San Francisco, Oakland File Lawsuits Against Oil Companies Over ‘Climate Change’

by William Teach | September 21, 2017 8:32 am

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They add to the list of California municipalities and counties that are suing, all of which should immediately give up their own use of fossil fuels in things like government owned police cars, fire trucks, other emergency vehicles, buses, work vehicles, etc. And the fossil fuels companies should threaten to pull all their stations out of the areas

(The Hill[2]) San Francisco and Oakland, Calif., are suing five major oil companies, blaming them for the effects of climate change.

The cities announced Wednesday they each filed a lawsuit in their respective county courts against Chevron Corp., ConocoPhillips Co., ExxonMobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell and BP.

The lawsuits by two of California’s largest cities add to an emerging legal strategy to try to hold individual fossil fuel companies responsible for rising sea levels, extreme weather and other effects of human-induced climate change.

They trot out the same old stale talking points, but what they’ll have a hard time doing, provided the suits aren’t dismissed out of hand, is proving harm. Courts won’t accept the notion that there could maybe might possibly we think that Hotcoldwetdry will cause harm in the nebulous future, but, of course, the courts out on the West coast are full of nutty leftists, so, hey, you never know. The San Fran sea rise station[3] shows no acceleration, and only 1.94mm per year increase, which equates to .64 feet over 100 years, exactly average for the Holocene. The station at Alemeda[4] shows only .24 feet per hundred years.

Extreme weather? Good luck making that case. Other effects? Will they blame the lawlessness, violence, crime, and poverty on the fossil fuels companies? Good luck with that, because the companies certainly have lawyers on staff who are much better educated and much smarter.

Chevron said it welcomes opportunities to fight climate change, but the cities’ lawsuits are not constructive.

“Chevron welcomes serious attempts to address the issue of climate change, but these suits do not do that,” the company said in a statement.

“Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a global issue that requires global engagement and action. Should this litigation proceed, it will only serve special interests at the expense of broader policy, regulatory and economic priorities.”

They were nice about it.

“The claims in these lawsuits are without merit,” said Exxon spokesman Scott Silvestri. “We will vigorously defend ourselves against them.”

Of course, the suits will probably be withdrawn, because they cost money, and these cities are just trying to make a point and/or shakedown the oil companies.

Crossed at Pirate’s Cove[5]. Follow me on Twitter @WilliamTeach[6].