Should oil companies pay for climate change? Yes, there is evidence

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | March 20, 2018 | Ann Carlson and Peter C. Frumhoff

[artichokegrower]

On Wednesday, a federal judge will hold a “climate science tutorial” as part of San Francisco’s and Oakland’s nuisance cases against five oil giants for damages related to sea level rise.

[rlmorel]

Yes...I would have to agree. Weil, I know what it must feel like to be a conservative in California...

[Retvet]

What about city planners, urban sprawl. Also departments of transportation, new or widened roads, hotter than grass. How bout quick drainage ditches, significant humidity decrease. Furthermore large businesses, ever expanding parking lots. Or maybe the Catholic church with their no birth control. I am so sorry but I see it as big oil global warming is agenda driven.

[Eddie01]

Every consumer of fossil fuel byproducts are the real criminals and should pay.

Wait... What?

[cpdiii]

As this suit is in California I think the oil companies should plead guilty to the alleged damage occurred only in the state of California. As it would be most unfair for residents of other states to pay for this, all the revenue required to pay for their guilty plea should be collected in increased prices from the gasoline sold only in California. If other states which to do the same the oil companies should say, “okay.”

Although my post is in jest and factious that is how the real world works. If California takes billions from the oil companies they will just raise their prices by billions plus a servicing fee. It is that damn simple and the poor SOB in California pays for it when he fills up his car with evil gasoline. The uber liberals in government know this full well. It is all about money for the state. They know it comes from the pocket of the consumer and not the oil companies. They also know if they can extract more money from the workers to distribute to the non workers they become more powerful in government. It is just plain damn socialism, and looked what happened to Venezuela. It sits on the greatest oil reserves in the world and is a failed state.

[American in Israel]

Before you sue someone for causing the sealed El to rise, shouldn’t you wait for the sea level to rise?

[DoughtyOne]

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[ProtectOurFreedom]

Until I read this article last year, I hadn’t realized all the sand plants in the area that had been quietly shut down. I remember all the sand operations in the 70s when Ord was still active. It’s just a shadow of what it once was.

[Doogle]

Weather Nazis......

[Kickass Conservative]

Remember when Mad Maxine Waters wanted to Nationalize the Oil Companies? These Morons could sue the Federal Government then.

[Kickass Conservative]

The Government makes more Profit from their Taxes on Gas and Oil than the Companies producing it do.

These Morons should sue themselves.

[vette6387]

“Broke CA has to follow the NY model and try to shake down the companies doing business there.”

Well chew over this one. CA now charges a 1% of retail “tax” on lumber. It’s supposedly to “level the playing field” for the timber industry. The CA timber companies claimed that CA’s “regulations” made them uncompetitive with out of state sources, so the solution is to shift those costs to the taxpayers here.

[sphinx]

This is just an attempt to enact a backdoor carbon tax through judicial fiat.

[Haiku Guy]

It was not the oil companies that released the CO2. It was the customers who burned the fuel who released the CO2. Nobody put a gun to the customers’ heads. They were all voluntary transactions.

So how is the oil company responsible for the actions of the customer?

[USCG SimTech]

A court of law REQUIRES that there is evidence of truth and fact. A theory that has appearances of support should not be held as fact. A good snake oil salesman can talk an Eskimo into buying a snowbank.

[Titus-Maximus]

Well I am interested in a non political scientific debate on climate change.

Start by noting that CO2 has increased in the atmosphere by 13% over the last 30 years yet the temperature is largely flat. Meaning, all their models are dead wrong.

[Nifster]

It’s hard to debate facts

Start with the last mini ice age that occurred during the 1700s. We are headed into another one. Think Maunder Minimum

[Teacher317]

If the sea rises, it will rise everywhere.

Not exactly true, believe it or not. The simplest way to see this for yourself is at the Panama Canal. The Pacific side is 20 ft higher than the Atlantic side, and the ships have to go through the system of several locks to raise up a few feet at a time as they cross the 45 miles between the two. It's amazing to watch.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iz2rb1xrckI
53 second time-lapse video

But I understand your point, that if their imaginary scenarios of AGW included rising seas, all seas would rise the same amount.

[Teacher317]

Yep. I lived in Florida for 32 years and every time I'd go to the beach it was always in the same damn place it was before.

For me, the benchmark is Venice Italy, and all of their canals, and all of the homes built alongside... if levels were rising, you should be able to see it there, easily. The harbor masters there have been documenting the levels for 500 years, before and after the Industrial Revolution, and the attempted Progressive takeover of "Science". The 500 year old homes built on and in the canals do not have flooded basements or any indicators of levels rising... in 500 years.

If anyone would be the "canary in the coal mine" for sea levels, it is THESE people, with their front door threshold within inches of the water:

[libertylover]

Great point! Beautiful photo too.

[MortMan]

That’s at least a 35.1 meter (115 ft) rise over 11,700 years.