Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey is accusing huge oil and gas companies of knowingly selling fossil fuels that hurt the environment.
And he wants them to pay for the damage from a warming climate caused by burning their products.
In a complaint filed in Cumberland County superior court, Frey said corporations including British Petroleum and Exxon misled consumers in order to keep selling harmful fuels.
"They knew for years that the increased use of their product would result in catastrophic impacts on states, just like Maine," Frey said in an interview.
But instead of issuing warnings, companies lied about the effects and sowed doubt on climate science, the state alleges.
And companies continued to aggressively market polluting fuels while people in Maine were harmed by sea level rise, damaging storms, drought and other harmful effects of a warming climate, Frey said.
"These companies, we allege, knew that this was going to happen, but hid their science, hid their knowledge in represented their products were fine to use," Frey said.
Maine alleges oil and gas companies and the American Petroleum Institute trade group violated state trespass, nuisance and liability laws.
Maine is the latest state to file climate lawsuits using state laws and follows attempts by California, Vermont and Massachusetts. The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected oil companies' attempts to get the cases moved to federal court.
Chevron, Shell and Sunoco were also named in Maine's suit.
In a statement, Shell spokesperson Natalie Gunnell said the company agreed action on climate change is needed now.
But the company does "not believe the courtroom is the right venue to address climate change, but that smart policy from government and action from all sectors is the appropriate way to reach solutions and drive progress," Gunnell said.
Chevron's counsel Theodore J. Boutrous said Maine's claims were identical to those dismissed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. Addressing climate change requires coordinated federal and international policy, "not meritless state court litigation attacking essential energy production," Boutrous said in a statement.
The API, similarly said climate policy was for Congress to debate and decide, not a patchwork of state courts.
And the campaign to wage lawsuits against the industry "is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of taxpayer resources," General Counsel Ryan Meyers said in a statement.
Maine Public’s Climate Desk is made possible by Androscoggin bank, with additional support from Evergreen Home Performance, Bigelow Laboratory, & Lee Auto Malls.
