Bucks Co. Is First In PA To Sue Oil Companies Over Climate Change
The county charges in its suit that the companies "have known for decades" that their products would bring about climate destabilization.
Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia addresses a news conference to announce the county's lawsuit against several oil companies for their role in deceiving county residents about the companies' role in climate change. (Bucks County Government)
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In its suit, the county says that the companies "have known for decades, with startling precision, that their products would bring about climate change and destabilization. And rather than disclose any of this information, they sought instead to deceive the public about the dangers of their products."
“These companies have known since at least the 1950s that their ways of doing business were having calamitous effects on our planet, and rather than change what they were doing or raise the alarm, they lied to all of us,” said Republican Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo. “The taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for these companies and their greed.”
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Following the model established in suits Bucks County brought against PFAS manufacturers, social media conglomerates and opioid companies, the complaint seeks to "shift the financial burden of the climate crisis from the taxpayers of Bucks County to the companies responsible for creating the crisis.
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“In recent years, we have experienced unprecedented weather events here in Bucks County that have repeatedly put residents and first responders in harm’s way, damaged public and private property and placed undue strain on our infrastructure,” said Commissioner Chair Diane Ellis-Marseglia. “We’re already seeing the human and financial tolls of climate change beginning to mount, and if the oil companies’ own data is to be believed, the trend will continue.
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https://patch.com/pennsylvania/doylestown/bucks-county-sues-oil-companies-over-climate-crisis
= new reply since forum marked as read
PA politicians (some, not all) were on the take since before anyone knew what that meant. The country's first oil rush started in Titusville, PA in the 1860s and nobody understood the economic impact it would have. Certain property owners and oil companies profited immensely, while certain politicians and government officials enabled them and received benefits.
A lot of the history is here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_oil_rush
The fact is that the oil companies were never held responsible for the damage they did to our environment, and they are continuing to destroy the environment in several states. What I'm trying to say is that Pandora's box was opened long ago, the profits were taken and the oil companies have moved on. Pennsylvania has urgent concerns over land and water conservation now that should have been addressed a hundred years ago. Much of it was already known in the 1920's: groundwater and river waters contaminated, the dangers of uncapped and improperly capped wells, areas where farming soil was ruined and no longer arable, etc.
I don't see how one county can bring a lawsuit against the oil industry and make any impact. It needs to be a lawsuit brought by the federal government, but we know that's never going to happen. At the very least it should be the state of Pennsylvania bringing suit. But there's been so much negligence for so many years, while those in power looked the other way. That includes government officials and legislators who took payoffs to ignore environmental concerns. It's depressing to think about, but there it is.
The fracking technology is rather new - in the last 20 years or so. It means the oil companies came back to Pennsylvania to take advantage of our oil shale, and they have brought us a whole new set of problems. Mostly it's environmental issues, but maybe we're a little smarter now? I hope so.
