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Puerto Rican Towns Sue Oil Companies Over Suppression Of Climate Science

"Sixteen Puerto Rico municipalities filed a class-action lawsuit in federal court against major oil companies, alleging companies like ExxonMobil, Shell and Chevron colluded to suppress evidence of climate change that has devastated the island, including 2017’s Hurricane Maria.

The municipalities accused the defendants, who include Exxon Mobil, Royal Dutch Shell, Chevron, BP, ConocoPhillips and Arch Coal, of conspiring to conceal fossil fuels’ role in climate change. The lawsuit alleges the companies spent billions of dollars on a “fraudulent marketing scheme to convince consumers that their fossil fuel-based products did not–and would not–alter the climate, knowing full well the consequences of their combined carbon pollution on Puerto Rico.”

The defendants produced just over 40 percent of global industrial greenhouse gas emissions between 1965 and 2017, according to the lawsuit, and were aware emissions were associated with stronger storms dating back to at least 2017."

Zack Budryk reports for The Hill November 30, 2022.

Source: The Hill, 12/01/2022