New Jersey joins states suing fossil fuel companies over climate change damage

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New Jersey officials announced a lawsuit against five oil and gas companies and a petroleum trade organization, alleging they had known for decades about the harmful impact of fossil fuels on climate change.

The suit seeks civil penalties and damages, including for damage to natural resources such as wetlands, alleging that taxpayers will have to pay billions of dollars to protect communities from rising sea levels, deadlier storms, and other harmful effects and arguing that those costs should be paid by the defendants.

Representatives of BP and ConocoPhillips declined comment. A message seeking comment for this story was also sent to the Manufacturers' Accountability Project trade organization, an attorney for which told CBS News in April that"fighting climate change requires policymaking, not lawsuits." "This is not an issue of who knew what or when, or who said what and when," said the attorney, Phil Goldberg."The federal government has had the very same information that they're saying that the energy companies had going back to the 1960s and '70s and '80s. The question is, what we're gonna do about it today?"

Richard Lazarus, an environmental law professor at Harvard, told CBS News that while U.S. states and cities have been"left with the problem" caused by the federal government's failure to pass laws protecting the environment, the legal battle for accountability would likely need to coalesce, and even then, it could be an uphill battle.

"The scope of the problem is one that requires, really, a national approach," he told Tracy in April."The challenge will be causation - to prove that their [fossil fuel companies] fraudulent behavior is what prevented the United States from passing the laws we needed to reduce those greenhouse gas emissions."

 

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There's a climatic upheaval headed our way and like a tidal wave at a distance out at sea, its only seemingly unforeboding. Until, its right up to the shoreline and then it's too late! The climate waits for no man!

targteacher You play, you pay.

Could we waste anymore taxpayer's money? How about a lawsuit against Gov. Murphy and how he sent seniors to die in LTC and Veterans homes.

Mother Nature will be subpoenaed then trump I’m sure they will make some claim like his plane burns too much fuel … talk about a load of Democrap !

The benefits far outweigh the harm. Report on that you bunch of fake news hacks.

Who's gonna sue NJ? I'm sure they've known it too. Yet continue to let them operate.

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New Jersey sues fossil fuel companies over climate change, citing 10th anniversary of Superstorm SandyThe suit was filed in New Jersey Superior Court in Mercer County and names Exxon Mobil Corporation, Shell Oil Company, Chevron Corporation, BP, ConocoPhillips, and the American Petroleum Institute. I wonder what temperature Phil Murphy sets his pool heater to.
Source: PhillyDailyNews - 🏆 89. / 67 Read more »