Manufacturers Under Attack By NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio

• A coordinated campaign of public officials, plaintiffs’ attorneys and environmental activists are targeting the nation’s manufacturers with a focus on energy manufacturers. They are filing frivolous lawsuits against the nation’s energy companies – the same companies which provide millions of jobs and affordable natural gas for all Americans.
• These lawsuits have been called a “civic shakedown” and are based on a flawed legal strategy that stretches the boundaries of tort law and constitutes an abuse of our legal system. The courts have repeatedly dismissed such litigation, including a unanimous 8-0 decision in the U.S. Supreme Court.
• Yet this has not stopped Mayor de Blasio from taking a page from this activist playbook used by eight cities and counties in California and filing a lawsuit against five energy manufacturers, seeking damages over the effects of climate change.
• Mayor de Blasio’s actions may have made headlines, but they will do nothing to address climate change. Rather his tactics will force manufacturers to waste resources that could be better spent invested in workers or real solutions for our environmental challenges.
• Courts are not the answer to climate change. Manufacturers across the nation have been driving innovation and working hard to reduce their environmental footprint. Since 1990, manufacturers have reduced their greenhouse gas emissions by 10 percent, all while increasing their value to the economy by 19 percent.
• By using flimsy legal arguments to sue manufacturers, de Blasio is showing he cares more about making headlines than supporting manufacturing workers. By divesting the city’s pension system from energy manufacturers, he’s playing politics with teachers, police officers, and firefighters’ benefits.
• The National Association of Manufacturers has launched the Manufacturers’ Accountability Project to expose this politically-motivated coordinated effort and will continue to stand up for the nation’s manufacturers as it exposes the players behind these bogus lawsuits.

The manufacturing sector is the lifeblood of the nation’s and New York’s economy. Mayor de Blasio’s attack on manufacturers jeopardizes their ability to continue growing, innovating and creating jobs:

• In New York, manufacturers account for 4.8 percent—$71.34 billion—of the total output in the state, employing 451,200 in 2016 with an average compensation of $74,579.
• Nationwide, there are nearly 12.5 million manufacturing workers, accounting for 8.5 percent of the workforce.
• Manufacturers contributed $2.25 trillion to the U.S. economy in 2016 and accounted for 11.7 percent of GDP in the economy.
• Politicians like de Blasio may claim their actions are about climate change. But the truth is, costly litigation will solve nothing—except help politicians make headlines and lawyers score a payday. New Yorkers shouldn’t stand for this. Manufacturing is too important for the Empire State and the entire country.