Manufacturers Argue State Oil Company Lawsuits Take Focus Off Developing Clean Energy Technology

On Friday, September 15, California formally sued five top oil companies in state court. As E&E News explained, the lawsuit, filed in the Superior Court of California in San Francisco, accuses the oil companies and their subsidiaries, along with the industry trade association the American Petroleum Institute (API), of misleading the public about the dangers of fossil fuels.

Other states, including New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Minnesota, have filed similar lawsuits.

API General Counsel Ryan Meyers said the industry has shown over the past two decades that it can deliver reliable energy while “substantially reducing emissions” and its environmental footprint.

The suit names Chevon, Exxon, Shell USA Inc., ConocoPhillips Co., and BP America Inc. It asks the court to order the companies to pay for climate change costs and to establish a fund to help pay for future climate disasters. It also calls for financial penalties for lying and punitive damages.

The National Association of Manufacturers and others criticized the suit. “The challenge of our time is developing technologies and public policies so that the world can produce and use energy in ways that are affordable for people and sustainable for the planet,” said Phil Goldberg, special counsel to the Manufacturers’ Accountability Project, a National Association of Manufacturers initiative. “It should not be figuring out how to creatively plead lawsuits that seek to monetize climate change and provide no solutions.”

E&E News said while the lawsuits have a long way to go, if successful, they could result in the oil industry having to pay hundreds of billions of dollars for harming the public, an outcome that could reduce research and development into cleaner energy development technologies.