The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico yesterday filed a lawsuit that seeks to hold major oil and gas companies — including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Shell, and Total — accountable for deceiving the public about climate damages caused by their products and make them pay for associated damages.
Domingo Emanuelli Hernández, the Secretary of Justice of Puerto Rico, is now the tenth attorney general in the United States to take major fossil fuel companies to court for climate deception, in addition to dozens of municipal and tribal governments.
Thirty-seven municipalities in Puerto Rico and the City of San Juan are separately suing Big Oil companies in federal court, arguing that the industry’s coordinated climate deception violates racketeering laws and fueled the deadly Hurricane Maria in 2017.
Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity, released the following statement:
“Puerto Rico has paid a terrible price for Big Oil’s climate lies, and now officials are taking necessary action to hold these corporations accountable and make polluters pay for damages they knowingly caused. As communities suffer from more and more unnatural disasters fueled by Big Oil’s climate deception, it’s more important than ever for officials to stand up to the fossil fuel industry on behalf of their communities. The people of Puerto Rico deserve their day in court to hold Big Oil accountable.”
Background on State and Local Climate Accountability Lawsuits Against Big Oil
Ten attorneys general — in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico — and dozens of municipal or tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington, and Puerto Rico, have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change. Earlier this year, the attorney general of Michigan announced plans to take fossil fuel companies to court.