Press Releases
September 30, 2025
MAINE — In a win for communities fighting to hold Big Oil companies accountable for their climate lies, a federal judge ruled this week that Maine’s climate deception lawsuit against major fossil fuel companies can move forward in state court, where it was originally filed. U.S. Judge Nancy Torresen ordered the fossil fuel companies to pay for the costs and expenses the state incurred because the arguments underlying the companies’ “improper removal” to federal court were merely “slighlty–and cleverly–revised versions of the same arguments” that courts across the country have "unanimously rejected."
Maine’s lawsuit accuses Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, Sunoco, and the American Petroleum Institute of “failing to warn Mainers and concealing their knowledge about the devastating consequences of the increasing use of fossil fuels on Maine’s people, economy, and environment.” Filed last year by Attorney General Aaron Frey, the lawsuit seeks to make the Big Oil defendants pay for climate damages, stop engaging in deceptive practices, and give up the profits that they illegally obtained while lying to consumers about the dangers of their products.
As climate accountability cases like Maine’s move closer to trial, the oil and gas industry is lobbying the Trump administration and Congress for sweeping legal protections that could deny communities their right to take the companies to court. In June, 16 Republican attorneys general proposed creating a “liability shield” for fossil fuel companies modeled on a 2005 law protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits, and the New York Times recently confirmed that securing similar protections is a priority for the fossil fuel industry this Congress.
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:
“The people of Maine deserve their day in court to hold Big Oil companies accountable for their climate lies and make them pay for the massive costs that climate damages are creating for taxpayers. As the fossil fuel industry lobbies for immunity from lawsuits like Maine’s, it’s exceedingly important for Congress to protect communities’ access to court and reject any and all attempts to hand fossil fuel companies a legal shield.”
Background on U.S. Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil:
Ten U.S. states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai`i, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont — and the District of Columbia, along with dozens of city, county, and tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. These cases collectively represent more than 1 in 4 people living in the United States. Last year, the attorney general of Michigan announced plans to take fossil fuel companies to court.
To date, eight federal appeals courts and more than a dozen federal district courts have unanimously ruled against the fossil fuel industry’s arguments to move climate deception lawsuits like Maine’s out of state courts. The U.S. Supreme Court has declined requests from Big Oil companies and their allies to review climate deception cases five times since 2021. Big Oil companies are currently asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that allowed a climate deception lawsuit from Boulder to advance toward trial.