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A large suburban Philadelphia county has joined dozens of other local governments around the country in suing the oil industry, asserting that major oil producers systematically deceived the public about their role in accelerating global warming.<\/p>\n
Bucks County\u2019s\u00a0lawsuit<\/a>\u00a0against a half dozen oil companies blames the oil industry for more frequent and intense storms \u2014 including one last summer that\u00a0killed seven people<\/a>\u00a0there \u2014 flooding, saltwater intrusion, extreme heat \u201cand other devastating climate change impacts\u201d from the burning of fossil fuels. The county wants oil producers to pay to mitigate the damage caused by climate change.<\/p>\n \u201cThese companies have known since at least the 1950s that their ways of doing business were having calamitous effects on our planet, and rather than change what they were doing or raise the alarm, they lied to all of us,\u201d Bucks County Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo said in a statement. \u201cThe taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for these companies and their greed.\u201d<\/p>\n Dozens of municipal governments in California, Colorado, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, South Carolina and Puerto Rico as well as eight states and Washington, D.C., have\u00a0filed suit<\/a>\u00a0in recent years against oil and gas companies over their role in climate change, according to the Center for Climate Integrity.<\/p>\n Bucks County, which borders Philadelphia and has a population of about 650,000, is the first local government in Pennsylvania to sue, the climate group said. The county\u2019s 31 municipalities will spend $955 million through 2040 to address climate change impacts, the group\u00a0forecast<\/a>\u00a0last year.<\/p>\n Residents and businesses \u201cshould not have to bear the costs of climate change alone,\u201d the county argued in its suit, filed Monday in county court. It cited several extreme weather events in Bucks County, including a severe storm in July that dumped seven inches of rain in 45 minutes and caused a deadly flash flood.<\/p>\n The suit named as defendants BP<\/a>, Chevron<\/a>, ConocoPhillips<\/a>, ExxonMobil<\/a>, Philips 66, Shell<\/a> and the American Petroleum Institute, an industry group.<\/p>\n Chevron said through its attorney, Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., that \u201caddressing climate change requires a coordinated international policy response, not meritless local litigation over lawful and essential energy production.\u201d<\/p>\n API said in response that the industry provides \u201caffordable, reliable energy energy to U.S. consumers\u201d while taking steps over the past two decades to reduce emissions. It said climate change policy is the responsibility of Congress, not local governments and courts.<\/p>\n \u201cThis ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicized lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of taxpayer resources,\u201d Ryan Meyers, the group\u2019s senior vice president and general counsel, said in a statement.<\/p>\n In 2021, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed a lawsuit by New York City against five oil companies to recoup damages caused by global warming.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nSubscribe to Impact Report, a weekly newsletter on the trends and issues shaping corporate sustainability. Sign up<\/a> for free.<\/div>\n