Trump administration moves to block Minnesota climate change lawsuit against oil companies

President Donald Trump's administration moved Monday to block a lawsuit Minnesota officials filed almost six years ago alleging oil companies and a petroleum trade group deceived state residents about climate change.

The U.S. Department of Justice, the administration's law enforcement arm, filed an action in federal court in Minneapolis arguing that the federal government has the authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions, not states, and that Minnesota officials are trying to improperly impose their policy preferences on the rest of the country.

“The Constitution does not tolerate such a conflict,” Justice Department attorneys argued in the filing. “Nor does it allow Minnesota to national its regulatory powers.”

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, a Democrat, filed a lawsuit in state court in June 2020 against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute and refinery company Flint Hills Resources, a Koch subsidiary, accusing them of consumer fraud and deceptive trade practices. At least 15 other states brought similar lawsuits, including Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.

Ellison issued a statement Monday calling the Justice Department's action meritless.

“The American people deserve a Department of Justice that fights for us, and it's a tremendous shame that Trump's DOJ would rather sell us out to Big Oil,” Ellison said.

Messages The Associated Press left for media officials at ExxonMobil, the Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute on Monday weren’t immediately returned. ExxonMobil officials said when Ellison sued in 2020 that the action was baseless. The American Petroleum Institute said then that the industry provides reliable energy to U.S. consumers while substantially reducing its environmental footprint.

Trump has called for boosting domestic energy production. The administration in February revoked a scientific finding that long has been the central basis for U.S. action to regulate greenhouse gas emissions and fight climate change, the most aggressive move by the Republican president to roll back climate regulations. The rule finalized by the Environmental Protection Agency rescinded a 2009 government declaration known as the endangerment finding that determined carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases threaten public health and welfare.

The Justice Department filing marks another flashpoint of friction between the Trump administration and Minnesota officials. The two sides have been at odds since January, when federal immigration officers killed two Minneapolis residents in separate incidents during a crackdown in the city. Federal agents in April conducted a series of searches connected with an investigation into publicly funded social programs for children, further escalating tensions.