Connecticut is fighting to hold ExxonMobil accountable for its climate lies

Two years after Connecticut Attorney General William Tong sued ExxonMobil “for lying to Connecticut and the American people” about its role in the climate crisis, a federal appeals court is now poised to decide whether the state’s consumer protection lawsuit can proceed one step closer toward trial in state court. 

Connecticut’s lawsuit is one of more than 20 state and municipal cases across the country that point to Exxon’s well-documented, decades-long efforts to deceive the public and policymakers about the role of their fossil fuel products in the climate crisis and that seek to hold them accountable for the resulting costs.

The complaint argues that Exxon’s “campaign of deception” contributed to “myriad negative consequences” in Connecticut, including “sea level rise, flooding, drought, increase in extreme temperatures and severe storms, decreases in air quality, contamination of drinking water, increases in the spread of diseases, and severe economic consequences.” 

Exxon and other Big Oil companies have fought desperately — and unsuccessfully — to move these cases out of state court, where they were filed, and into federal court, where the polluters hope it will be easier to escape justice. To date, they have lost every argument.

On Friday, September 23, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will consider Exxon’s latest attempt to escape accountability in Connecticut’s lawsuit. Last year, a federal district court affirmed that Attorney General Tong’s case — which is brought under Connecticut’s Unfair Trade Practices Act — was properly filed in state court. 

“Connecticut’s claims seek redress for the allegedly deceptive and unfair manner by which ExxonMobil interacted with Connecticut consumers,” wrote U.S. District Judge Janet Hall in her ruling against the oil giant. “In short, Connecticut alleges that ExxonMobil lied to Connecticut consumers, and that these lies affected the behavior of those consumers.” 

Exxon is now appealing that decision in another effort to deny the people of Connecticut their day in state court. It’s no surprise that the polluter is afraid of facing trial.  

To hold Exxon accountable for its fraud and the damage it caused, Connecticut’s lawsuit seeks to make the company 

• Stop lying in violation of the state’s consumer protection act,
• Pay $5,000 for each time Exxon violated the act, 
• Pay “equitable relief for past, present, and future deceptive acts and practices” that will require costs to mitigate, adapt, and make Connecticut more resilient against climate change,  
• Pay restitution to Connecticut “for all expenditures attribute to ExxonMobil that the State has made and will have to make to combat the effects of climate change,” 
• Disgorge “all revenues, profits, and gains achieved” through its deception,  
• Disclose climate research and studies in Exxon’s possession; and 
• “Fund a corrective education campaign to remedy the harm inflicted by decades of disinformation” — similar to how tobacco companies have been made to fund efforts to educate the public about the harms of smoking. 

The people of Connecticut deserve to finally put Exxon on trial for its climate lies. Five other federal appeals courts have agreed that climate accountability cases filed in state court belong in state court. Now the Second Circuit has an opportunity to do the same. 

While Exxon rakes in record profits, fuels the climate crisis, and continues to lie about its commitments to help solve the problem, communities in Connecticut and across the U.S. are paying an ever-greater price for the worsening effects of climate change. It’s time to hold Exxon and other Big Oil companies accountable