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[waldron] 26/6/2018 06:03

A federal judge on Monday dismissed lawsuits by the cities of San Francisco and Oakland alleging that five of the world's largest oil companies should pay to protect the cities' residents from the impacts of climate change.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup granted a motion by the companies -- BP PLC, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Exxon Mobil Corp., ConocoPhillips and Chevron Corp. -- to dismiss the suits, ruling that while global warming was a real threat, it must be fixed "by our political branches."

"The dangers raised in the complaints are very real," he wrote. "But those dangers are worldwide. Their causes are worldwide. The benefits of fossil fuels are worldwide. The problem deserves a solution on a more vast scale than can be supplied by a district judge or jury in a public nuisance case."

The ruling is a blow to an emerging legal campaign by cities and municipalities that are trying to argue that oil and gas companies created a public nuisance by producing fossil fuels they knew would result in harmful emissions. New York City and several other local governments in California, Washington and Colorado have also sued on similar grounds.

"Reliable, affordable energy is not a public nuisance but a public necessity," said R. Hewitt Pate, Chevron's general counsel. "Using lawsuits to vilify the men and women who provide the energy we all need is neither honest nor constructive."

A Shell spokesman said the company was pleased with the ruling. Representatives for Exxon and BP didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. A ConocoPhillips spokesman didn't have an immediate response.

Oakland City Attorney Barbara Parker said the city was "disappointed" by the ruling and is weighing an appeal. "These defendants must be held accountable for misleading the American people" about climate change, said Ms. Parker.

A spokesman for San Francisco, John Coté, said the city would decide on its "next steps" shortly.

"We're pleased that the court recognized that the science of global warming is no longer in dispute," he said. "Our litigation forced a public court proceeding on climate science, and now these companies can no longer deny it is real and valid."

The suits by San Francisco and Oakland sought to force the companies to pay for infrastructure, such as sea walls, that they expect to need due to rising sea levels and other changes linked to a changing climate. The cities didn't specify how much they were seeking but said the costs could run into the billions of dollars.

Defendants in the Oakland and San Francisco cases argued that Congress has given the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to regulate pollution effects under the Clean Air Act, and that the cases impinged on the agency's powers.

Judge Alsup said the court "fully accepts the vast scientific consensus" that the burning of fossil fuels is leading global temperatures to increase and to "accelerated sea level rise."

Yet he highlighted previous legal rulings which found the Clean Air Act, which grants the Environmental Protection Agency the authority to set emissions standards, displaces federal common law suits related to greenhouse gas emissions.

"Courts must also respect and defer to the other co-equal branches of government when the problem at hand clearly deserves a solution best addressed by those branches," he wrote.

Jay Timmons, president and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturers, which has supported the companies in the cases, praised the judge's decision.

"Other municipalities around the country who have filed similar lawsuits should take note as those complaints are likely to end the same way," he said.

Write to Bradley Olson at [e-mail] and Timothy Puko at [e-mail]



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 25, 2018 23:49 ET (03:49 GMT)

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[bountyhunter] 23/6/2018 11:32

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