Advocacy News – June 6, 2024
What’s New: Today, the Michigan Chamber, alongside several business advocacy organizations voiced their strong disapproval and opposition to Attorney General (AG) Dana Nessel’s announcement of the intent to sue the fossil fuels industry. Through a collective public statement, the business community signaled alarm over the negative impacts this pursuit could have if successful.
What we’re saying: The MI Chamber believes this action sets a highly dangerous precedent and is adamantly opposed for several reasons. Here are just two:
- This recent action is nothing more than a capricious attack on the business community. It’s unclear what the legitimate legal argument is for such a lawsuit, nor how it benefits residents of the state.
- Using a contingency-fee solicitation to private law firms who could reap massive financial benefits from such a lawsuit creates significant concern that a state office could go this route on any number of issues without a clear rationale for doing so.
The impact: The AG’s approach could have an enormous cooling effect on Michigan’s business community and could negatively impact the state’s overall attractiveness to job providers looking to grow and invest in the Great Lakes State.
What’s next: The MI Chamber will be working with partner organizations to push back hard, sharing how this approach is extraordinarily risky and damaging. It runs counter to many of the goals we share with the Governor’s administration to grow our state, economy and the state’s manufacturing and energy sectors.
For questions, more information or to get involved, contact Mike Alaimo at malaimo@michamber.com.