WASHINGTON — Minnesota had a big win this week as the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request by the fossil fuel industry to seek a more favorable venue in a lawsuit that alleges oil companies deceived the public about climate change.
In 2020, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison sued the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil and Koch Industries in state court, alleging the oil industry has caused a “climate-change crisis” through a “campaign of deception.”
The state says experts in the field of climate change at oil companies were issuing warnings to company executives about what was coming. But rather than warn the public, the companies continued to reject all arguments that carbon emissions caused by their products were contributing to climate change.
The defendants asked the Supreme Court to move the case from state court to federal court. The oil companies argued that damage lawsuits for climate change go beyond the limits of state law and are governed by federal law — but there is no federal common law for greenhouse gases.
On Monday, the Supreme Court denied the oil industry’s appeal.“This decision is another step forward for Minnesota’s efforts to hold fossil fuel giants accountable for their climate lies and the harm they’ve caused,” Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said in a prepared statement. “Big Oil companies will continue fighting to escape justice, but for the third time in a year, the U.S. Supreme Court has denied their desperate pleas to overturn the unanimous rulings of every single court to consider this issue.”
In April, the Supreme Court turned down five appeal requests by major oil companies, and in May, the high court issued a similar decision on appeal requests in lawsuits filed by Hoboken, New Jersey and Delaware.
Ellison said he appreciated the court’s decision in the Minnesota case.
“It aligns with 25 federal court decisions across the country, all of which have found that cases like ours rest on these defendants’ failures to warn and their campaigns of deception around their products’ contributions to the climate crisis,” Ellison said in a statement. “The court’s decision confirms these cases are properly filed in state courts. Taken together, the defendants’ behavior has delayed the transition to alternative energy sources and a lower carbon economy, resulting in dire impacts on Minnesota’s environment and enormous costs to Minnesotans and the world.”
Ellison’s lawsuit includes claims for fraud, failure to warn, and violations of state laws that prohibit consumer fraud, deceptive trade practices, and false statements in advertising.
Besides seeking an injunction to stop what Ellison says is a violation of these laws, the lawsuit seeks restitution for the harm Minnesotans have suffered, and for the defendants to fund a “corrective” public education campaign on the issue of climate change.
While the Supreme Court’s decision is a good first step for Minnesota and others — more than two dozen states, municipalities and the District of Columbia have filed similar lawsuits against the oil industry — they are in no way assured of victory. Yet the U.S. Supreme Court has put Minnesota and these other mostly “blue” jurisdictions one step closer to putting the industry on trial.Minnesota company wins trade war
A Minnesota company has won a fight against international competition in the file folder industry.
In 2022 Smead Manufacturing Company, headquartered in Hastings and in operation since 1906, joined forces with another office supply company in Naperville, Illinois, to form the Coalition of Domestic Folder Manufacturers and file a complaint with the International Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Commerce. The complaint said India, China and Vietnam were “dumping,” or exporting, file folders to the United States below market price.
“The reason we did it was because there was unfair trading,” said Casey Avent, Smead’s president and CEO.
The International Trade Commission determined that India, China and Vietnam had injured the U.S. industry and new duties were imposed on their products. For example, for every $100 of paper file folders imported from China, importers will now have to pay $192.70 to U.S. Customs.
The office supply industry has been hit hard by the move toward “paperless” companies, made possible by computers and the “cloud.”
“Consumption (of file folders) in the last 15 to 20 years has definitely gone down,” Avent said.
But there is still demand for file folders and other paper products. Avent said the victory in this trade war means “more opportunities have been presented” for this domestic paper folder industry.
This and that
Congress returned from a three-week holiday recess and the chaos continued.
An agreement for “top line” budget figures was reached by congressional leaders at $886 billion for defense spending and $772 for discretionary non-defense spending. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, will likely need the votes of Democrats to approve the spending bills that would adhere to these spending limits, which were negotiated in a deal to lift the debt ceiling last year.
Working with Democrats to avoid a shutdown doomed the speakership of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. And because he agreed to the “topline” deal, Johnson came under attack by some of the more conservative members of the Republican conference this week. They displayed their anger by shooting down several unrelated bills, to the consternation of House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-6th District.
On Thursday, Johnson indicated he may back out of the topline deal.
Congress must approve funding for the federal government to avoid a partial shutdown of the federal government next week, on Jan. 19, and the rest of the federal government on Feb. 2.
Democrats — and some Republicans — in the U.S. Senate are trying to avoid a crisis by starting work on another short-term spending bill — the fourth since September — that would push the shutdown deadlines to March.
Meanwhile, Rep. Dean Phillips’ presidential campaign announced this week that it has raised more than $1 million over the last couple of months.
“Despite an onslaught of opposition by the Democratic Party, Dean Phillips has built a nationwide movement,” campaign manager Zach Graumann said in a statement. “We are building a campaign that will see us not just through New Hampshire, but through Super Tuesday all the way to the Democratic Convention. We are just getting started in this race.”
That may be a little optimistic, as presidential races cost a lot more than $1 million. For comparison, President Joe Biden and the Democratic National Committee raised a combined $71 million or so for Biden’s reelection efforts in just the third quarter of last year.
In the Republican race for the White House, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie criticized Emmer and Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyoming, this week for endorsing former President Trump.
In a speech ending his 2024 White House campaign on Wednesday, Christie, a Trump critic, said there were fellow Republicans who were resigned to the fact Trump would be the GOP nominee.
He said Republicans should take responsibility for their part for making the nation an angry, divided place, with little being accomplished.
“And you just look at what’s happening in the last few days,” Christie said. “Good people who got into politics I believe for the right reasons — people like Senator John Barrasso, people like congressman Tom Emmer — stand up and endorse Donald Trump. They know better. I know they know better,” Christie said.
Your questions and comments
I received several comments this week on a story about the difficulties there will be in resolving the problems with mail deliveries in many Minnesota communities.
One reader, who says he’s a retired mail carrier in southeastern Minnesota, offered this:
“In the past the Office of the Inspector General has put out reports on various issues with the Post Office and nothing ever seems to be improved.
Many rural carriers are required to provide vehicles, the Post Office reimburses the carrier for MOST of the miles. I estimated that I would drive approximately 500 miles per year and was not compensated. Paying about $20/hr and having to provide a vehicle has and continues to lead to severe shortages of employees. In addition, it takes forever to hire anyone, this is not a NEW problem.
The turnover rate is through the roof for rural carriers. If you look at the results of employee satisfaction surveys the Postal Service results are at the bottom of federal agencies. I have never worked for a company that treats its employees the way I observed for 20 plus years!
Regarding Amazon, Walmart, etc., packages, the Post Office expects carriers to deliver out of one’s own vehicle. You know how big those boxes are.”
Please keep your comments, and any questions, coming. I’ll try my best to respond. Please contact me at aradelat@minnpost.com.
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