dana nessel
Climate Movement Cheers Michigan AG's Plans to Sue Big Oil
"Pursuing this litigation will allow us to recoup our costs and hold those responsible for jeopardizing Michigan's economic future and way of life accountable," said the state attorney general
Advocates of holding fossil fuel giants accountable for their significant contributions to the climate emergency welcomed Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel's Thursday announcement that she intends to sue the polluting industry.
"Big Oil knew decades ago that their products would cause catastrophic climate change, but instead of doing the right thing they lied about it," declared Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity. "The people of Michigan deserve their day in court to make these companies pay for the massive harm they knowingly caused."
Dozens of municipalities and attorneys general for the District of Columbia and eight states—California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont—have already filed climate liability suits against Big Oil in recent years.
"Our 'Pure Michigan' identity is under threat from the effects of climate change," said Nessel, whose state was praised last year for passing clean energy legislation. "Warmer temperatures are shrinking ski seasons in the UP and disrupting the wonderful blooms of Holland's Tulip Time Festival. Severe weather events are on the rise."
"These impacts threaten not only our way of life but also our economy and pose long-term risks to Michigan's thriving agribusiness," she continued. "The fossil fuel industry, despite knowing about these consequences, prioritized profits over people and the environment. Pursuing this litigation will allow us to recoup our costs and hold those responsible for jeopardizing Michigan's economic future and way of life accountable."
The Democratic attorney general's office explained that she is "seeking proposals from attorneys and law firms to serve as special assistant attorneys general to pursue litigation related to the climate change impacts caused by the fossil fuel industry on behalf of the state of Michigan."
The Detroit Newsnoted that "Nessel took a similar tact in suing drugmakers for the opioid crisis, farming out much of the work to outside law firms in Michigan, Texas, and Florida."
According to the newspaper:
Nessel's office is working with other state departments to assess the costs associated with climate change, such as the cost of expanding storm water systems to handle flooding caused by stronger storms, responding to natural disasters, or supporting northern Michigan tourism economies dealing with dwindling ice and snow.
"This is going to be a massive discovery effort to find out exactly what our Michigan damages are now already and what can we expect to see in the future as a result of climate change," she said.
"I don't know that there's a bigger issue facing the state of Michigan than climate change," Nessel told the outlet. "We are talking about billions and billions of dollars in damages and we're already starting to see that on a day-to-day basis. We know this is only going to get worse."
The youth-led Sunrise Movement applauded Nessel's plans and asserted that U.S. President Joe Biden—who is seeking reelection in November—and the Department of Justice "must follow suit."
The group's call echoed similar demands that emerged last week in response to the U.S. Senate Budget Committee's hearing about a three-year investigation into "Big Oil's campaign of deception and distraction."
Ethics Defenders Cheer as Trump 'Big Lie' Allies Charged in Michigan
"Today is another day of Michigan values holding strong against lies about our elections," said one campaigner.
Government ethics advocates on Tuesday welcomed the indictment of former Michigan attorney general candidate Matt DePerno and ex-state Rep. Daire Rendon, Republicans who prosecutors say illegally tampered with voting equipment as part of former President Donald Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
DePerno—who was endorsed by Trump—was charged with four crimes, including undue possession of a voting machine and willfully damaging a voting machine, both felonies under Michigan law. Rendon was charged with conspiracy to commit undue possession of a voting machine and false pretenses.
According to court documents, DePerno, Rendon, and others allegedly gained unauthorized access to a ballot machine and convinced local clerks to hand over tabulators. The defendants printed fake ballots and ran tests on the equipment in a failed bid to substantiate Trump's "Big Lie" that the 2020 presidential election was rigged by Democrats. President Joe Biden won Michigan by more than 154,000 votes.
"Today is another day of Michigan values holding strong against lies about our elections," Quentin Turner, program director at Common Cause Michigan, said in a statement. "For years, Michiganders of all parties have continued to resoundingly reject lies and conspiracy theories about our election."
"Mr. DePerno, Ms. Rendon, and their team's alleged actions do not reflect the voices of millions who believe in fair, accessible elections and upholding the will of the people," Turner added. "We are convinced that the upcoming case against DePerno and Rendon will result in accountability and show, once again, that Michigan is a state that believes in protecting the rights of its citizens."
DePerno denied any wrongdoing and insisted that he has "uncovered significant security flaws" in Michigan's voting system, according to a statement from his attorney.
The defendants were arraigned via Zoom on Tuesday and released on $5,000 bonds. Neither responded to the charges against them.
"This process is ongoing and still not over," Muskegon County prosecutor DJ Hilson, the special prosecutor in the investigation, said in a statement. Hilson toldMLive that "there is still more to come."
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel, a Democrat who last year requested the special prosecutor probe, responded to the charges against the pair by accusing them of causing "undeniable harm to our democracy."
"We hope for swift justice in the courts, and that the Michigan Attorney Grievance Commission takes a sincere and sober assessment of the actions of the attorneys involved in the campaign of circulating disinformation about our elections and any related criminal activities," she added.
The Michigan indictments came on the same day that Trump was hit with four federal charges in connection with Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe of the former president's efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, as well as his role in inciting the deadly January 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump—who in recent months has also been indicted in a Miami federal court and on 34 counts in a New York state case involving alleged hush money payments—could also soon be facing charges stemming from Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis' investigation of efforts to overturn the state's 2020 election results.
As Flint Water Crisis Enters Sixth Year, 'Astounding' Report Exposes Lies of Ex-Gov. Snyder and Others
"Coronavirus is the biggest story in the country, and rightfully so. But today, this enormous, exclusive, and damning story should be a very, very close second."
VICE on Thursday published an "astounding" and "important" exclusive report on how Rick Snyder, a Republican who served as Michigan's governor from 2011 to 2019, "knew about Flint's toxic water--and lied about it."
The report, based on a year-and-a-half investigation, comes almost six years after an emergency manager appointed by Snyder switched Flint's water supply from Detroit's system to the Flint River. Since that move on April 25, 2014, city residents have endured health consequences resulting from a deadly Legionella pneumophila bacterial outbreak and exposure to heavy metals and cancer-causing contaminants.
\u201c6 years after Flint began using a toxic water source that sickened its residents, @VICE uncovered payoffs, whistleblower silencing, a shady financial deal, a coverup, & the former gov. who presided over it all. By @JordanChariton & me\n\n#FlintWaterCrisis\n\nhttps://t.co/Gt2fjv280s\u201d— Jenn Dize \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83d\udcbb Follow @Courage_News! (@Jenn Dize \ud83d\udc69\ud83c\udffb\u200d\ud83d\udcbb Follow @Courage_News!) 1587057044
As Jordan Chariton and Jenn Dize reported Thursday:
Hundreds of confidential pages of documents obtained by VICE, along with emails and interviews, reveal a coordinated, five-year cover-up overseen by Snyder and his top officials to prevent news of Flint's deadly water from going public--while there was still time to save lives--and then limit the damage after the crisis made global headlines.
All told, the waterborne bacterial disease may have killed at least 115 people in 2014 and 2015, and potentially more whose pneumonia wasn't officially considered Legionnaires' disease, the illness caused by Legionella. In addition to the outbreak, Flint's water supply was contaminated with lead and other heavy metals, harmful bacteria, carcinogens, and other toxic components. This wreaked havoc on Flint residents, leaving them with a laundry list of illnesses, including kidney and liver problems, severe bone and muscle pain, gastrointestinal problems, loss of teeth, autoimmune diseases, neurological deficiencies, miscarriages, Parkinson's disease, severe fatigue, seizures, and volatile mood disorders.
Beyond this, the long-term effects of heavy-metal poisoning takes years to develop, meaning many ill residents' conditions are worsening as the years go on. Many have said they still rely on bottled water to avoid using the water that comes through their pipes and into their homes, schools, and businesses.
The report detailed actions of local and state officials both leading up to and during the public health crisis, which continues today. It is based on interviews and documents from a criminal investigation of Snyder's administration that was led by special prosecutor Todd Flood from 2016 until last year, when newly elected state Attorney General Dana Nessel fired Flood and others.
The prosecution team led by Flood charged 15 Flint and Michigan officials with various crimes; seven of those cases were resolved with plea agreements. In January 2019, Nessel appointed Fadwa Hammoud as the state's solicitor general and assigned her to take over the Flint criminal cases.
In June, the state's prosecution team dismissed all pending criminal charges against the eight remaining defendants and launched a new probe based on concerns about the initial one. That decision, as Common Dreams reported, "elicited fresh concerns and demands for justice."
VICE noted that with Flint about to enter its sixth year of the water crisis, "the clock for justice is also ticking." Unless the Republican-controlled state legislature intervenes, the statute of limitations for filing new felony misconduct-in-office charges will run out next week. Chariton highlighted that detail in a series of tweets about the reporting Thursday.
\u201cthe statute of limitations to press new felony misconduct in office charges related to the #FlintWaterCrisis runs out in 9 days (4/25/14 to 4/25/20). Some lawmakers have called to extend it from 6 years to 10 years...so far unsuccessfully.\u201d— Jordan (@Jordan) 1587054257
In August, a pair of state legislators from Flint proposed legislation to extend the statute of limitations from six years to 10. Karen Weaver, then-mayor of Flint, expressed support for the proposal, declaring at the time that "there is no time limit that can be put on the amount of suffering that we have faced, nor the amount of pain as a result of the loss of life."
Weaver told VICE that the governor's office repeatedly dangled "a pot of money for different things" and pressured her to publicly claim that the city's water was safe. The outlet reported that "after repeated attempts by the Snyder administration to get Mayor Weaver to cooperate proved unsuccessful, the promised funding suddenly became unavailable."
The outlet added:
Weaver was even pressed to say the water in Flint's schools was safe to drink, according to former city government officials familiar with the administration's overtures to Weaver. Weaver didn't, and soon after, the remaining free water-bottle stations Flint residents relied on were prematurely shut down.
When the stations were shuttered, Weaver attempted to reopen them by turning to the $48.8 million rainy-day fund that was allocated to Flint from the state's 2017-2018 budget. But when Weaver looked, the money was gone. The Snyder administration had been using these funds--meant to be under Flint's control--to pay for the water stations.
In addition to detailing interactions between Weaver and the Snyder administration from the mayor's perspective, the report highlighted a few findings from the Flint criminal investigation documents:
- Snyder was warned about the dangers of using the Flint River as a water source a year before the water switch even occurred.
- Snyder had knowledge of the Legionella outbreak in Flint as early as October 2014, six months after the water switch--and 16 months earlier than he claimed to have learned of the deadly outbreak in testimony under oath before Congress.
- Communication among Snyder, his top officials, and the state health department spiked in October 2014 around the same time state environmental and health officials traded emails and calls about the Legionella outbreak in Flint.
Snyder and his attorneys did not respond to VICE's requests for comment. Several other officials named in the exhaustive report also declined to respond or comment, with some of them citing the ongoing criminal investigation.
The reporting provoked a fresh wave of criticism directed at government officials involved in the crisis and was published as the international community contends with a global pandemic that has infected more than two million people since late last year.
Sharing Chariton and Dize's Flint piece on Twitter Thursday, VICE senior editor Maxwell Strachan wrote that "coronavirus is the biggest story in the country, and rightfully so. But today, this enormous, exclusive, and damning story should be a very, very close second."