Trump Administration Sues Minnesota to Shield Big Oil from Climate Accountability

The Trump administration has launched a brazen federal lawsuit against Minnesota to halt the state’s six-year-old legal battle accusing major fossil fuel companies of misleading the public about climate change. The lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court for Minnesota, targets Minnesota and its attorney general, Keith Ellison, seeking to block their consumer protection case against ExxonMobil, Koch Industries, the American Petroleum Institute, and Flint Hills Resources.

Minnesota’s original suit alleges these energy giants knowingly deceived the public about the dangers of climate change for decades — ExxonMobil, for example, reportedly understood the risks as early as the 1970s but chose to promote misinformation instead. The state warns of billions in economic harm already inflicted by climate change and mounting costs ahead without serious mitigation.

In response, the Trump Justice Department claims Minnesota’s case unlawfully intrudes on federal authority over greenhouse gas regulation and threatens national energy security by undermining “affordability and reliability.” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward Jr. framed the lawsuit as defending President Trump’s directive to prevent “state overreach” and preserve “American energy dominance,” dismissing state climate policies as “woke preferences.”

Ellison fired back, condemning the federal suit as “frivolous and meritless” and accusing Trump’s DOJ of siding with Big Oil over the public interest. He vowed to seek immediate dismissal and insisted the American people deserve a Justice Department that fights for them — not fossil fuel polluters.

This federal lawsuit is part of a wider Trump administration effort to shield the fossil fuel industry from accountability. Last year’s executive order explicitly directed the Justice Department to protect energy companies from state and local climate litigation, sparking preemptive federal lawsuits against states like Hawaii and Michigan — both of which were dismissed. Meanwhile, suits challenging state “climate superfund” laws in Vermont and New York continue.

Industry groups echo the administration’s stance, calling climate lawsuits a “coordinated campaign” to impose a patchwork of state regulations that threaten the national energy sector. Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute argue Minnesota’s lawsuit improperly tries to dictate national energy policy through state courts.

But with around three dozen similar climate lawsuits filed nationwide, and the Supreme Court preparing to weigh in on one from Boulder, Colorado, the stakes are high. The Trump administration’s aggressive legal tactics aim to preempt state efforts to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the climate crisis — a clear example of federal power wielded to protect corporate polluters at the expense of democratic and environmental accountability.