Big oil uncovered 🛢
#NewYork officials call for #BigOil to be prosecuted for fueling #climate disasters
Oil majors’ conduct can constitute reckless endangerment due to #FossilFuels’ effect on global heating, advocates claim
Dharna Noor
Thu 17 Oct 2024
New York state prosecutors could press criminal charges against big oil for its role in fueling #hurricanes and other #ClimateDisasters, lawyers wrote in a new prosecution memorandum
1/14
that has been endorsed by elected officials across the state.
The 50-page document, published by the consumer advocacy group #PublicCitizen and the progressive prosecutors network #FairAndJustProsecution on Thursday, comes as the US south-east struggles to recover from the deadly hurricanes #Helene and #Milton, both of which scientists have found were exacerbated by the #ClimateCrisis. It details the havoc wrought on #NewYork by 2021’s Hurricane #Ida and 2012’s Hurricane #Sandy,
2/14
and other deadly climate events such as extreme #heatwaves across the #US this past summer.
These disasters are fueled by the #ClimateCrisis, which is primarily caused by the burning of #FossilFuels. And a growing body of evidence shows that #BigOil knew about the climate dangers of its products but promoted them to the public anyway, the authors write.
“This conduct was not just amoral,” the memo says. “It was #criminal.”
3/14
“It is clear that the actions of #BigOil, major #FossilFuelCompanies and their #executives have endangered generations of Americans,” said Jessica González-Rojas in a statement. “Big oil must be held accountable for their actions, and #justice must be won for those who’ve suffered the devastating impacts of climate-related disasters.”
New York case law demonstrates that conduct like big oil’s can constitute reckless #endangerment, the authors argue.
4/14
They wrote that just a small number of #oil and #gas companies, controlled by just a few executives, have generated a substantial portion of all planet-heating #pollution, while deceiving ordinary people about the dangers of their products in marketing, lobbying and other public-facing communications.
5/14
Internal documents show that fossil fuel companies have long understood “with shocking accuracy” that their products would cause major damage, the report says. In 1959, the physicist #EdwardTeller told #OilIndustry leaders that the projected temperature rise associated with the sector’s planned #emissions would be devastating for the state.
“It has been calculated that a temperature rise corresponding to a 10% increase in carbon dioxide
6/14
will be sufficient to melt the ice caps and submerge New York,” he said at a symposium organized by the #AmericanPetroleumInstitute, the country’s top fossil fuel lobby group.
And in 1982, an official at the oil corporation #Exxon issued an internal report that found the global heating tied to fossil fuel emissions could “cause flooding on much of the US east coast”.
7/14
Such conduct amounts to reckless endangerment, said Aaron Regunberg, senior policy counsel with Public Citizen’s climate program.
“Reckless endangerment occurs when someone engages in reckless conduct that risks injuring or killing another person,” he said. “That’s exactly what these companies and their CEOs have done.”
Forty cities and states have filed civil lawsuits against oil majors in recent years for their #emissions and promotion of #ClimateDoubt.
8/14
https://www.climatefiles.com/exxonmobil/1982-memo-to-exxon-management-about-co2-greenhouse-effect/
November 12, 1982 Exxon’s M.B. Glaser, manager of the Environmental Affairs Program, sends a memo to Exxon management on the CO2 greenhouse effect intended for the management staff to familiarize themselves with the subject. Glaser includes the April 1, 1982 “CO2 Greenhouse Effect: Technical Review” report. In Glaser’s summary to management, he writes that the […]
Public Citizen last year also proposed filing #CriminalCharges – most notably, #homicide – against the companies.
Asked for a response to the proposal last year, a spokesperson for the #AmericanPetroleumInstitute said: “The record of the past two decades demonstrates that the industry has achieved its goal of providing affordable, reliable American energy to US consumers while substantially reducing emissions and our environmental footprint.”
9/14
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/07/climate-crisis-big-oil-lawsuits-constitution
But the scheme has sparked curiosity from experts and public officials, won broad support from likely US voters in polls and captured the imaginations of climate advocates.
“Big oil’s behavior is immoral, and it’s high time to recognize it’s also #illegal,” said Durwood Zaelke, president of the advocacy non-profit Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.
10/14
#PublicCitizen released a similar memo earlier this year laying out a case for #Arizona prosecutors to press criminal charges against #BigOil for its role in a deadly 2023 heat wave. The New York case could be easier to make, Regunberg said.
While the Arizona memo proposes filing reckless #manslaughter or second-degree #murder claims, which have high standards for causation, the New York proposal calls for reckless #endangerment,
11/14
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jun/26/arizona-heatwave-big-oil-lawsuit
a charge that covers harm caused without explicit intent.
“Reckless endangerment statutes criminalize reckless conduct that creates a risk of injuring or killing someone,” he said. “So proving this crime doesn’t require the same demonstration of causation as offenses like homicide or assault, where prosecutors need to prove that a defendant’s conduct actually caused a specific victim’s injury or death.”
12/14
This proposal also opens the door for #NewYork prosecutors to bring charges against individual #OilExecutives, the memo says.
#RachelRivera, a member of environmental justice group #NewYorkCommunitiesFor Change whose home was destroyed by #HurricaneSandy, expressed support for the proposal. Sandy “was done to us by #oil and #gas companies”, she said.
13/14
“If I committed a #crime like that against a corporation, you can bet I’d get prosecuted,” said Rivera. “So why shouldn’t they be held accountable? Isn’t that why we have a criminal justice system?”
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/17/new-york-big-oil-fueling-climate-disasters
14/14
anna_lillith 🇺🇦🌱🐖
Heskie