress, not a patchwork of courtrooms.”

BP declined to comment on the pending litigation. The Guardian has contacted all defendants for comment.

The oil industry has long tried to overturn the lawsuits by claiming they are preempted by policies, but plaintiffs say climate liability lawsuits focus on business practices and the dissemination of misleading information, not emissions regulations.

The 126-page lawsuit was filed by Nessel’s office alongside Sher Edling – a California-based law firm that represents a large number of municipalities in climate liability litigation – and two other firms, DiCello Levitt and Hausfeld, which have also handled climate claims and are based in Chicago and Washington DC, respectively.

The new challenge accuses the defendants of engaging in a vast “conspiracy,” which began nearly 50 years ago when a 1979 internal Exxon report predicted that the world would experience catastrophic global warming without a massive shift to renewable energy.

“Rather than compete as leading producers of renewable energy products, defendants and their co-conspirators conspired to suppress their own renewable energy production and restrict the production of others,” the lawsuit states.

To do this, companies have used a range of tactics, including using patent lawsuits to stop competitors, hiding information about the dangers of fossil fuels and the viability of renewable energy, using trade associations to coordinate “market-wide efforts” to divert investment toward oil and gas, and even hiring hackers to “surveil, intimidate, and disrupt” journalists and activists, he claims.

“The groundbreaking Michigan case reveals how Big Oil conspired to deprive Americans of cleaner, cheaper energy choices and make life less affordable by keeping consumers addicted to their dirty fossil fuel products,” said Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, a nonprofit that tracks and supports climate litigation.

With this challenge, Michigan joins 10 other states and about 60 subnational governments that have sued Big Oil companies in recent years for alleged climate deception. Together, these cases represent jurisdictions that are home to more than a quarter of the U.S. population.

Nessel first announced plans to launch climate liability litigation in 2024, raising concerns about the cost of climate damages in his state. The Jan. 23 filing came despite the Trump administration’s attempts to thwart climate liability lawsuits. Last year, the Justice Department took the unusual step of suing Michigan and Hawaii over those states’ plans to file such complaints; Despite the attack, Hawaii filed a lawsuit the next day.

In a major blow to the Trump administration, a day after Michigan filed suit, a federal judge dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit against the state.

But the oil industry and its allies continue their attempts to stop climate liability lawsuits. The fossil fuel industry is lobbying Congress for immunity from climate-focused litigation and policies, and last month the API listed failing climate liability lawsuits as a top priority for 2026.

The industry and its allies have also pushed the Supreme Court to rule on the legitimacy of climate lawsuits. Soon, the high court is expected to decide whether it will hear arguments on a motion from Exxon Mobil and energy giant Suncor seeking to end a lawsuit brought by the city and county of Boulder, Colorado.