Michael Gilligan retrieves items from his house on Newbury Street in Auburn, Maine after the Dec. 18 storm. (Photo by Jim Neuger/Maine Morning Star)
Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey is suing fossil fuel companies for deceiving Mainers about how their products contributed to climate change.
Frey is looking to hold Exxon, Shell, Chevron, BP, Sunoco and the American Petroleum Institute accountable for failing to warn consumers and concealing their knowledge of the consequences increased use of fossil fuels can have, such as extreme weather, sea-level rise, warmer temperatures, property damage and negative impacts on public health, according to a news release Tuesday.
The state is demanding a jury trial and relief through damages, penalties and more, the release says. The suit also asks the defendants to pay for both past and future climate-related harms caused by the fossil fuel industry and stop their alleged deception in Maine.
The complaint alleges that the defendants knew about the potentially devastating consequences that use of fossil fuels could have as early as the 1960s. Rather than warn the public, the lawsuit alleges that the companies protected their own assets from climate change impacts and used public relations campaigns to discredit scientific consensus on climate change to create doubt about the effects of burning fossil fuels.
The suit comes two weeks after newly unearthed documents published by the international investigative outlet DeSmog showed that scientists were warning fossil fuel companies as early as 1955 about the long term consequences of their work, which they in turn sought to conceal.
“For over half a century, these companies chose to fuel profits instead of following their own science to prevent what are now likely irreversible, catastrophic climate effects,” Frey said. “In so doing, they burdened the state and our citizens with the consequences of their greed and deception.”
In a statement, Gov. Janet Mills pointed to the three significant storms last winter that flooded roadways, ravaged coastal communities, and caused significant damage to fishing infrastructure as “proof that climate change is harming our lives, our health, and our economy.” She added that “it is time for the fossil fuel industry to be held responsible.”
In addition to detailing past, current and future injuries caused by the defendants, the complaint filed by Frey alleges seven violations of Maine law including negligence, failure to warn, multiple forms of nuisance and infractions under the Maine Unfair Trade Practices Act. It also alleges that the American Petroleum Institute “aided and abetted” the fossil fuel companies’ deceptive conduct.
Maine is following in the footsteps of more than 20 other states, cities, counties and tribes who have brought similar climate deception lawsuits, including Connecticut, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Vermont.
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