Puerto Rico filed suit against fossil fuel companies this week, The Verge reports. The complaint claims those companies misled the public about climate change and delayed a transition to clean energy. The suit seeks $1 billion in damages to help Puerto Rico defend itself against climate disasters. In a complaint filed in San Juan yesterday, the Puerto Rico Department of Justice said the companies violated trade law by promoting fossil fuels without adequately warning about the dangers. The defendants include ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell, ConocoPhillips, and other energy companies.
It’s the latest in a slew of lawsuits attempting to hold fossil fuel companies accountable for the consequences of climate change. Greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels are supercharging storms and other extreme weather events while rising seas eat away at island shorelines. Fossil fuel companies have known for decades that their products would cause global warming from research done by their own scientists and went ahead doing business as usual anyway.
In the complaint, Puerto Rico says it expects to pay billions of dollars in the future to cope with catastrophes made worse by climate change — including storms like Hurricane Maria, which killed thousands of people in 2017 and triggered power outages that lasted for months in some cases. The suit asks defendants to contribute to a fund that would be used to mitigate the consequences of climate change and pay for measures to strengthen Puerto Rico’s infrastructure against future climate-related calamities. Thirty seven municipalities in Puerto Rico and the capital city of San Juan have previously filed suit against fossil fuel companies, seeking to hold them accountable for the devastation wrought by Hurricane Maria.
“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,” Richard Wiles, president of the Center for Climate Integrity that tracks climate cases and provides legal support, said in an emailed statement.
The Case Against Fossil Fuel Companies
The Department of Justice for Puerto Rico says on its website that despite the companies knowing that their products have caused and will continue to cause severe damage and pollution in Puerto Rico and its natural resources, the companies have distributed, marketed, and promoted their products in Puerto Rico through unfair and deceptive trade practices. The lawsuit alleges that the defendants failed to provide appropriate warnings about the risks associated with the intended use of their products, but instead improperly promoted them, concealing from the public the dangers of which they were aware. They also implemented sophisticated communications and public relations campaigns to deceive the public about the effects of fossil fuel use.
As a result, the people of Puerto Rico have incurred and will incur billions of dollars in costs to clean up the disasters caused by climate change, such as coastal erosion caused by rising sea levels, the formation of increasingly frequent and severe storms, extreme flooding, destruction of coral reefs and mangrove forests, degradation of air and water quality, loss of habitats and species, among other devastating impacts of climate change on the island.
