US judge dismisses Michigan climate lawsuit against oil companies

A spokesman for Nessel said she disagreed with the ruling and was considering the state's options.

The Justice Department, which in May sued Michigan trying to prevent it from suing the oil companies, praised the judge's ruling, calling Michigan's effort "another aggressively anti-energy lawsuit."

A spokesman for Nessel did not immediately comment.

A lawyer for Chevron, Ted Boutrous, said the decision adds "to the growing list of federal and state courts that have dismissed climate lawsuits."

Michigan's suit said in the 1970s, Exxon developed the first hybrid gas-electric vehicle technologies but never marketed it and cited Exxon's internal research in 1979 that "predicted that renewable energy would increasingly become a competitive threat to fossil fuels."

Chevron and the other companies have been fighting for years against lawsuits by state and local governments seeking to hold them responsible for climate change, many of which remain pending.