In California and across the nation from Hawaii to Maine, a growing number of state and local governments are fighting in court to hold oil giants like Exxon Mobil, Chevron, Shell and BP accountable for their well-documented efforts to deceive the public about climate change and the "catastrophic events" and "more violent weather" their own scientists accurately predicted would result if the use of their fossil fuel products was not curbed.
The Supreme Court said Monday that it will hear from oil and gas companies trying to block lawsuits seeking to hold the industry liable for billions of dollars in damage linked to climate change. The conservative-majority court agreed to take up a case from Boulder, Colorado, among a series of lawsuits alleging the companies deceived the public about how fossil fuels contribute to climate change.
Young activists behind a legal challenge of Ontario's climate plan are set to ask the province's highest court to revive their case. Premier Doug Ford's government put the case in limbo late last year when it gutted its own climate legislation days before it was to answer for its weakened 2018 emissions target in court. Courts had previously found the gap between that target and what's required to help avoid severe climate impacts was large and without any apparent scientific basis.
A similar proposal in Utah would block lawsuits over climate-warming emissions, unless a court finds the defendant violated a statute or permit. I think anyone in America who breathes the air around them and also believes in corporate accountability ought to be very concerned about these types of end-runs against accountability, said Jay Inslee, the former governor of Washington state and a former trial attorney.
But that began to change in 2015, when oil and gas drillers started fracking operations in the state's northwest corner, known as the Greater Chaco Landscape. Soon, Atencio's grandmother's land was surrounded by noise and air pollution. In 2019, both the land and the water beneath it were contaminated by massive spills that leaked thousands of gallons of oil. Once-abundant plants, including traditional medicinal herbs, no longer grew on the land, and rare birds and wildlife were disappearing, too.
On August 9 and 10, a massive storm over southeastern Wisconsin dropped up to 13 inches of rain in just a few hours, sending floodwater gushing downriver and destroying more than 1,800 homes in Milwaukee. The disaster was the second-worst two-day rain event in the United States since 1871. "For years, scientists have warned about what can happen when climate change supercharges extreme weather events. This is exactly what they meant," the Milwaukee Sentinel Journal reported, describing the disaster as a 1,000-year flood.
