Defending Our Futures: How Minnesota’s Attorney General can be a watchdog or lapdog with the fossil fuel industry.

Welcome back. This is the third in our larger series covering what’s at stake in this year’s elections.

Today, we’re talking about Minnesota’s Attorney General (AG). The AG is our state’s chief legal officer. They can play a huge role in defending our futures, or they can put our climate and democracy at greater risk. Let’s explore how.

First, what does it actually mean to be the state’s chief legal officer? In Minnesota, our AG provides legal representation for our executive branch agencies, boards, and commissions. They represent the State of Minnesota in court. They work with county prosecutors – particularly in rural areas – on complex criminal cases. And the AG enforces consumer protection laws, regulates charities, and makes sure small businesses have a voice in utility matters. 

Essentially, our AG’s job is to use the law in Minnesota to make our society safer and more inclusive for everyone. It’s also their job to make our economy more fair, especially for those of us who don’t have the deep pockets of big corporations. (In other words, almost all of us!) At the same time, the AG can exercise ‘prosecutorial discretion,’ which means they get to pick what they charge and how hard they push on any given case. They can drive corporate accountability or wave polluters through. They can take a settlement or take a case to court. 

For example, Minnesota’s current Attorney General Keith Ellison has brought a lawsuit against three big fossil fuel interests – the American Petroleum Institute, ExxonMobil, and Koch Industries. The lawsuit argues these groups lied about the realities of climate change for years. These lies enabled corporations to spew dangerous amounts of climate pollution into our air. As a result, Minnesotans are already experiencing billions of dollars of economic damages from climate change. And the harms will continue with floods, droughts, air made harmful by wildfire smoke, and more.

Now, here’s a cool thing about this fossil fuel lawsuit. It builds on a proud Minnesota tradition of holding big corporations accountable for profiting off lies that harm people. Over 20 years ago, Minnesota led the way in the Big Tobacco lawsuits. At the time, these lawsuits didn’t look anywhere close to a big win. But, led by our AG, we went to trial against tobacco companies for lying about the harms of tobacco and for pushing tobacco on young people. Minnesota settled that case for $6 billion and the release of documents about the deception. Those documents helped drive nationwide accountability for tobacco companies for decades. In fact, fossil fuel companies used deception tactics similar to Big Tobacco, so these tobacco settlement documents are also important in fossil fuel lawsuits.

With the right Attorney General now, it’s possible we could do something even bigger against fossil fuel companies.

In addition, building a clean energy economy will take individuals, businesses, non-profits, and governments working together to forge not just new ventures, but entire new industries. As these clean energy industries grow, not everyone involved will act in good faith. And, just like in other industries, we’ll need good consumer protections, enforced well. Luckily, here in Minnesota, our AG is already going after fraud in solar sales. In fact, they’ve gone further, providing resources to consumers to help us make smart decisions about clean energy, resources like this fact sheet about community solar gardens. 

Finally, our AG can help us build more equitable climate and clean energy solutions by helping to shape the legal frameworks in which they operate. This work happens through things like drafting amicus (e.g. friend of the court) briefs, partnering with other parts of government on legal work, and sending letters to other government officials. 

All these legal maneuvers may be wonky, but they matter for defending our futures. A lot. They especially matter when our courts are making some huge precedent-setting decisions. For example, earlier this year the Supreme Court struck down the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate carbon pollution in big power plants. And Minnesota’s AG stepped up to push back. He led a coalition of 8 attorneys general that sent a letter to the EPA outlining another regulatory strategy the agency could use to drive down carbon emissions. It’s the kind of smart legal work that can help us build a better climate future.

These kinds of decisions – when to prosecute, to fight, or to defer – can also be used to protect our democracy. For example, in 2020 Attorney General Ellison partnered with Minnesota’s Secretary of State (more about that office soon!) to protect voting access for people who need assistance to vote. Earlier this year, he also joined a coalition of attorneys general who submitted an amicus brief in a suit challenging a restrictive voting law in Florida. 

However, the Minnesota Attorney General’s role in protecting our democracy goes well beyond a defense of voting rights. The office is responsible for enforcing the full breadth of laws in Minnesota, including criminal law. This is a huge responsibility because imprisoning people is one of the most consequential powers of any government. And the AG, partnering with county attorneys, sometimes makes these decisions, as Attorney General Ellison did in the prosecution of Derek Chauvin. An AG can treat criminal law enforcement with care or use it as a political cudgel, as a tool to frighten and divide Minnesotans. This kind of fear-mongering using criminal law makes it harder to build a democracy that includes everyone.

We’re at a key inflection point on building equitable climate futures and a multiracial democracy that includes everyone. Our Minnesota Attorney General can be a key partner in this work, or they can be an obstacle. Check out all the Attorney General candidates here to learn more. They make big decisions on our behalf. You get to make a big decision when you vote.