Several oil companies have asked a judge at the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas in Doylestown to dismiss a climate lawsuit filed by Bucks County against them, writes Zoë Read for the WHYY.
In the lawsuit, the county alleged that BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Phillips 66, Shell, and the American Petroleum Institute knew about the devastating climate impacts of burning fossil fuels but waged a decades-long campaign to conceal the risks their products posed to the environment.
The county is seeking damages for climate change-related harms, including infrastructure costs linked to flooding.
Defense attorneys argued for dismissal, claiming state and local municipalities lack standing to bring such claims.
Ted Boutrous, counsel for Chevron Corporation, asserted that the impacts of global climate emissions fall under federal jurisdiction.
Now, it is on Bucks County Court Judge Stephen Corr to decide on the companies’ motion to dismiss the case.
Corey Riday-White, managing attorney for the Center for Climate Integrity, argued that oil companies often mischaracterize climate liability cases as attempts to regulate climate change.
“The cases are about corporate accountability, they’re about us as a society saying when a company deceives us about the harm their product is going to cause they should have to pay the cost to clean up that harm,” said Riday-White.
Read more about the lawsuit in the WHYY.
