Simply put, if Big Oil were aware of the escalating damage… that continued use of fossil fuel represented a rapidly rising environmental disaster (climate change)… for decades, took extensive steps to lobby and deny against that reality making billions and billions by reason of such deceptive efforts… and if states and local governments spent billions and billions to deal with the horrific consequences of that climate change, shouldn’t we sue the bastards?!
Well, California State AG, Rob Bonta announced in July that “Oil and gas companies have privately known the truth for decades — that the burning of fossil fuels leads to climate change.” On September 15th, Bonta joined other California jurisdictions, in seeking to hold Big Oil responsible for the consequences of their repressing and denying the truth about vehicular emissions that date back to the 1950s. He filed suit in California Superior Court (San Francisco) against Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, BP and the American Petroleum Institute.
Despite momentary glitches and a massive MAGA effort nationwide to crush efforts to moderate climate change and shift to a prioritization of alternative energy, evidence of knowing suppression and denial of the impact of automotive emissions and the rise in both scientific statistical proof and by a litany of record-breaking climate change-related disasters are now overwhelming and capable of rigorous scientific evidence. Now is the time to press for obvious accountability. Writing for the September 17th Los Angeles Times, Louis Sahagún reminds of the legacy of Big Tobacco litigation in California… and suggests that the cost to Big Oil just might be a vast multiple of that number:
“A growing number of high-profile cases in state court helped pave the way for Bonta’s 135-page lawsuit to hold oil and gas companies financially responsible for their role in climate change and marketing products they know cause injury… They include the record $246-billion settlement with Big Tobacco and a $350-million settlement reached in 2019 that will provide funds to clean up toxic lead paint sold by manufacturers that knew it was poisonous… ‘There is some commonality with earlier cases involving other major bad actors who hurt people and threatened their health with lead paint, tobacco and opioids,’ Bonta said in an interview with The Times on Saturday [9/16]. ‘But every industry is unique.’
“The potential size of the mitigation fund he is pursuing remains to be determined… ‘These defendants must be held accountable for the truths they shared in private while trying to undermine the science in public,’ he said. ‘They cannot pass those costs onto the public, governments or our future.’…
“‘It is going to be a very, very large number,’ he added… ‘With our lawsuit, California becomes the largest geographic area and the largest economy to take these giant oil companies to court,’ Bonta said. ‘From extreme heat to drought and water shortages, the climate crisis they have caused is undeniable. It is time they pay to abate the harm they have caused.’
“Bonta is seeking to create a nuisance abatement fund to finance climate mitigation and adaptation efforts; injunctive relief to protect California’s natural resources from pollution, impairment and destruction; and to prevent the companies from making any further false or misleading statements about the contribution of fossil-fuel combustion to climate change.” California is unlikely to be the only state initiating such legal action.
Economic reality, particularly in fire-prone, flood and coastal erosion states, is pressing the cost of homeowners’ insurance through the roof… and in too many case causing insurers to leave the market entirely. As Anita Chabria and Erika D. Smith report for that same LA Times edition: “It ‘is not even a yellow flag issue. This is a waving red flag issue,’ [California] Gov. Gavin Newsom said Tuesday night when asked about the failure of the Legislature to act.
“This year, multiple companies, including the state’s largest home insurer, State Farm, have announced they are no longer taking on new residential and commercial properties, citing wildfire risk. In fact, seven of the 12 insurance groups operating in California — together, responsible for about 85% of the market — have pulled back.
“But backroom talks among elected officials to figure out a fair and workable path forward to entice insurance companies to write more — or in some cases any — policies didn’t go anywhere. Instead, lawmakers are vehemently pledging to hold public hearings this fall about the shrinking prospects for Californians seeking coverage for their homes and, by extension, their prospects for getting and hanging onto their mortgage during a deepening housing crisis.” Apparently, it’s not just insurance at issue but whether homeowners in severely at-risk areas should even be allowed to rebuild after a disaster destroys their home.
As Big Oil mounts campaigns to showcase their environmental efforts (e.g., Shell’s modest charging station initiative illustrated above), not all are so willing to buy those ads. As the Guardian UK (June 6th) notes: “An ad campaign by Shell promoting its green initiatives has been banned [in the UK] for not telling consumers that most of its business is based on environmentally damaging fossil fuels such as petrol.” Accountability is difficult to achieve when big economic powers or political forces resist, but without accountability and clear solutions, exactly how are we going to be able to survive in the near future and beyond?
I’m Peter Dekom, and if all those responsible for major chaotic costs using batteries of lobbyists, lawyers, campaign contributions and fake news are ever called to pay for their mendacity and disastrous greed, this world would look nothing like what it looks like today.
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