In 2020, soon after Tim Walz became governor of Minnesota, his state joined the throngs of local governments taking the oil and gas industry to court for its role in warming the planet.
Democratic Attorney General Keith Ellison filed the lawsuit, claiming that Exxon Mobil, Koch Industries and the American Petroleum Institute should be held financially responsible for misleading the public about their contributions to climate change.
A year later, Walz — who was tapped Tuesday to be Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’ running mate — stepped in to successfully help defend Ellison’s lawsuit at the Minnesota Supreme Court.
Energy Policy Advocates, a conservative group that has criticized Democratic state attorneys general for hiring outside lawyers to work on climate litigation, had sought documents detailing communication between Ellison’s office and an outside firm. The group had also asked for records related to Ellison’s hiring of a lawyer through a fellowship program backed by climate advocate and former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg.
