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‘Big oil’s negligence’: LA residents call on fossil fuel industry to pay for wildfire damages
The Guardian ^ | Jan 16, 2025 | Dharna Noor

Posted on 01/17/2025 4:31:24 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?

As Los Angeles’s deadly wildfires continue to burn, a group of survivors is taking aim at the industry most responsible for fueling climate disasters: fossil fuels.

Residents impacted by the blazes lamented during a Thursday conference call losing their homes and communities and called for litigation and policies that could force big oil to pay for the damages. In the coming days, lawmakers will introduce legislation with that aim in mind.......

There is mounting evidence that big oil knew for decades that their products fuel the climate crisis, yet continued to peddle them to the public anyway and sow doubt about global warming.

Cities and states, including California, have filed litigation aimed at holding oil companies accountable for this alleged disinformation campaign and force them to pay damages.

Vermont and New York recently passed “climate superfund” bills requiring oil majors to fund climate action.

California considered a similar bill last year. Lawmakers will introduce a new version in the coming days, said Clara Vondrich, senior policy counsel at the consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen, which convened on Thursday’s call.

“We’re already paying for big oil’s climate destruction, not just with money, but with our lives, so that’s why we need our own climate superfund bill,” she said.

Aaron Regunberg, a director at Public Citizen, described another scheme to hold big oil accountable for climate deception: bringing criminal charges. The idea has won interest from public officials and prosecutors, the Guardian reported last year.

Local litigation and policies will be particularly important amid former Donald Trump’s second term, Regunberg said.

“Donald Trump has made very clear that his allegiance is to big oil,” he said.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: bigoil; california; climatechange; disaster; extortion; fire; fossilefuels; globalwarming; lafires; manmadeglobalwarming; manmadegw; theft
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I have no doubt that a jury in California would find oil companies liable for the fires.
1 posted on 01/17/2025 4:31:24 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Arson isn’t Climate Change.


2 posted on 01/17/2025 4:35:03 AM PST by Maelstrom (To prevent misinterpretation or abuse of the Constitution:The Bill of Rights limits government power)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Anytime the word “big” is used, it demonizes the following noun. There can’t be any justice or analysis of the subject once the subject of the article is demonized. The word big tells us how to think about whatever the subject is.


3 posted on 01/17/2025 4:35:04 AM PST by Gen.Blather (Wait! I said that out loud? )
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Complete insanity.

No company has any control over weather events.

No company forced the LA government to gut the fire department.

No company set the fires.

By this insane “standard” everyone is responsible for everything, and can be sued for it. This is how Leftist believe the world works.

There understanding of cause and effect is delusional.


4 posted on 01/17/2025 4:35:52 AM PST by marktwain
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

The Trotskyite Guardian provides its two cents worth.


5 posted on 01/17/2025 4:35:52 AM PST by Bookshelf
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Big Oil companies call on CA residents to hand over everything made with petroleum products.

Naked CA residents complaint bitterly.


6 posted on 01/17/2025 4:36:04 AM PST by PIF (They came for me and mine ... now its your turn)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

.


7 posted on 01/17/2025 4:36:08 AM PST by sauropod ("You didn't take a country. You only won a football game!" - Dan Dakich Ne supra crepidam)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

These specious lawsuits have been dismissed repeatedly in courts around the country. A few outliers where mentally defective judges have allowed them to proceed, such as Hawaii. The stumbling block is total absence of any evidence that the defendants have had any effect on the climate.


8 posted on 01/17/2025 4:39:55 AM PST by hinckley buzzard ( Resist the narrative.)
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To: Maelstrom
Arson isn’t Climate Change.

Yeah, but you and I know that in the diseased mind of a liberal, Climate Change is whatever will push their agenda at any given time.

And, at the present time, their agenda is to get somebody else to pay their bills.

Like, blacks and reparations. No black alive suffered from slavery, yet they all want free money for it.

9 posted on 01/17/2025 4:40:15 AM PST by LouAvul (Rom 8:9b: if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. )
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Cities and states, including California, have filed litigation aimed at holding oil companies accountable for this alleged disinformation campaign and force them to pay damages.

Vermont and New York recently passed “climate superfund” bills requiring oil majors to fund climate action.

California considered a similar bill last year. Lawmakers will introduce a new version in the coming days, said Clara Vondrich, senior policy counsel at the consumer advocacy nonprofit Public Citizen, which convened on Thursday’s call.

“We’re already paying for big oil’s climate destruction, not just with money, but with our lives, so that’s why we need our own climate superfund bill,” she said.


10 posted on 01/17/2025 4:40:18 AM PST by dennisw (DËMÔNràts - Truth is hate to people who hate truth.)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Related: LA fires forecast to be costliest blaze in US history with estimate of over $200bn in losses


11 posted on 01/17/2025 4:40:39 AM PST by dennisw (DËMÔNràts - Truth is hate to people who hate truth.)
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To: Maelstrom
Blame the wiccans!!!

California didn't throw enough virgins into the fire to put it out.

Blame Pele', give hawaii back!!!

12 posted on 01/17/2025 4:42:26 AM PST by Ikeon ( Why don't they, do what they say? Say what they mean? One thing leads to another. )
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Energy corporations are just providing what is demanded, If they are going to sue they should sue themselves.

How about an energy boycott of California.


13 posted on 01/17/2025 4:42:33 AM PST by READINABLUESTATE (‘Never trust a man whose uncle was eaten by cannibals’)
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To: dennisw

Unrelated: climate change


14 posted on 01/17/2025 4:43:20 AM PST by Maskot (Put every dem/lib in prison........like yesterday!!! )
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

Blue states being held hostage by eco nazis and their paid political puppets, the people suffer


15 posted on 01/17/2025 4:43:56 AM PST by ronnie raygun
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

16 posted on 01/17/2025 4:44:47 AM PST by Diogenesis (Si vis pacem, para bellum)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

“we have a crappy inept government that didn’t clear brush and had no water after RECORD precip amounts to fill our reservoirs”

“But ITS THE FAULT OF OIL COMPANIES!!!!”


17 posted on 01/17/2025 4:47:11 AM PST by HereInTheHeartland (Have you seen Joe Biden's picture on a milk carton?)
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To: Gen.Blather

They should be honest and just call every industry ‘big money’ because that’s all they want. Oh and ‘big government’


18 posted on 01/17/2025 4:47:36 AM PST by HYPOCRACY (Democracy is dead. Long live the Republic!)
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To: where's_the_Outrage?

The Supreme Court obviously needs to strike down any such lawsuits from any states or private individuals. This would have a huge impact on interstate commerce which is the realm of the federal and not the state governments.

Maybe the big oil companies should consider getting out of California entirely.


19 posted on 01/17/2025 4:53:57 AM PST by FLT-bird
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To: dennisw

The oil companies obviously need to raise prices to the stratosphere in those states or they need to abandon them entirely.


20 posted on 01/17/2025 4:55:10 AM PST by FLT-bird
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