Houston, TX – Today, National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) President and CEO Jay Timmons delivered the 2019 State of Manufacturing Address at Lone Star College in Houston, Texas. In remarks prepared for delivery, Timmons discusses the rise of misguided public nuisance lawsuits filed against manufacturers and highlights the role of the Manufacturers’ Accountability Project in exposing the coalition of special interests driving these lawsuits:
“Right now, there are groups of trial lawyers slinking around the country tantalizing elected officials in cities and states with unrealistic promises of jackpot justice if they will only agree to sue energy manufacturers over climate change.”
“This is Houston—home to energy companies—so this matters to you. These lawyers—they want to get rich at the expense of manufacturing workers.”
“The good news is courts have ruled repeatedly against these frivolous and baseless lawsuits. But if they were ever to succeed because one activist judge decides to make a statement instead of applying the law, the lawyers will get their payday, the politicians will get some headlines—and the rest of us will still be left to solve the climate challenge.”
“At the NAM, through our Manufacturers’ Accountability Project, we’re exposing these schemes and making sure our leaders stand up against this threat—so that manufacturers can continue to lead. Because we don’t need politicians or attorneys for us to know that this earth is the only home we have, and we want to leave it better than we found it.”
“I want to be clear on this: manufacturers know that climate change is a very real problem that we all face. And manufacturers are developing the technologies that will make our environment healthier.”
Jay Timmons
President and CEO
National Association of Manufacturers
-MAP-
The Manufacturers’ Accountability Project (MAP) will set the record straight and highlight the concerted, coordinated campaign being waged by plaintiffs’ lawyers, public officials, deep-pocketed foundations and other activists who have sought to undermine and weaken manufacturers in the United States. This campaign will pull back the curtain to expose these efforts and to hold key actors accountable in order to protect our members and American manufacturing workers. The MAP is a project of the NAM’s Manufacturers’ Center for Legal Action (MCLA), which serves as the leading voice of manufacturers in the nation’s courts. Visit us at mfgaccountabilityproject.org.