Charleston sues 24 fossil fuel companies, seeks money for climate change damages
Charleston officials filed a lawsuit Wednesday against 24 fossil fuel companies, claiming that because they contributed to climate change — and misled the public about the danger its products posed to the environment —they should have to bear the cost of repairing the damages caused by flooding in the city.
The lawsuit, which was filed in the S.C. Court of Common Pleas in Charleston County, named as defendants the following companies: Brabham Oil Company, Colonial Group, Enmark Stations, Colonial Pipeline Company, Piedmont Petroleum Corp., Exxon Mobil Corporation, Exxonmobil Oil Corporation, Royal Dutch Shell PLC, Shell Oil Company, Shell Oil Products Company, Chevron Corporation, Chevron U.S.A. Inc., BP P.L.C., BP America Inc., Marathon Petroleum Corporation, Marathon Petroleum Company LP, Speedway LLC, Murphy Oil Corporation, Murphy Oil USA, Hess Corporation, Conocophillips, Conocophillps Company, Phillips 66 and Phillips 66 Company.
Some of those companies — Brabham Oil Company and Piedmont Petroleum Corp. — are based in South Carolina. Colonial Group, Colonial Pipeline Company and Enmark Stations are based in Savannah, Georgia.
The lawsuit was filed in time for the third anniversary of Hurricane Irma, which was a tropical storm when it passed close to the Palmetto State, causing severe flooding. Irma’s floodwaters reached a mile inland in Charleston.
“As this lawsuit shows, these companies have known for more than 50 years that their products were going to cause the worst flooding the world has seen since Noah built the Ark,” Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg said in a statement. “And instead of warning us, they covered up the truth and turned our flooding problems into their profits. That was wrong, and this lawsuit is all about holding them accountable for that multi-decade campaign of deception.”
The 140-page lawsuit asserts that the oil companies knew that the use of fossil fuel products creates greenhouse gases, and therefore, causes climate change. The city also claims that the companies worked to discredit science and reports that stated that was the case.
The companies also worked to increase oil extraction and usage, the lawsuit alleges.
“All Defendants’ actions in concealing the dangers of, promoting false and misleading information about, and engaging in massive campaigns to promote increasing use of their fossil fuel products have contributed substantially to the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere that drives global warming and its physical, environmental, and socioeconomic consequences, including those affecting the City,” the lawsuit reads.
City officials claimed that without the misinformation campaigns and efforts to extract more fossil fuels, “climate crisis impacts in Charleston would have been substantially mitigated or eliminated altogether.”
“As the founder of an industrial lubricants business here in South Carolina in the 1970s, I handled their products, and I can tell you from firsthand experience that these companies were not in any way, shape or form sharing information with us about the dangerous flooding and extreme weather their products would cause,” Tecklenburg said in a statement. “In fact, I was hearing the same false and misleading claims from them as everyone else. And now it’s time for them to pay for the damage they’ve caused for our residents, businesses and taxpayers.”
Issues that Charleston has faced because of climate change include rising sea levels. The low-lying coastal city floods regularly during storms and hurricanes.
In a statement, city officials said that flooding events used to occur about four days a year about 50 years ago. During 2019, the city saw flooding on 89 days.
Flooding has caused destruction to city-owned or operated facilities and utility services, and the city has had to spend more on disaster planning and preparation, according to the suit.
For example, the city had to rebuild the Low Battery Seawall to combat sea level rise projections and had to install check valves to protect the city’s storm drain system, along with constructing about 8,000 feet of new drainage tunnels, officials said.
The effects of climate change have also caused the city to lose tax revenue from tourism, the lawsuit claims.
“The City seeks to ensure that the parties who have profited from externalizing the consequences and costs of dealing with global warming and its physical, environmental, social, and economic consequences, bear the costs of those impacts on Charleston, rather than the City, taxpayers, residents, or broader segments of the public,” a city news release said.
Charleston is the first city in the American South to file a lawsuit against fossil fuel companies for their contributions to climate change. It joins several large cities such as Baltimore, New York City and San Francisco who have filed similar suits.
The State attempted to contact the fossil fuel companies for comment Wednesday. Attempts to contact several were unsuccessful.
In a statement, Shell said officials “do not believe the courtroom is the right venue to address climate change.”
“The Shell Group’s position on climate change has been a matter of public record for decades. We agree that action is needed now on climate change, we fully support the need for society to transition to a lower-carbon future and we’re committed to playing our part by addressing our own emissions and helping customers to reduce theirs,” a statement from Shell read.
Spokesmen for ConocoPhillips, Marathon Petroleum Corp., BP and Phillips 66 said the companies do not comment on active litigation.
This story was originally published September 9, 2020 at 1:50 PM with the headline "Charleston sues 24 fossil fuel companies, seeks money for climate change damages."
