Multnomah cty Ore
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New evidence shows that the oil industry was warned about the climate dangers of fossil fuels in 1954 — but chose to prioritize “industry interests.”
November 13, 2024
Big Oil companies were warned about the climate dangers of fossil fuels as early as 1954, according to new evidence that could boost efforts to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable in court. The unearthed documents, first reported on by DeSmog, are one of the earliest examples of the oil and gas industry’s knowledge that the pollution from their products could result in a climate crisis.
Following public concern about smog blanketing Los Angeles in the 1940s and 50s, the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) — then known as the Western Oil and Gas Association — created and funded a research front group called the Air Pollution Foundation, which in turn funded a Caltech study about the sources of Los Angeles’s air pollution. The $1.3 million in funding — equivalent to about $14 million in 2024 dollars — came from WSPA’s members including Shell and gas companies later bought by or merged with ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Sunoco, and ConocoPhillips.
The 1954 Caltech study determined that “a changing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere with reference to climate” may “ultimately prove of considerable significance to civilization,” citing coal, oil, and gas as CO2 sources. WSPA and its members were formally alerted to the study findings in March 1955, archival documents show.
At first, the Air Pollution Foundation’s leadership seemed to heed the study’s warning, with the foundation’s president advocating for pollution controls on oil refineries and testifying in favor of state-funded pollution research in the California Senate. However, in meeting minutes from April 1955, WSPA members admonished the foundation’s president, telling him he was drawing too much “attention” to fossil fuel’s role in climate pollution, that the foundation’s research should be more “protective” of the oil industry, and that WSPA “did not want the Foundation concerning itself with refinery stack gases.”
Going forward, the Air Pollution Foundation and WSPA — along with its members — publicly downplayed the harms of fossil fuels as part of the industry’s decades-long climate disinformation campaign. In future reports, the foundation described CO2 emissions as “innocuous” and, in 1958, an executive from WSPA-member Shell described CO2 as “harmless” at a national air pollution conference.
While this new evidence establishes an earlier start date for Big Oil’s deception campaign, it uncovers behavior that we’ve seen time and time again. The fossil fuel industry has spent millions to learn about the role of their products in the climate crisis and spent millions more to hide that information and lie to the public to protect the industry and its enormous profits.
“The fossil fuel industry is often seen as having followed in the footsteps of the tobacco industry’s playbook for denying science and blocking regulation,” climate disinformation expert Geoffrey Supran told The Guardian. “But these documents suggest that big oil has been running public affairs campaigns to downplay the dangers of its products just as long as big tobacco, starting with air pollution in the early-to-mid-1950s.”
Communities throughout the U.S. are demanding accountability in the courts over Big Oil’s deception. Multnomah County, Oregon, has named WSPA as a defendant in its ongoing lawsuit against Big Oil companies for fueling the deadly 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome. This new evidence raises the possibility of whether WSPA could be named in additional lawsuits, such as those filed in California, where WSPA is headquartered.
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drop box ballots burned and across river in wa?
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complaint
Multnomah County Attorney 501 SE Hawthorne Blvd., Suite 500 Portland, Oregon, 97214 Phone: (503) 988 – 3138; Fax: (503) 988 - 3377
courtney.lords@multco.us
Multnomah-County-Amended-Complaint
v. EXXON MOBIL CORP., SHELL PLC, F.K.A. ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, SHELL U.S.A., INC., EQUILON ENTERPRISES LLC DBA SHELL OIL PRODUCTS US, BP PLC, BP AMERICA, INC., BP PRODUCTS NORTH AMERICA, INC., CHEVRON CORP., CHEVRON U.S.A., INC.,
CONOCOPHILLIPS, MOTIVA ENTERPRISES, LLC, OCCIDENTAL PETROLEUM F.K.A. ANADARKO PETROLEUM CORP., SPACE AGE FUEL, INC., VALERO ENERGY CORP., TOTALENERGIES MARKETING USA F.K.A. TOTAL SPECIALTIES USA, INC., MARATHON OIL COMPANY, MARATHON OIL CORP., MARATHON PETROLEUM CORP., KOCH INDUSTRIES, INC., AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE,
WESTERN STATES PETROLEUM ASSOCIATION, MCKINSEY & COMPANY, INC., MCKINSEY HOLDINGS, INC.,
NW NATURAL F.K.A. NORTHWEST NATURAL GAS COMPANY,
OREGON INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND MEDICINE and DOES 1-250 INCLUSIVE, Defendants.
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In March, Aramco paid a little more than $69bn (€61bn) for a 70% stake in global commodity and engineering resins supplier Saudi Basic Industries Corp.75 Saudi Aramco also has partnered with Dow Inc. on the Sadara plastics and petrochemicals joint venture in Saudi Arabia. 94. In 2017, Aramco purchased Motiva Enterprises, LLC from Co-Defendant Shell, including the Port Arthur, Texas refinery and the right to sell Shell branded gasoline and diesel in numerous US states, including Oregon. 95. SABIC (Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation) is a public petrochemical company founded in 1976 and based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. SABIC is 70% owned by Aramco.76 96. SABIC is active in chemicals and intermediates, industrial polymers, fertilizers, and metals. SABIC is the world’s third-largest producer of polyethylene and the fourth-largest
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Valero engaged in an enterprise of misrepresentation about the effect its products would have on the climate, and that they could cause such an extreme heat event to occur. Valero’s misrepresentations and fraud were individually and collectively (with the other Defendants) a cause of enormous harm to Plaintiff for which it is individually and jointly and severally liable to Plaintiff. Valero Energy Company refused to disclose the truth about the nature and degree to which its fossil fuel products, and those of the subsidiaries it controls, could super heat and thereby harm Multnomah County. This Defendant’s deception is individually and collectively (with the other Defendants) a cause of enormous harm to the Plaintiff for which the Defendant is individually and jointly and severally liable to Plaintiff. 118. Defendant, Koch Industries, Inc., (“Koch”) is a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Kansas with its headquarters located in Wichita, Kansas. Koch is the second largest privately held company in the United States and earned more than $120 billion in revenue
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Koch is responsible for providing funding to many front groups, including the Heartland Institute, which has propagated false and misleading denials and downplays of the causal relationship between carbon pollution and extreme climate change in Oregon. Koch is alleged to have provided over $127 million to front groups whose role was to attack climate change science from 1997 to 2017. 126. At times relevant herein, Koch, through one or more of its subsidiaries, sold fossil fuel products including fuels, engine oils, lubricants, and/or greases at several gas stations owned and/or operated in Oregon. Upon information and belief, Koch, and the subsidiaries it controls. conduct substantial fossil fuel product business in Oregon and Koch purposefully avails itself of the rights, obligations, and privileges of Oregon’s laws. 127. Koch is a major carbon emitter, and its concealment and misrepresentations about the dangers of its emissions, as well as its emissions in Oregon, are individually and collectively (with the other Defendants) a cause of enormous harm to Plaintiff for which it is individually and jointly and severally liable to Plaintiff.
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Koch engaged in an enterprise of misrepresentation about the effect its products would have on the climate, and that they could cause such an extreme heat event to occur. Koch’s misrepresentations and fraud were individually and collectively (with the other Defendants) a cause of enormous harm to Plaintiff for which it is individually and jointly and severally liable to Plaintiff. Koch refused to disclose the truth about the nature and degree to which its fossil fuel products, and those of the subsidiaries it controls, could super heat and thereby harm Multnomah County. Instead, Koch has funded a concerted effort to deceive the public through climate change denial campaigns. Koch’s deception is individually and collectively (with the other Defendants) a cause of enormous harm to the Plaintiff for which the Defendant is individually and jointly and severally liable to Plaintiff. 129. Defendant, TotalEnergies Marketing USA, Inc., is a wholly owned subsidiary of TotalEnergies, S.E. and/or its predecessor Total S.A. and, at times relevant herein, marketed, distributed, and sold the fossil fuel products of TotalEnergies, S.E. and/or its predecessor Total S.A.
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During the years 2010 through 2022, Space Age Fuel contributed 8,194,765 metric tons of CO2 greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon.98 These numbers were self-reported to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality. 159. Space Age Fuel is a major carbon emitter, and its concealment and misrepresentations about the dangers of its emissions, as well as its emissions in Oregon, are individually and collectively (with the other Defendants) a cause of enormous harm to Plaintiff for which it is individually and jointly and severally liable to Plaintiff. 160. Space Age Fuel engaged in an enterprise of misrepresentation about the effect its products would have on the climate, and that they could cause such an extreme heat event to occur. Space Age Fuel’s misrepresentations and fraud were individually and collectively (with the other Defendants) a cause of enormous harm to Plaintiff for which it is individually and jointly and severally liable to Plaintiff. Space Age Fuel refused to disclose the truth about the nature and degree to which its fossil fuel products, and those of the subsidiaries it controls, could super heat and thereby harm Multnomah County. This Defendant’s deception is individually and collectively
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members, including increasing the demand and consumption of their fossil fuel products. WSPA has conducted substantial business activities in Oregon and purposefully availed itself of the rights, obligations, and privileges of the laws of Oregon. 181. WSPA has coordinated and participated in a deliberate misinformation and concealment campaign to downplay and/or deny the harms from the use of its members’ fossil fuel products leading to an increase in the demand and consumption of fossil fuel products, and lack of preparedness for extreme weather events like the 2021 extreme heat event. WSPA’s concealment and misrepresentation about the dangers of its members’ emissions and industry’s emissions, is individually and collectively (with the other Defendants) a cause of enormous harm to the Plaintiff for which this Defendant is individually and jointly and severally liable to Plaintiff. 182.
Defendant, Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine (“OISM”) is a privately owned entity incorporated and registered to do business in Oregon since 1981 with its principal place of business and headquarters in Cave Junction, Oregon. 183. Arthur B. Robinson is listed as OISM’s CEO and has designated the entity’s purpose is for research and education. Instead of providing an education, OISM, which is responsible for the Petition Project created a misinformation and deception campaign that is known as the “Oregon
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OISM published a paper that suggests that it analyzes the “Environmental Effects of Increased Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide.”108 The article is replete with disinformation, including the conclusion that states unequivocally, “[t]here are no experimental data to support the hypothesis that increases in human hydrocarbon use or in atmospheric carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are causing or can be expected to cause unfavorable changes in global temperatures, weather, or landscape.
There is no reason to limit human production of CO2, CH4, and other minor greenhouse gases as has been proposed (82,83,97,123). We also need not worry about environmental calamities even if the current natural warming trend continues. The Earth has been much warmer during the past 3,000 years without catastrophic effects. Warmer weather extends growing seasons and generally improves the habitability of colder regions.”109 187. OISM has conducted substantial business activities in Oregon and purposefully availed itself of the rights, obligations, and privileges of the laws of Oregon. 188. OISM has engaged in a climate deception/misinformation campaign in Oregon to continue to further the business objectives of its carbon polluting funders. OISM’s concealment and
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OISM has coordinated and participated in a deliberate misinformation and concealment campaign to downplay and/or deny the harms from the use of its fossil fuel funders’—including Defendants—and the industry’s products leading to an increase in the demand and consumption, and extreme weather events like those that have harmed the County. OISM’s deception is individually and collectively (with the other Defendants) a cause of enormous harm to the Plaintiff for which this Defendant is individually and jointly and severally liable to Plaintiff. 5.
178 E. Robinson & R.C. Robbins, Final Report, Sources, Abundance, and Fate of Gaseous. Atmospheric Pollutants, SRI Project PR-6755, prepared for American Petroleum Institute, at 109- 110. 179 E. Robinson & R.C. Robbins, Sources, Abundance, and Fate of Gaseous Atmospheric Pollutants Supplement, Stanford Research Institute (June 1969). 180 NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Global Mean CO2Mixing Ratios (ppm): Observations, NASA GODDARD INSTITUTE FOR SPACE STUDIES, https://data.giss.nasa.gov/modelforce/ghgases/Fig1A.ext.txt (last visited June 20, 2023). 181 Elmer Robinson and R.C. Robbins, Sources, Abundance, and Fate of Gaseous Atmospheric Pollutants Supplement, STANFORD RESEARCH INSTITUTE (Jun. 1969), http://chr.gov.ph/wpcontent/uploads/2019/11/Exhibit-3I-Sources-Abundance-and-Fate-of-Gaseous-AtmosphericPollutants-Supplement.pdf (last visited June 20, 2023)
Other Defendants 190.
McKinsey and Company, Inc. United States is a privately owned entity headquartered in New York, New York. McKinsey is registered to do business in Oregon and in all fifty states. At all relevant times, McKinsey has transacted business throughout Oregon, including in Multnomah County. McKinsey has conducted substantial business activities in Oregon and purposefully availed itself of the rights, obligations, and privileges of the laws of Oregon
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Those forty-three companies, when accounting for the customers who use their products, were responsible for a substantial share of the greenhouse gas emissions from the fossil fuel industry, including Defendants, in the past several decades. 197. Chevron is one of McKinsey’s biggest clients, generating at least $50 million in consulting fees in 2019. Saudi Aramco, number one on the list, has been a McKinsey client since at least the 1970s. During that half a century, Chevron’s total emissions were approximately 43.7 gigatons (43 billion tons) of carbon dioxide. In 2019, energy-related emissions for the entire planet amounted to about 33 gigatons, according to the International Energy Agency. 198.
Other top McKinsey fossil fuel clients include ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Russia’s Gazprom, and Qatar Petroleum. 199. McKinsey has coordinated and participated in a deliberate misinformation campaign to downplay and/or outright deny the causal relationship between the use of its fossil fuel clients’ products and climate harms, thereby leading to an increase in the demand and consumption of the fossil fuel products, and the severity of extreme weather events like those described herein. McKinsey’s contribution to, and deception is individually and collectively (with the other Defendants) a cause of enormous harm to the Plaintiff for which this Defendant is individually and
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354.
ICE launched a $500,000 advertising and public relations campaign to determine if their deceptive “science approach sells” 241 and, in ICE’s words, “reposition global warming as theory (not fact)” a framing that makes clear that by 1991 global warming was an accepted scientific fact, and that the group’s objectives to “reposition global warming as a theory” were pure propaganda, not based in science.
Patrick Michaels, Robert Balling and Sherwood B. Idso all lent their names in 1991 to its scientific advisory panel.242 355. The Defendants’ publicity plan called for placing these three scientists, along with fellow climate change denier S. Fred Singer, in broadcast appearances, op-ed pages, and newspaper interviews by its public relations firm.243 356. Another company was contracted to conduct opinion polls, which identified “older, lesseducated males from larger households who are not typically active information-seekers” and “younger, lower-income women” as “good targets for radio advertisements” that would “directly attack the proponents of global warming …. through comparison of global warming to historical
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unger. These claims were inconsistent with climate models by the Fossil Fuel Defendants that predicted global climatic catastrophe.249 362. Amidst this propaganda to muddy the waters of climate change facts, the United Nations began preparation for the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The Summit was a major, newsworthy gathering of 172 world governments, of which 116 sent their heads of state. On May 9, 1992, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (“UNFCCC”) adopted an international environmental treaty providing protocols for future negotiations aimed at “stabiliz[ing] greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system.” The treaty was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro on June 14, 1992. 363. Candace Crandall of Science & Environmental Policy Project (“SEPP”) registered at the IPPC’s Rio Earth Summit as a “publicist” for the “science team” while the GCC ran an industrywide collaborative delay and disinformation program to try to block decisions being taken at the Summit. These actions were coordinated by public relations giant Burson-Marsteller. The main anti-IPPC operation in Rio at the 1992 Earth Summit was run by the Global Climate Coalition.250
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that relied largely on the World Climate Review and its successor, the World Climate Report, which was edited by Patrick Michaels, funded by the Western Fuels Association253 and promoted by the Greening Earth Society, purportedly debunking the catastrophic effects of their products on our atmosphere. 371. The Greening Earth Society (“GEC”) was a public relations organization which promoted a thesis that there was considerable scientific doubt about the effects of climate change and increased atmospheric accumulation of carbon dioxide. The Western Fuels Association created the GEC and shared office space with it. The GEC promoted the views of climate skeptics such as Patrick Michaels, Fred Singer, and Richard Lindzen.254 In 1996, the GEC published a report titled “Changing Weather? Facts and Fallacies about Climate Change”, attached as Exhibit 20. The GEC publicly opposed IPCC’s scientific consensus to further the business objectives of its fossil fuel benefactors rather than for intellectually honest or science-based reasons.
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will change in the 21st century and beyond.…It is highly unlikely that the temperature in the middle of the next century will be significantly affected whether policies are enacted now or 20 years from now. It’s bad public policy to impose very costly regulations and restrictions when their need has yet to be proven.262 382.
In 1997, the GCC launched an advertising campaign in the US against any agreement aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions internationally. This was run through an organization called the Global Climate Information Project (“GCIP”), which was sponsored by the GCC and the American Association of Automobile Manufacturers, among others. The GCIP was represented by Shandwick Public Affairs, the second-largest PR firm in the United States.263 383. The GCIP’s ads were produced by Goddard Claussen/First Tuesday, a California-based PR firm, which falsely claimed “It’s Not Global and It Won't Work.” Among other things, the ads indicated that “Americans will pay the price ... 50¢ more for every gallon of gasoline,” even though there was no proposal for such a tax. There was no treaty at that point, and no government ...
wspa
western United States (including Oregon) and the oldest petroleum trade association in the country. The WPSA “activates” and funds front groups that are designed to change public opinion on climate change.308 438. The WPSA front groups, with names like the “Oregonians For Sound Fuel Policy” and “Fed Up At The Pump,” appeared to be grassroots groups representing consumer interests, but were really part of WSPA’s multimillion dollar public relations campaign to further the oil industry’s propaganda machine.309 439. The slide below identifies groups that were “activated” by the WSPA. Many of the names are clearly “greenwashed” to hide the group’s and WPSA’s real purpose of working against climate policy. The actions of some of these groups were conducted in, or directed to, Multnomah County
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soon heartland
petition 500 sci
hundred scientists as “coauthors”, implying that “each of the five hundred had a hand in [the] report or, at the very least, signed off on its conclusions.”325 454. Immediately after the report’s release, the scientists listed on the report began protesting. “I am horrified to find my name on such a list. I have spent the last 20 years arguing the opposite,” wrote David Sugden, a professor of geography at the University of Edinburgh.326
“I don’t believe any of my work can be used to support any of the statements listed in the article,” said Robert Whittaker, a professor of biogeography at the University of Oxford.327 And Gregory Cutter, a professor of ocean and atmospheric sciences at Old Dominion University wrote, “I have NO doubts … the recent changes in global climate ARE man-induced. I insist that you immediately remove my name from this list ….”328 455. To support its denialism methods, Heartland received nearly a million dollars from Exxon and $13.5 million in dark money contributions from Donors Trust, a known front group for oil money. 456. In a December 2019 expose of Heartland’s dark money funding from Donors Trust to undermine scientific consensus on climate change, Heartland’s chief strategist, James Taylor, told ...
EDUC
Page 7 of the GCSCT Action Plan targeted children, tomorrow’s consumers: • Organize under the GCSDC a "Science Education Task Group" that will serve as the point of outreach, to the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and other influential science education organizations. Work with NSTA to develop school materials that present a credible, balanced picture of climate science for use in classrooms nationwide. • Distribute educational materials directly to schools and through grassroots organizations of climate science partners (companies, organizations that participate in this effort). 461. This insidious directive has been implemented in lockstep. On March 27, 2017, the Heartland Institute mailed a book titled “Why Scientists Disagree about Global Warming: The NIPCC Report on Scientific Consensus”, in addition to a DVD and letter to over 200,000 teachers, attached as Exhibit 30. 462. The material would be sent to an additional 25,000 teachers every two weeks, until every public-school science teacher in the nation has a copy, Heartland president and CEO Joseph Bast said in an interview to PBS in 2017.331 Heartland claims on its website, that it reached over 300,000 K-12 science teachers.
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McKinsey and Big Oil – Fueling Fossil Fuel Disinformation 475.
In McKinsey’s code of conduct it claims, “We are committed to protecting the planet.” McKinsey also contends “[a]s a firm, we take seriously our responsibility for the environmental sustainability of our operations and our offices take steps to reduce our environmental footprint. We also serve private, public, and social sector clients across the world on steps they are taking to address climate change.” 476. These public proclamations by McKinsey are contrary to how it conducts its business behind closed doors. While McKinsey is shrouded in secrecy about its consultancy, it represented many Fossil Fuel Defendants since 1950 to present. 477.
Mobil Oil was McKinsey’s first large client in the 1950s. McKinsey represented Royal Dutch Shell in the mid-1950s. McKinsey represented Texaco. McKinsey consulted and worked with these companies as their internal understanding was that rising CO2 levels can heat the earth and cause extreme weather events. 478. McKinsey has also consulted for ExxonMobil, BP, Royal Dutch Shell, Gazprom, and Qatar
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The Defendants’ deception campaign was vigorously executed in Oregon and targeted to mislead the Plaintiff and its residents. 480. Gordon Fulks is a prolific anthropogenic climate change denier and is a policy advisor to the Heartland Institute, which as described above, provides a medium through which Defendants have propagated false and misleading denials and downplays of the causal relationship between carbon pollution and extreme climate change. At the behest of benefactors that included Fossil Fuel Defendants, Fulks has published editorials in the Oregonian that deny the existence of any scientific consensus that carbon pollution causes warming of the planet.340 He writes, “The many objections from real scientists will be countered with fictitious claims of ‘consensus.’ (Should that, too, be questioned — based on studies that show widely divergent scientific opinions — the political formula calls for stonewalling.) Never mind that science proceeds from openly discussed logic and evidence. The scientifically illiterate will not understand and can be easily fooled with unsupportable claims that each succeeding year is the ‘warmest ever.’” .. IN THE OREGONIAN...
RICHARD SCHECHTER, P.C. Richard Schechter, OSB No. 241250 richard@rs-law.com 1 Greenway Plaza, Suite 100 Houston, TX 77046 Tel: (713) 623-8919 and REICH & BINSTOCK LLP Dennis C. Reich, pro hac vice pending dreich@reichandbinstock.com Robert J. Binstock, pro hac vice pending bbinstock@reichandbinstock.com 4265 San Felipe, Suite 1000 Houston, TX 77027 Tel: (713) 622-7271 Attorneys for Plaintiff Multnomah County}:
Roger G. Worthington . WORTHINGTON & CARON, P.C. Roger G. Worthington, OSB No. 241117 rworthington@rgwpc.com John M. Caron, pro hac vice john@worthingtoncaron.com 273 W. 7ᵗʰ Street San Pedro, CA 90731 Tel: (310) 221-8090 and
DWYER WILLIAMS CHERKOSS ATTORNEYS, P.C. Tim Williams, OSB No. 034940 tim@rdwyer.com 1558 SW Nancy Way, Suite 101 Bend, OR 97702 Tel: (541) 617-0555 and JAMES S. COON, ESQ. James S. Coon, OSB No. 771450 jcoon@tcnf.legal 820 SW 2ⁿᵈ Avenue, Suite 200 Portland, OR 97204 Tel: (503) 228-5222
Jeffrey B. Simon . SIMON GREENSTONE PANATIER, P.C. Jeffrey B. Simon, pro hac vice
jsimon@sgptrial.com David C. Greenstone, pro hac vice dgreenstone@sgptrial.com Shreedhar R. Patel, OSB No. 236291 spatel@sgptrial.com 901 Main Street, Suite 5900 Dallas, TX 75202 Tel: (214) 276-7680
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James T. McDermott, OSB No. 933594 jmcdermott@mwcc.law Dwain M. Clifford, OSB No. 025074 dclifford@mwcc.law
MCDERMOTT WEAVER CONNELLY CLIFFORD LLP 1000 SW Broadway, Suite 960 Portland, OR 97205 Tel: (503) 208-6848 Theodore V. Wells, Jr., pro hac vice twells@paulweiss.com Daniel J. Toal, pro hac vice dtoal@paulweiss.com Yahonnes Cleary, pro hac vice ycleary@paulweiss.com Caitlin Grusauskas, pro hac vice cgrusauskas@paulweiss.com T. Patrick Cordova, pro hac vice forthcoming pcordova@paulweiss.com Tyler Anger, pro hac vice forthcoming tanger@paulweiss.com Lyuba Shamailova, pro hac vice forthcoming
lshamailova@paulweiss.com PAUL, WEISS, RIFKIND, WHARTON & GARRISON LLP 1285 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10019-6064 Tel: (212) 373-3000 Attorneys for Defendant Exxon Mobil Corporation Michael J. Estok, OSB No. 090748 mestok@lindsayhart.com Michael H. Jones, OSB No. 133983 mjones@lindsayhart.com LINDSAY HART, LLP...
Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr., pro hac vice tboutrous@gibsondunn.com William E. Thomson, pro hac vice wthomson@gibsondunn.com Tiaunia Henry, pro hac vice thenry@gibsondunn.com GIBSON, DUNN & CRUTCHER LLP 333 South Grand Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90071 Tel: (213) 229-7000 Fax: (213) 229-7520 Andrea E. Smith, pro hac vice forthcoming aesmith@gibsondunn.com 200 Park Avenue New York, NY 10166 Tel: (212) 351-4000 Fax: (212) 351-4035 Michael K. Murphy, pro hac vice mmurphy@gibsondunn.com Peter E. Seley, pro hac vice forthcoming pseley@gibsondunn.com 1050 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036-5306 Tel: (202) 955-8500 Fax: (202) 467-0539 Joshua D. Dick, pro hac vice jdick@gibsondunn.com 555 Mission Street San Francisco, CA 94105
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Matthew T. Martens, pro hac vice matthew.martens@wilmerhale.com WILMER CUTLER PICKERING HALE AND DORR LLP 2100 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20037 Tel: (202) 663-6000 Fax: (202) 663-6363 Hallie B. Levin, pro hac vice hallie.levin@wilmerhale.com 7 World Trade Center 250 Greenwich Street New York, NY 10007 Tel: (212) 230-8800 Fax: (212) 230-8888 Robert Kingsley Smith, pro hac vice robert.smith@wilmerhale.com 60 State Street Boston, MA 02109 Tel: (617) 526-6000 Fax: (617) 526-5000 Attorneys for Defendant ConocoPhillips Joshua P. Stump, OSB No. 974075 jstump@dunncarney.com DUNN CARNEY ALLEN HIGGINS & TONGUE LLP 851 SW 6th Avenue, Suite 1500 Portland, OR 97204
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Neal S. Manne, pro hac vice nmanne@susmangodfrey.com Erica W. Harris, pro hac vice eharris@susmangodfrey.com SUSMAN GODFREY LLP 1000 Louisiana, Suite 5100 Houston, TX 77002-5096 Tel: (713) 651-9366 Fax: (713) 654-6666 Kemper Diehl, pro hac vice kdiehl@susmangodfrey.com 401 Union Street, Suite 3000 Seattle, WA 98101 Tel: (206) 516-3880 Fax: (206) 516-3883 Attorneys for Defendants Chevron Corporation and Chevron U.S.A. Inc. Duke K. McCall, III, pro hac vice duke.mccall@morganlewis.com
MORGAN, LEWIS & BOCKIUS LLP 1111 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW Washington, DC 20004-2541 Tel: (202) 739-3000 Fax: (202) 739-3001 David L. Schrader, pro hac vice pending david.schrader@morganlewis.com Deanne L. Miller, pro hac vice forthco
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Allyson C. Arias, pro hac vice forthcoming ally.arias@kirkland.com KIRKLAND & ELLIS LLP 609 Main Street Houston, TX 77002 Tel: (713) 836-3600 Fax: (713) 836-3601 Attorneys for Defendants TotalEnergies Marketing USA, Inc. Pilar C. French, OSB No. 962880 frenchp@lanepowell.com Ryan O’Hollaren, OSB No. 231160 ohollarenr@lanepowell.com
LANE POWELL PC 601 SW 2nd Avenue, Suite 2100 Portland, OR 97204 Tel: (503) 778-2100 Attorneys for Defendants Marathon Oil Company and Marathon Oil Corp. Joshua M. Sasaki, OSB No. 964182 josh.sasaki@millernash.com KC Hovda, OSB No. 160764 kc.hovda@millernash.com Christopher J. Riley, OSB No. 211614 christopher.riley@millernash.com MILLER NASH LLP 1140 SW Washington Street, Suite 700 Portland, OR 97205 Tel: (503) 224-5858 Fax: (503) 224-0155
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wspa
Cody Hoesly, OSB No. 052860 choesly@bargsinger.com BARG SINGER HOESLY P.C. 121 SW Morrison Street, Suite 600 Portland, OR 97204 Tel: (503) 241-8521 Attorneys for Defendant Occidental Petroleum Corporation William A. Burck, pro hac vice forthcoming williamburck@quinnemanuel.com Alexander J. Merton, pro hac vice ajmerton@quinnemanuel.com
QUINN EMANUEL URQUHART & SULLIVAN, LLP 1300 I Street NW, Suite 900 Washington, DC 20005 Tel: (202) 538-8000 Michelle Schmit, pro hac vice pending michelleschmit@quinnemanuel.com 191 N. Wacker Drive, Suite 2700 Chicago, IL 60606 Tel: (312) 705-7400 J. Matthew Donohue, OSB No. 065742 matt.donohue@hklaw.com Kristin M. Asai, OSB No. 103286 kristin.asai@hklaw.com HOLLAND & KNIGHT LLP 601 SW Second Avenue, Suite 1800 Portland, OR 97204 Tel: (503) 517-2913
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Jeff S. Pitzer, OSB No. 020846 jpitzer@pitzerlaw.net PITZER LAW 210 SW Morrison Street, Suite 600 Portland, OR 97204 Tel: (503) 227-1477 James F. Bennett, pro hac vice jbennett@dowdbennett.com Russell Jackson, pro hac vice rjackson@dowdbennett.com DOWD BENNETT LLP 7676 Forsyth Blvd., Suite 1900 St. Louis, MO 63105 Tel: (314) 889-7379 Matthew E. Johnson, pro hac vice mjohnson@dowdbennett.com DOWD BENNETT LLP 1775 Sherman Street, Suite 2700 Denver, CO 80203 Tel: (314) 863-2111 Attorneys for Defendant Valero Energy Corp. Patrick C. Wylie, OSB No. 085187 pwylie@davisrothwell.com Matthew R. Wiese, OSB No. 070740 mwiese@davisrothwell.com
DAVIS ROTHWELL EARLE & XÓCHIHUA, PC 200 SW Market Street, Suite 1800 Portland, OR 97201 Tel: (503) 222-4422 Fax: (503) 222-4428 Shannon S. Broome, pro hac vice sbroome@HuntonAK.com
HUNTON ANDREWS KURTH LLP 50 California Street, Suite 1700 San Francisco, CA 94111 Tel: (415) 975-3718 Fax: (415) 975-3701 Todd Noteboom, pro hac vice todd.noteboom@stinson.com Andrew W. Davis, pro hac vice andrew.davis@stinsonleonard.com Andrew Leiendecker, pro hac vice andrew.leiendecker@stinson.com
STINSON LLP 50 South Sixth Street, Suite 2600 Minneapolis, MN 55402 Tel: (612) 335-1500 Attorneys for Defendant Koch Industries Elizabeth H. White, OSB No. 204729 elizabeth.white@klgates.com Henry G. Ross, OSB No. 235657 henry.ross@klgates.com
K&L GATES LLP One SW Columbia Street, Suite 1900 Portland, OR 97204 Tel: (503) 228-3200 Fax: (503) 248-9085 David C. Frederick, pro hac vice dfrederick@kellogghansen.com James M. Webster, III, pro hac vice jwebster@kellogghansen.com Daniel S. Severson, pro hac vice dseverson@kellogghansen.com Grace W. Knofczynski, pro hac vice gknofczynski@kellogghansen.com
kellogg hansen
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Shawn Patrick Regan, pro hac vice sregan@HuntonAK.com 200 Park Avenue, 52nd Floor New York, NY 10166 Tel: (212) 309-1000 Fax: (212) 309-1100 Cassandra C. Collins, pro hac vice scollins@HuntonAK.com 951 E. Byrd Street, Suite 200 Richmond, VA 23219 Tel: (804) 788-8692 Fax: (804) 343-4509 Attorneys for Defendant Marathon Petroleum Corporation Brad S. Daniels, OSB No. 025178 brad.daniels@stoel.com Alexandra Choi Giza, OSB No. 214485 alexandra.giza@stoel.com
STOEL RIVES LLP 760 SW Ninth Ave, Suite 3000 Portland, OR 97205 Tel: (503) 294-9854 Fax: (503) 294-2480 Diana E. Reiter, pro hac vice diana.reiter@arnoldporter.com
ARNOLD & PORTER KAYE SCHOLER LLP 250 West 55th Street New York, NY 10019 Tel: (212) 836-8000 Fax: (212) 836-8689 John D. Lombardo, pro hac vice john.lombardo@arnoldporter.com Angel Tang Nakamura, pro hac vice angel.nakamura@arnoldporter.com 777 South Figueroa Street, 44th Floor Los Angeles, CA 90017-5844 Tel: (213) 243-4000 Douglas J. Raab, OSB No. 934017 draab@brownsteinrask.com Scott L. Jensen, OSB No. 862121 sjensen@brownsteinrask.com
BROWNSTEIN RASK, LLP 1 SW Columbia Street, Suite 900 Portland, OR 97204 Tel: (503) 221-1772 Fax: (503) 221-1074 Chinmayi Manjunath, pro hac vice chinmayi.manjunath@bakerbotts.com BAKER BOTTS L.L.P. 101 California Street, Suite 3200 San Francisco, CA 94111 Tel: (415) 291-6200 Fax: (414) 291-6300 Megan H. Berge, pro hac vice Megan.berge@bakerbotts.com Sterling A. Marchand, pro hac vice Sterling.marchand@bakerbotts.com
BAKER BOTTS L.L.P. 700 K Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001 Tel: (202) 639-7700 Fax: (202) 639-7890 Attorneys for Defendant Space Age Fuel, Inc. Evelyn E. Winters, OSB No. 093444 evelyn.winters@bullivant.com BULLIVANT HOUSER BAILEY PC 925 Fourth Avenue; Suite 3800 Seattle, WA 98104 Tel: (206) 292-8930
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Jonathan W. Hughes, pro hac vice jonathan.hughes@arnoldporter.com Three Embarcadero Center, 10th Floor San Francisco, CA 94111 Tel: (415) 471-3100 Fax: (415) 471-3400 Attorneys for Defendants BP Products North America Inc., BP p.l.c., and BP America Inc. Aukjen Ingraham, OSB No. 023338 aingraham@schwabe.com David A. Anderson, OSB No. 092707 danderson@schwabe.com
SCHWABE, WILLIAMSON & WYATT, P.C. 1211 SW 5th Avenue, Suite 1900 Portland, OR 97204 Tel: (503) 222-9981 Tracie J. Renfroe, pro hac vice pending trenfroe@kslaw.com KING & SPALDING LLP 1100 Louisiana St, Ste 4100 Houston, TX 77002 Tel: (713) 751-3214 Oliver P. Thoma, pro hac vice pending oliver.thoma@westwebblaw.com WEST WEBB ALLBRITTON & GENTRY, P.C. 1515 Emerald Plaza College Station, TX 77845 Tel: (979) 694-7000 Attorneys for Defendant Motiva Enterprises LLC Jeremiah J. Anderson, pro hac vice jjanderson@mcguirewoods.com
MCGUIREWOODS LLP Texas Tower, 24th Floor 845 Texas Avenue Houston, TX 77002 Tel: 832-255-6339 Fax: 832-255-6386 Brian D. Schmalzbach, pro hac vice bschmalzbach@mcguirewoods.com Kathryn M. Barber, pro hac vice forthcoming kbarber@mcguirewoods.com 800 East Canal Street Richmond, VA 23219 Tel: 804-775-4746 Fax: 804-698-2034 Attorneys for Defendant American Petroleum Institute Clifford S. Davidson, OSB No. 125378 csdavidson@swlaw.com Mackenzie E. L. Wong, OSB No. 214984 melwong@swlaw.com Kelsey M. Benedick, OSB No. 173038 kbenedick@swlaw.com
SNELL & WILMER L.L.P. 601 SW 2nd Ave #2000, Portland, OR 97204 Tel: (503) 624-6800
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10 24
for the first time, a gas utility could be on the hook for its role in deceiving the public about the climate crisis. Multnomah, Oregon, has added NW Natural — Oregon’s oldest and largest supplier of “natural” gas, also known as fossil or methane gas — to the list of defendants in a lawsuit that seeks to make fossil fuel companies pay $52 billion for their role in the deadly 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome.
NW Natural “has routinely misrepresented” the climate harms of gas while undermining the energy transition “in an effort to frighten customers and discourage policy makers from using their authority to protect the public,” according to the county’s amended complaint. The company has portrayed gas as “safe, clean, and environmentally friendly,” despite the fact that methane, its primary component, is 80 times more potent as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
In its original complaint, Oregon’s most populous county argued that oil and gas companies’ decades-long climate deception helped lead to the heat dome that killed 69 people in Multnomah — an event scientists said would have been “virtually impossible” without climate change. The 2023 lawsuit seeks to recover costs incurred from other extreme weather events and make Exxon, Chevron, McKinsey, and other defendants pay for a range of adaptation measures to protect residents from future ones. The updated complaint now adds that NW Natural “engaged in an enterprise of misrepresentation about the effects its products would have on the climate, and that the use of its products could cause an extreme heat event to occur.”
That enterprise has reportedly ramped up in recent years as the company fights a growing push for policies to limit emissions and phase out their product. The utility has run advertising campaigns touting “renewable natural gas,” targeted children through school books depicting gas as safe and clean, and created front groups posing as local grassroots advocates to fight electrification and promote “consumer choice,” according to evidence cited by the complaint and further detailed in additional reporting, investigations, and challenges to state regulators.
“As we learned in this country when we took on big tobacco, this is not an easy step or one I take lightly but I do believe it’s our best way to fight for our community and protect our future,” Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said in a press release.
Like many fossil fuel and petrochemical companies, NW Natural sponsors sporting events, concerts, and small nonprofits in the region reliant on external funding. The utility’s embedded presence in the community makes it all the more important for the county to “highlight the insidious nature of their communications,” said Carra Sahler, a Multnomah County resident and Director and Staff Attorney at the Green Energy Institute at Lewis & Clark Law School, which has represented advocacy groups in cases against NW Natural for customer rate hikes.
Sept 13, 2024 via X
“People want to trust that their utility is doing the right thing, that the utility is providing the information necessary for them to make choices about their energy use,” Sahler said. “It feels like we’ve crossed into a new era where there is no way forward but to stop [NW Natural] from spreading misinformation.”
“Renewable natural gas”
On a “low carbon energy future” page on its website, NW Natural claims it “has an important role to play in helping our region move to a lower-carbon, renewable energy future in a more resilient and affordable way.” The company goes on to boast its investments in so-called “renewable natural gas,” or gas acquired from decomposing organic matter at livestock operations and landfills.
For years, the utility has used customers’ money to fund ad campaigns promoting “renewable natural gas,” blasting out the slogan “Less We Can,” and insinuating that the company is already providing the “renewable” energy source to Oregon homes. The utility calls RNG a “carbon neutral resource,” but its own filings with Oregon regulators show that’s not true: two of its extraction sites at Tyson slaughterhouses in Nebraska, for example, have a climate footprint.
The company also appears to overstate its use of RNG in its operations. At the Tyson slaughterhouses, the Nebraska-sourced gas is piped mainly to Nebraska customers rather than Oregonians, ProPublica reporters found. And according to the company’s reports, RNG makes up less than 1% of the total gas acquired by NW Natural — a statistic the company blames on “uncertain support from policy makers and regulators, coupled with ongoing barriers created by certain climate advocates.”
According to ads and internal powerpoints scrutinized by DeSmog and documents revealed by ProPublica, the RNG ad campaigns were part of a strategy to beat back the growing “anti-fossil fuel chorus.” That strategy also involved convincing the state legislature to greenlight a state-produced inventory of Oregon’s “technical potential” for “RNG,” and using the highest possible estimates — the amount of RNG Oregon could produce if it had unlimited money — to successfully lobby for another bill to make ratepayers cover the added costs of the biogas, and establish voluntary goals for its use, which the utility would then use to battle regulation.
Targeting schools
NW Natural’s campaign to “promote the continued use and consumption of fossil fuel gas by influencing public opinion” also “targets the next generation through children,” according to Multnomah’s complaint, which cites “gas-related” activity workbooks sent by NW Natural to schools. The books, which target children as young as kindergartners, use puzzles, word games, cartoons, and other activities depicting fossil gas as safe, clean, and beneficial for society, reporting from DeSmog found.
Screenshot from formal testimony to the PUC on April 22, 2022, cited in Multnomah’s complaint.
A group funded by the utility, called Bonneville Environmental Foundation, also planned an event for teachers — which was ultimately canceled after students planned to protest— called “Clean Energy Teacher Training: Exploring Renewable Gas.” The utility promised each teacher who attended the session in Portland a $200 stipend, plus reimbursement for mileage if they traveled more than 50 miles.
In 2022, a coalition of nonprofits and state representatives sent a letter calling on Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum to investigate the utility’s “misleading advertising,” stating that “it is particularly concerning that school children are being subjected to misinformation from corporate entities of any kind, but especially by a fossil fuel corporation selling a product that is harmful to children’s health.” In 2023, the group once again called on the AG to “investigate and sue NW Natural if appropriate.”
In response to concerns raised by a coalition of local environmental and consumer advocates, the state Public Utility Commission ruled in April that NW Natural can no longer charge ratepayers for pro-gas advertising targeting schoolchildren.
Battling climate action
NW Natural hasn’t just advertised fossil gas as a cleaner, “renewable” fuel — it has also fought policies to reduce emissions and shift toward electrification. Reports show the utility hired a scientist to oppose bans on gas in new construction, worked with a public relations firm and its front group to “defeat policies detrimental to the natural gas industry,” and sued the Oregon Environmental Quality Commission over the state’s landmark Climate Protection Program that aimed to reduce emissions.
The company even posed as a local grassroots group to oppose a partial ban on new natural gas construction by Eugene’s City Council in 2023. Just days after the ban was passed, “Eugene Residents for Energy Choice” was registered with the Oregon Secretary of State. Funded by NW Natural to the tune of nearly $950,000 in a span of two weeks, the group collected signatures to revoke the ban — which was ultimately repealed by the city council.
Recently, state regulators accused NW Natural of misleading consumers about Oregon’s carbon crediting program after the utility claimed in a newsletter that the program would raise rates without reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
NW Natural’s actions are part of a much larger push by the gas industry to fight regulations, including longstanding campaigns by the American Gas Association — an industry trade group of which it is a member, and where its CEO, David Anderson, [sits on the board]
https://substack.com/redirect/29c56708-84aa-4364-b1fc-3a6c46f36cba?j=eyJ1IjoiN3ltancifQ.i0HJl3aVWG8sHp566T-pebMssFGKcgvxVOFLuZyEDpw
. As more communities pass laws to tighten standards for appliances and limit new construction of gas pipelines to homes and businesses, the group’s campaigns to counter scientific evidence that using gas stoves is harmful to human health have resurfaced.
Another new defendant
Multnomah County’s amended complaint adds one more new defendant to the case: the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine. The nonprofit ran the 1998 “Oregon Petition,” which claimed to capture signatures from 17,000 scientists who agreed there was “no convincing scientific evidence that human release of greenhouse gasses is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.”
In reality, the petition was not signed by 17,000 scientists, but included fictitious names, deceased persons, and celebrities, according to the complaint. The project was designed to look as though it was approved by the National Academy of Scientists, but was actually authored by Fred Seitz, cofounder of the Exxon-backed think tank GMI.
“A signal to the gas industry”
In June, the county won a procedural victory when a federal courtruled that its lawsuit could move forward in state court.
Pat Parenteau, an environmental law professor and senior fellow at Vermont Law School, said the evidence of the utility’s deception cited in the complaint fell short of the “massive” amount of evidence plaintiffs have cited against oil companies. Further evidence of NW Natural’s deception could expand through the course of discovery and additional reporting, he added.
Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, agreed that gas utilities’ “histories of climate deception have not been as thoroughly mined as those of the oil companies,” but noted that additional evidence could land more utilities in court for climate deception.
“It does send a signal to the gas industry that these sorts of plaintiffs are looking at them more closely than they have in the past,” Gerrard said.
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ref 1
A heat dome killed their residents. Now they’re suing Big Oil.
Multnomah County, Oregon, aims to put fossil fuel companies on trial for fueling climate disasters like the deadly 2021 heat dome.
Jun 23, 2023
Emily Sanders is the Center for Climate Integrity’s editorial lead. CCI staff writer Isabella Garcia, a Multnomah County resident, contributed to this reporting.*
As we approach the second anniversary of a deadly heat dome that devastated communities throughout the Pacific Northwest, an Oregon county is now suing Big Oil companies and their enablers to hold them accountable for the damage. Multnomah County is the first community to file a climate accountability lawsuit over the heat dome — which officials say killed 69 local residents, scientists say was “virtually impossible” without climate change, and county leaders say was fueled by the fossil fuel industry’s fraud.
Multnomah is charging some of the largest oil, gas, and coal companies — including Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, Koch Industries, Peabody, and others — with lying to “the County, the public, and the scientific community about the catastrophic harm” they knew fossil fuels would cause. The industry’s campaigns of disinformation, they say, delayed climate action for years and left residents to pay the ultimate price while the companies rake in record-breaking profits.
Like numerous other lawsuits filed in the United States to hold fossil fuel, tobacco, opioid, and other industries liable for damages they knowingly caused, Multnomah’s case charges the industry with violating fraud and tort laws, like negligence and public nuisance. The lawsuit says Big Oil should face a jury trial and pay more than $51.5 billion to help the county adapt and cover the costs of past and future climate disasters, including more frequent and extreme heatwaves and wildfires.
After voting yesterday afternoon to take legal action against Big Oil, county officials led hundreds of local residents and climate activists on a march to the Multnomah County Courthouse, where they held a press conference announcing the suit.
“The climate crisis is costing us money today, and will cost us more money in the future as we try to adapt,” Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson said during the press conference Thursday. “We’re not looking for a payout, we’re looking to be paid back.”
Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson is joined by fellow county commissioners in front of the Multnomah County Courthouse to file a climate accountability lawsuit against Big Oil, June 22, 2023. Credit: Isabella Garcia
Here are the highlights:
Multnomah experienced one of the deadliest climate disasters in U.S. history — and they say Big Oil should help pay for the damage.
In June 2021, the Pacific Northwest found itself trapped under an unrelenting heat dome, a phenomenon during which hot air remains in the atmosphere for several consecutive days and nights. In Multnomah County, temperatures rose to 108°, 112°, and 116°Fahrenheit — heat extreme enough to shut down bodily functions. Sixty nine people in the county lost their lives as a result — more heat deaths than have occurred in the entire state of Oregon over the past two decades.
“These were some of the most vulnerable people in Multnomah County, and in 2021 they paid the price that Big Oil ought to be covering for in our communities with their lives,” said Vega Pederson during the county commission’s board meeting introducing the lawsuit.
That harm wasn’t equally distributed, Vega Pederson explained: the elderly, those living alone, those experiencing homelessness, and people living in lower-income neighborhoods without air conditioning made up the majority of the county’s deaths.
Major oil and gas companies and their trade associations, the lawsuit argues, carried out a “scheme to rapaciously sell fossil fuel products and deceptively promote them as harmless to the environment, while they knew that carbon pollution emitted by their products into the atmosphere would likely cause deadly extreme heat events like that which devastated Multnomah County in late June and early July 2021.” Now the county, which experienced three times the typical annual amount of emergency visits from heat-related illness in one week and scrambled to open cooling centers and offer other life-saving provisions during the heat dome, says Big Oil should pay to protect its residents from future extreme heat events.
It’s the first time the oil industry has faced legal action for its role in causing an individual heat wave, which was made at least 150 times more likely by climate change, according to a peer reviewed study. The new charges are reflective of a growing field of attribution science, which can link disasters to climate change and even individual polluters.
Outside legal counsel Roger Worthington holding up a printed copy of the lawsuit in front of the Multnomah County Courthouse, June 22, 2023. Credit: Isabella Garcia
The case charges new defendants with climate deception.
Multnomah County is suing at least two new defendants that haven’t yet appeared in other climate accountability cases: the Western States Petroleum Trade Association, and the notorious consulting firm McKinsey and Company, which the suit says aided the fossil fuel companies in their efforts to “sow ‘scientific’ and public doubt in furtherance of their ceaseless, ravenous quest for more wealth.”
McKinsey is a global consulting firm that has worked with at least 43 of the world’s largest polluters and made tens of millions in profits from two of the biggest offenders — top clients Chevron and Saudi Aramco, according to the complaint. “McKinsey’s claims of commitment to environmental protectionism stand in stark contrast to the millions of dollars it has earned assisting its fossil fuel and mining company clients in promoting themes to deny the existence and/or gravity of [anthropogenic climate change]”, the lawsuit reads.
Climate activists marched with county leaders to file the climate accountability lawsuit in Oregon state court, June 22, 2023. Credit: Isabella Garcia
Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA) is the oldest petroleum trade association in the U.S., which represents fossil fuel companies operating in Arizona, California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. WSPA members include Exxon, Shell, Chevron, and BP, and the group “has engaged in a climate deception/misinformation campaign in Oregon to continue to further the business objectives of its carbon polluting members,” according to the complaint.
Multnomah County is the first local government to sue Big Oil since the Supreme Court cleared a path for similar climate accountability suits to move toward trial.
When the U.S. Supreme Court this spring refused to hear fossil fuel industry petitions to prevent similar cases from moving toward trial in state court, many predicted that it was just a matter of time until more communities filed suit. Multnomah County’s lawsuit is strong evidence that we can expect many more local governments to turn to the courts to make Big Oil pay.