NEW YORK – On September 16, Governor Gavin Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta announced that California is suing Big Oil “for more than 50 years of deception, cover-up, and damage that have cost California taxpayers billions of dollars in health and environmental impacts.”
The text of the lawsuit is here.
The defendants in the case are five of the world’s largest oil companies and their subsidiaries: Exxon, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and BP, and a trade group that promoted disinformation: The American Petroleum Institute.
Then on Sunday, Governor Gavin Newsom will participate in the Climate Week NYC Opening Ceremony to discuss California’s lawsuit against Big Oil at 1 p.m. PST.
Newsom will be speaking with David Gelles of The New York Times for a discussion entitled, “Approaching the Climate Crisis Differently.”
Following the discussion, the Governor and Attorney General Rob Bonta will be answering questions from the press at the event.
The event will be live-streamed: Register with Climate Week NYC to watch the event here
According to a statement from the Governor’s Office explaining the reason for the lawsuit, “Oil executives deceived the public for decades about how fossil fuels are hurting our health and destroying our planet, protecting their own profits while sticking taxpayers with the bill for the damages. California is suing these big polluters to hold them accountable for their decades of deception, cover-up, and billions of dollars in harm done to our state.”
The Governor’s Office said the state is suing the oil companies for the following reasons:
- “Oil and gas executives have known for decades about the dangers of the fossil fuels they produce.
- Industry-funded reports directly linked fossil fuel consumption to rising global temperatures and damage to our air, land, and water.
- Oil companies intentionally suppressed that information from the public and policymakers to protect their profits, and spent billions of dollars to spread disinformation on climate change and delay our transition away from fossil fuels.
- Oil companies used this information for their own profits, developing new technology to explore the Arctic for oil production because they knew Arctic sea ice was melting.
- The deception continues today: Oil companies promote fossil fuel products as “clean” or “green” or “low-emissions” that still produce carbon pollution, and they tout their renewable fuel products that actually make up a fraction of a percent of their earnings.”
The Governor’s Office also noted the impact that impacts that Big Oil has had upon Californians:
- “Big Oil’s lies and cover ups have caused ongoing climate disasters that have imposed billions of dollars of costs on Californians. We should not have to foot the bill alone while oil companies profit.
- The suit demands that oil companies pay their fair share for:
- Recovery efforts from climate change-induced superstorms and wildfires;
- Protecting people from the health impacts of extreme heat;
- Managing dwindling water supplies in extreme drought;
- Fortifying infrastructure and homes against sea level rise and coastal and inland flooding.”
The Governor said the lawsuit will do the following:
- “Order the oil companies to pay for the costs of their impacts to the environment, human health, and Californians’ livelihoods, and to help protect the state against the harms that climate change will cause in years to come;
- Prohibit oil companies from engaging in further pollution and destruction of California communities and natural resources;
- Levy financial penalties on Big Oil for lying to the public, and order the industry to immediately stop its ongoing efforts to deceive or misinform about their catastrophic impacts;
- Award punitive damages to the state to punish these companies for their misconduct.”
“For more than 50 years, Big Oil has been lying to us – covering up the fact that they’ve long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are for our plane,” Governor Newsom said. “It has been decades of damage and deception. Wildfires wiping out entire communities, toxic smoke clogging our air, deadly heat waves, record-breaking droughts parching our wells. California taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill. California is taking action to hold big polluters accountable.”
“Oil and gas companies have privately known the truth for decades — that the burning of fossil fuels leads to climate change — but have fed us lies and mistruths to further their record-breaking profits at the expense of our environment. Enough is enough,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta.
“With our lawsuit, California becomes the largest geographic area and the largest economy to take these giant oil companies to court. 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. We will meet the moment and fight tirelessly on behalf of all Californians, in particular those who live in environmental justice communities,” Bonta concluded.
Watch the video about California’s lawsuit to hold Big Oil accountable for decades of deception and billions of dollars in damage done to our state.
Climate experts respond to launching of lawsuit
After California announced the new litigation against ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and the American Petroleum Institute, climate experts say it's “becoming increasingly likely that the oil industry will be required to pay damages for knowingly contributing to the climate crisis and deceiving the public about the impact of their pollution.”
California joins more than forty states and municipalities pursuing climate liability lawsuits that seek to hold major polluters accountable for lying to the public about their role in causing climate change. The experts said California’s suit is significant not only because California is the largest economy now suing Big Oil, it is also the first oil producing state to pursue such charges.
“The attorney general’s lawsuit calls for the establishment of an abatement fund to help pay for future climate disasters and community resilience measures. Eight California municipalities — San Francisco, Oakland, Santa Cruz, Richmond, Imperial Beach, and the counties of San Mateo, San Marin, and Santa Cruz — filed some of the nation’s first-ever climate lawsuits against fossil fuel companies in 2017 and 2018. Several of those cases are now proceeding toward trial in state courts,” the experts stated.
A new Make Polluters Pay campaign is also launching at Climate Week, seeking to galvanize the public to join the movement to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for climate damages and other societal harms.
Taking inspiration from the Truth Campaign against Big Tobacco, organizers from Fossil Free Media are promising a multi-million dollar effort that will launch with a billboard in Times Square (image available on request), a petition push for the public to show their support for climate lawsuits, and a six figure digital buy across the United States to educate the public about the lawsuits and the industry’s deception.
“With this historic lawsuit, Gov. Newsom and Attorney General Bonta are providing the climate leadership the world so desperately needs,” Kassie Siegel, director of the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute, said in a statement. “As the world’s fifth-largest economy, and the nation’s most populous state, California is uniquely positioned to hold Big Oil accountable for its endless lies and malicious blocking of climate action.”
"California’s lawsuit provides major momentum in the race to protect a livable planet,” she stated.
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, said, “California’s decision to take Big Oil companies to court is a watershed moment in the rapidly expanding legal fight to hold major polluters accountable for decades of climate lies. Whether it’s fires, droughts, extreme heat, or sea-level rise, Californians have been living in a climate emergency caused by the fossil fuel industry, and now the state is taking decisive action to make those polluters pay.”
“As similar cases proceed toward trial, California's move is an unmistakable sign that the wave of climate lawsuits against Big Oil will keep growing and that these polluters’ days of escaping accountability for their lies are numbered. Just like tobacco and opioid companies, the oil and gas industry will have to face the evidence of its deception in court,” he noted.
“Climate change isn’t just a tragedy, it’s a crime,” concluded Jamie Henn, founder of Fossil Free Media. “Fossil fuel companies knew, they lied, and now it’s time to make them pay. Right now, billions of us around the world are experiencing the impacts of the climate crisis first hand. It’s time to come together and finally hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for the damage they’ve done.”
Governor continues to embrace several policies that extend reliance on fossil fuels
On the other hand, Chirag Bhakta, Food & Water Watch California Director, had a more mixed reaction to Newsom’s announcement, commending Newsom for launching the lawsuit, but noting that the Governor has at the same embraced several policies that will continue reliance on fossil fuels in California into the future.
“We should be holding polluters accountable for poisoning our communities and putting our future’s at risk and we would like to commend our leaders like Governor Newsom for taking this first step,” said Bhakta in a statement. “However this lawsuit will not immediately change or improve the lives of Californians and any payout from it could take years to materialize. Our climate is in serious risk right now: we don’t have time to wait. We must immediately rein in fossil fuels and rapidly transition to renewable energy.”
“Unfortunately, while Governor Newsom has taken some steps to reduce drilling permits, he’s also embraced several policies that will extend our reliance on fossil fuels and other dirty energy. These include promoting dirty factory farm gas through the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard; embracing hydrogen, which is water and energy intensive; and championing carbon capture, which has a track record of failure and will extend the life of fossil fuel plants. His appointees on the State Water Resource Control board recently voted to allow three dirty gas power plants that were slated to be shut down in 2020 to continue operating until 2026. Further, the Public Utilities Commission just approved an expansion of gas storage at Aliso Canyon, site of the largest gas blowout in US history, despite Newsom’s repeated pledges to shut it down,” he emphasized.
“While it’s good that California will be suing some of the biggest companies driving the climate crisis, we need to address the climate crisis now. That means stopping new fossil fuel permits, rejecting hydrogen and carbon capture, and rapidly moving off fossil fuels as we embrace a renewable energy future,” Bhakta argued.
As I get more responses to the lawsuit by the state of California I will post them here.