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
anna_lillith 🇺🇦🌱🐖
Heskie