LANSING, Mich. — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against BP, Chevron, Exxon Mobil, Shell, and the American Petroleum Institute on Friday.

The lawsuit alleges the companies violated the Sherman Antitrust Act, the Clayton Antitrust Act, and the Michigan Antitrust Reform Act, saying the defendants acted as a cartel in an unlawful conspiracy in restraint of trade to forestall meaningful competition from renewable energy in order to maintain their dominance in the transportation energy market and primary energy markets.

This, according to Nessel, was done in order to reap windfall and illegal profits, causing Michigan residents to suffer artificially high home and transportation energy costs.

Nessel’s lawsuit details what she called coordinated efforts by defendants and other co-conspirators to:

• abandon renewable energy products
• use patent manipulation and litigation to hinder market competitors
• suppress information concerning the once-hidden costs of fossil fuels and the viability of alternatives
• infiltrate and knowingly mislead information-producing institutions
• surveil and intimidate watchdogs and public officials
• use trade associations to coordinate market-wide efforts to divert capital expenditures away from renewable energy

According to Nessel, the defendants have reduced the production of renewable energy for transportation and home heating and cooling, and needlessly reduced choices and inflated energy prices for Michiganders.

Shell and BP chose not comment, and ExxonMobil did not respond to a request for comment, while representatives from two defendants slammed the lawsuit as baseless.

“This lawsuit is baseless as demonstrated by multiple related court dismissals. Federal and state courts have dismissed lawsuits seeking climate-related damages in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, and South Carolina. This lawsuit also ignores the fact that Michigan is highly dependent on oil and gas to support the state’s automakers and workers,” said Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher LLP, counsel for Chevron Corporation.

“These baseless lawsuits are a coordinated campaign against an industry that powers everyday life, drives America’s economy, and is actively reducing emissions. We continue to believe that energy policy belongs in Congress, not a patchwork of courtrooms,” said general counsel and American Petroleum Institute Senior Vice President Ryan Meyers.

Environmentalists, however, supported the lawsuit.

“We know that clean energy like solar is the cheapest and fastest way to meet the growing energy demand that we have in this country,” Lisa Wozniak, CEO and President, Michigan League of Conservation Voters said. “The advancement of this clean energy technology is a direct threat to the fossil fuel industry’s profits. So why they colluded: They see the writing on the wall.”

The lawsuit can be viewed here.