Press Releases
January 23, 2026
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The State of Michigan today filed an antitrust lawsuit in federal court against ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, and the American Petroleum Institute (API), arguing that the four oil majors and their largest trade organization conspired together as a “cartel” to block cleaner energy alternatives to fossil fuels in violation of state and federal antitrust laws.
Michigan is now the 11th state — and Attorney General Dana Nessel the 12th attorney general — to take Big Oil companies to court over their well-documented climate deception. As more cases get closer to trial, the fossil fuel industry has been lobbying Congress for a legal shield that would give them immunity from climate lawsuits. Last week API announced that killing state climate lawsuits is a top 2026 priority for the oil lobby.
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:
“Michigan’s groundbreaking case reveals how the Big Oil cartel conspired to deny Americans cleaner and cheaper energy choices and make life less affordable by keeping consumers hooked on their dirty fossil fuel products. Eleven states and dozens of municipalities are now fighting to put Big Oil companies on trial for their climate lies and make them pay for the harm they’ve caused.
“Big Oil is desperate to keep the evidence of their climate lies from juries in cases like Michigan’s, and that’s why the fossil fuel industry is now lobbying Congress for a get-out-of-jail-free card. Congress must protect the right of the people of Michigan and every state to hold Big Oil accountable for the harm their climate lies have caused.”
Background on U.S. Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil:
Eleven U.S. states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawai`i, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, 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 active 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.
Cases from Boulder, Colorado, Honolulu, Hawaiʻi, the District of Columbia, and the states of Massachusetts, Vermont, Minnesota and Connecticut are advancing toward discovery and trial after courts denied the companies’ motions to dismiss them.
The fossil fuel industry is lobbying Congress for immunity from climate accountability lawsuits. Last year, 16 Republican attorneys general proposed creating a “liability shield” for fossil fuel companies modeled on a 2005 law protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits. Lawmakers in Utah and Oklahoma have also introduced state-level immunity bills for the fossil fuel industry.