Posted on 01/31/2025 7:32:37 AM PST by MtnClimber
Related thoughts on injury and responsibility, as they show up in several different discussions this week.
First, the madness of the California state legislature is richly displayed in Senator Scott Wiener’s remarkable new bill that would allow people to sue the oil industry because climate change damaged their property, via “natural catastrophe, including a hurricane, tornado, storm, high water, wind-driven water, tidal wave, tsunami, earthquake, volcanic eruption, landslide, mudslide, snowstorm, or drought, or, regardless of cause, a fire, flood, or explosion.”
I hope you caught that “regardless of cause” thing, there at the end. If this bill passes — it won’t, being mostly a theatrical performance, but let’s pretend — Californians will supposedly be able to sue Chevron or ExxonMobil (and so on) because a flood or fire damages their property, which implicates fossil fuel-induced climate change, regardless of the cause of the flood or fire.
1. I threw matches on your couch
2. Climate change
3. Big Oil burned your couch
On the hook: anyone who sold “fossil fuels” in California “since the year 1965,” although a lawsuit has to be brought within three years of the discovery of the damage caused by the fossil fuel’s effect on the climate.
Favorite part, and look at item #2:
I’m not a lawyer, but I have doubts about declaring in a law that you can’t question the constitutionality of the law. We had similar legal doctrines on the playground in elementary school, despite which some members of the first-grade community controversially persisted in utilizing the disallowed tag-back.
Wiener’s press release on the bill is…very special. California government knows why the recent fires were so harmful, and none of it involves California government. Sample quote from, please help me, the state senator who represents my district:
“The Eaton Fire destroyed over 9,000 structures in my District, wiping out almost the entire town of Altadena, leaving thousands of my residents calling for justice and accountability,” said Sen. Sasha Renée Pérez (D-Pasadena). “Our communities have never seen anything like this in urban Los Angeles. The reality is that climate change is here and will continue impacting communities everywhere. What makes this worse is decades ago, Big Oil knew this would be our future, but prioritized lining their own pockets at the expense of our environment and the health of our communities. The Affordable Insurance and Climate Recovery Act will hold the oil industry responsible for the damage it has inflicted, and provide relief for future communities impacted by climate disasters.”
Decades ago, Big Oil knew Altadena would burn, but they did it anyway. Case closed.
I’m also quite fond of the senator’s use of “my residents,” which sounds like she’s buying up dead souls to expand her vassalage. I pay her in grain, of course.
Second, in search of some clarity on a recent topic, today I downloaded the federal lawsuit that led to the settlement which ends most cattle ranching at Point Reyes National Seashore. It’s remarkably complicated, dragging in two federally managed areas and a laundry list of laws. The plaintiffs asked the courts to “adjudge that NPS violated the Point Reyes Act, the Organic Act, the National Environmental Policy Act, the Clean Water Act, and/or the Administrative Procedure Act in adopting the Record of Decision, the General Management Plan Amendment, and the Final Environmental Impact Statement for Point Reyes National Seashore and the Northern District of Golden Gate National Recreation Area.” It’s not easy to unpack all of that, but you can read the whole thing here if you’re both interested in the topic and an enthusiastic masochist: ....SNIP
They tried to blame The Creator but they are afraid of doing that.
And they sure as “H” aren’t going to blame the true culprit themselves.
So they looked around for deep pockets that have a history of rolling over for them and bam oil companies.
What are your conclusions?
EVERY animal & plant in nature is part of the food chain.
You will potentially be eaten by anything that is larger, faster or smarter than you.
Just like the stories of some old lady dying in an apartment. Then they find her a week or two later and her dog or cat has started to eat her.
We have THOUSANDS of cases setting legal precedent that it is the USER of the gun or knife rather than the MANUFACTURER of the gun or knife held responsible for crimes committed. Case closed your honor.
Or a lion, wolf or tiger kills an antelope or deer, for that matter.
Exactly.
Obviously not.
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CCP MONEY in sac and san fran and academia imho.
That’s true.
Big oil may have to develop enough guts to demand those who sue would first have to prove that manmade climate change exists.
“What attracts so many crazy people to California?”
Your year-round wardrobe can consist of a dirty T-shirt and a pair of raggedy cutoffs.
That is the curse of living in a place with a nice climate.
People who, if they lived in my area, would probably either freeze to death or get locked up for their own protection are allowed to roam free and reproduce.
It does not end well.
Which is why I chose to live someplace where we have real bad cold and snow. It gets rid of pests. Of all sorts.
All animals in the wild die from predation, privation, or disease.
None of these is a particularly pleasant way to go.
There is no old folks home for wild beasts. No hospital bed with clean sheets and a morphine drip. When they finally die, it’s a mercy.
When there are too few predators, the prey animals become too numerous and are likely to starve because they over-tax the food supply. People become too sentimental about wild animals because of cartoons like “Bambi.” Nature is red in tooth and claw.
They DO want donkeys to kill elephants.
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