Michigan to bite hand that fuels it

Michigan will sue undisclosed oil companies for allegedly contributing to climate change, though it has also approved 23 industry permits or licenses within the last two years, according to a document obtained through a records request.

In May 2024 Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced plans to sue unnamed oil and gas companies for contributing to climate change. The case hasn’t been filed, but it already triggered a legal counterstrike: The U.S. Department of Justice sued Michigan in April, citing a Michigan Capitol Confidential story, arguing the state’s pending climate lawsuit would violate federal law.

The DOJ’s lawsuit cites the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution and the Clean Air Act, which grants federal agencies primary authority over emissions regulation. U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi warned that "ideologically motivated laws and lawsuits” threaten national energy independence and security.

Even as the state builds a legal case against fossil fuel producers, it continues to authorize new activity in the same industry. In 2024 and so far in 2025, Michigan has approved 23 new permits and licenses for energy companies, according to a document Michigan Capitol Confidential obtained from the Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy.

Michigan’s energy infrastructure is vast. It has 59,000 miles of natural gas distribution pipelines, 9,000 miles of transmission lines and 3.3 million service lines across both peninsulas. Eleven utilities, led by Consumers Energy and DTE Gas, meet more than 98% of the state’s retail natural gas demand.

The attorney general’s office declined to tell CapCon when it plans to file the lawsuit, press secretary Danny Wimmer told CapCon in an email.

“At this time I cannot speak to hypothetical or potential defendants in any litigation, nor to the effects of any resolution to an as-yet unfiled lawsuit,” Wimmer wrote.

Nessel has publicly criticized utility companies. In an October 2024 social media post, she wrote:

“Michigan utility customers are already subjected to some of the nation’s highest electric rates, lowest standards of reliability and service, and utility partners who only ever ask for more from increasingly dissatisfied customers.”

The state has not announced how it will attempt to prove in court that a specific company caused measurable damage to the climate.

Bruce Huber, an environmental and energy law expert at the University of Notre Dame, says such lawsuits face long odds.

“They are inexpensive to file, but very difficult to win. None have yet succeeded in establishing large-scale liability,” Huber told CapCon in an email. “So I would not think of them as a cash grab, but as an attempt to stake out a particular position — as a signal to the energy industry and to constituencies worried about climate change.”

Michigan’s dependence on fossil fuels is visible everywhere, from the more than 6,000 gas stations across the state to the natural gas that heats homes during the state’s long winters.

Jason Hayes, director of energy and environmental policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, called the proposed lawsuit farcical.

Speaking of Nessel, Hayes said, “If she cared about the environment, she’d be warning Gov. Whitmer about real environmental issues, like the Gotion battery plant’s threat to water resources, not targeting an industry the state has licensed and profited from for decades.”

“If the oil and gas industry is such a menace, why does the state keep permitting it, and cashing in on billions in taxes, fees, and royalties from every gallon pumped?”

Nessel announced the lawsuit more than a year ago but has still not filed it. This leaves key details unclear, such as the identity of defendants.

Both Nessel and Whitmer are term-limited and will leave office in early 2027. Their successors will then decide whether to continue or drop any legal action Nessel started.