Maine sues oil companies over impact of fossil fuels on climate

Sunoco LP (Texas)

26/11/2024 19:49

By Nate Raymond
       Nov 26 (Reuters) - Maine on Tuesday became the latest
state to sue major oil companies including Exxon Mobil  XOM.N 
and BP BP.L  and accuse them of deceiving the public about the
role fossil fuels have played in causing climate change.
    Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey in the lawsuit sought to
hold Exxon, Shell SHEL.L , BP, Chevron CVX.N , Sunoco SUN.N  
and the American Petroleum Institute responsible for the
potentially catastrophic consequences global warming could have
on the state's communities and fishing and tourism industries.
    Maine is the ninth state to file a lawsuit accusing oil
companies and industry groups of deceiving the public about
climate change. Similar lawsuits have also been filed by various
tribes, cities and counties, along with the District of
Columbia.
     The companies in similar cases have denied wrongdoing and
argued that the states are improperly seeking through the courts
to usurp the federal government's authority to regulate
emissions. Representatives for Chevron and Shell on Tuesday
raised similar objections to Maine's case.
    "Addressing climate change requires a coordinated federal
and international policy response, not meritless state court
litigation attacking essential energy production," Theodore
Boutrous, a lawyer for Chevron at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, said
in a statement.
    While many of the climate change cases were filed years ago,
they have been tied up in litigation over whether the cases
could be pursued in state, rather than federal court, preventing
most of them from reaching the merits yet.
    Maine's lawsuit, which was filed in Cumberland County
Superior Court, said rising sea levels caused by global warming
pose a particular risk to the state since so many of its
communities and key industries are concentrated on or near
Maine’s 3,478 miles of coastline.
    The lawsuit alleges that the companies knew about the
climate harms that burning fossil fuels would lead to since the
1960s yet deployed public relations campaigns aimed at creating
doubts about the climate impacts of their industry to protect
their profits.
    “For over half a century, these companies chose to fuel
profits instead of following their science to prevent what are
now likely irreversible, catastrophic climate effects,” Frey, a
Democrat, said in a statement.
    The lawsuit accuses the companies of creating a public and
private nuisance and asserted additional state law claims of
failure to warn and negligence trespass. It also accuses them of
violating the state's consumer protection law.
    The complaint seeks unspecified damages, as well as an order
requiring the defendants to abate the nuisances they allegedly
created in Maine by providing funds to pay for adaptation,
mitigation and resilience measures.
    The case is State of Maine v. BP plc, et al, Cumberland
County Superior Court, Maine, No. Unknown.
    For Maine: Attorney General Aaron Frey, Victor Sher of Sher
Edling, Adam Levitt of DiCello Levitt and Katie Beran of
Hausfeld
    
    Read more:
    Supreme Court seeks US views on Republican AGs challenge to
climate change cases
    Energy companies win dismissal of Baltimore's climate change
case
    Exxon, Suncor units lose bid to escape Boulder, Colorado's
climate case

 (Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston)