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Justice Department calls planned lawsuits an overreach

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Michigan, Hawaii ready cases against fossil fuel industry

By Nate Raymond

WASHINGTON, May 1 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump's

administration has sued Hawaii and Michigan to try to stop them

from filing lawsuits against major oil companies over the fossil

fuel industry's role in climate change, accusing the

Democratic-led states of overreach and imperiling domestic

energy production.

Neither state has sued yet. Hawaii Governor Josh Green told

a local TV station that his state plans to sue fossil fuel

companies as soon as Thursday. Michigan Attorney General Dana

Nessel last year retained law firms to represent it in climate

change-related litigation.

The litigation filed by the U.S. Justice Department late on

Wednesday in Hawaii and Michigan said the intended lawsuits by

the states constitute an "extraordinary extraterritorial reach"

that would unlawfully undermine federal regulation of greenhouse

gas emissions and the administration's foreign policy

objectives.

Numerous Democratic-led states have in recent years filed

similar lawsuits against companies including Exxon Mobil ( XOM )

, Chevron ( CVX ), ConocoPhillips ( COP ), Shell

and BP, accusing them of deceiving the public about the

role fossil fuels have played in causing climate change.

The Justice Department's unusual preemptive lawsuits follow

a pledge by Trump's campaign during the 2024 election to "stop

the wave of frivolous litigation from environmental extremists."

The Justice Department in both lawsuits cited an executive order

that the Republican president signed on his first day back in

office on January 20 declaring a national energy emergency to

speed permitting of energy projects, rolling back environmental

protections and withdrawing the United States from an

international pact to fight climate change.

"As a result of state restrictions and burdens on energy

production, the American people are paying more for energy, and

the United States is less able to defend itself from hostile

foreign actors," the Justice Department said in the lawsuits.

It said Hawaii and Michigan are standing in the way of the

administration's efforts to boost domestic energy supply.

"This nation's Constitution and laws do not tolerate this

interference," the lawsuits said.

Representatives for Nessel and Hawaii's attorney general did

not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Similar lawsuits by state and local governments have accused

energy companies of creating a public nuisance or violating

state laws by concealing from the public for decades the fact

that burning fossil fuels would lead to climate change. The

companies have denied wrongdoing.

Many of the cases remain in their early stages after years

of litigation by oil companies over whether the states could sue

in state courts rather than federal court.

The U.S. Supreme Court in March rejected a bid by 19

Republican-led states, led by Alabama, to block five

Democratic-led states from pursuing such lawsuits. The

Republican-led states raised similar claims as the Justice

Department's case.