HARTFORD, CT - Connecticut Attorney General William Tong today filed a state lawsuit against ExxonMobil for “an ongoing systematic campaign of lies and deception” about the company’s role in causing climate change — the latest in a rapidly growing wave of lawsuits from now 23 states and municipalities seeking to hold the oil giant and other fossil fuel companies accountable for lying and concealing critical information about their role in creating the climate crisis.
Just this month, Hoboken, New Jersey; Charleston, South Carolina, and the State of Delaware filed similar lawsuits. Connecticut is now the fifth state to sue Exxon for climate change fraud and/or damages since 2017 after Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Minnesota, and Delaware.
Richard Wiles, executive director of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:
“This avalanche of climate litigation is Exxon’s worst nightmare. The public increasingly understands Big Oil’s role in causing and lying about the climate crisis, and states and localities are stepping up like never before to demand justice and hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for their lies and deception.”
“North, South, East and West, communities across the country are struggling to protect themselves in the face of the climate crisis. These lawsuits are about surviving climate change, not solving it. They are an essential step toward holding polluters accountable for decades of propaganda and disinformation that stalled climate action and caused untold destruction.”
“Now the only question is, who will sue Big Oil next?”