July, 20 2018, 12:00am EDT
CIEL Statement on Baltimore Climate Lawsuit
Today, the city of Baltimore filed a climate lawsuit in state court against 26 fossil fuel companies, including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and ConocoPhillips, for damages caused by climate change.
WASHINGTON
Today, the city of Baltimore filed a climate lawsuit in state court against 26 fossil fuel companies, including BP, Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and ConocoPhillips, for damages caused by climate change. Baltimore is facing increasing costs of adapting to climate change, as rising sea levels, flooding, and more frequent and severe storms threaten Baltimore's waterfront communities, port, and Harbor. The city's lawsuit is the 13th such climate lawsuit in the United States, seeking to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for their contributions to climate change.
According to the complaint, fossil fuel companies knew about the harms caused by their products for nearly 50 years, but hid this information from the public, undermined public support for regulation to prevent climate change, and engaged in campaigns to ramp up fossil fuel usage. At the same time, they used their own research to take steps to protect their own assets from climate change.
Baltimore City Solicitor Andre M. Davis says, "The problem is that the companies knew of the harm decades ago...These companies hid knowledge of the harms from elected officials, from ordinary citizens, and refused to disclose the information that, if it had been disclosed, the problem of climate change could have been mitigated significantly."
Lisa Anne Hamilton, Director of Climate & Energy at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), issued the following statement:
Undeterred by federal court dismissals of climate accountability cases filed by New York City, San Francisco, and Oakland, today's announcement from Baltimore is a signal that climate litigation will continue until the fossil fuel companies most responsible are held accountable. With the evidence for holding fossil fuel companies responsible for climate change growing every day, cities and states across the country are stepping up to demand justice for their constituents.
Climate change poses increasingly urgent and calamitous risks to Baltimore residents and other communities on the frontlines of climate change around the world. In just the past two years, the Baltimore area was hit by two catastrophic "once in a 1,000 year" storms. As CIEL's Smoke and Fumeswork has shown, major fossil fuel companies have known about climate change and their contributions to it for decades. But instead of warning the public of those risks, they financed misinformation campaigns and fought regulations that could have helped prevent the kinds of impacts that cities like Baltimore are already facing. If the companies most responsible for climate change knew the risks of their products and failed to warn the public, tax-payers alone should not have to bear the costs of a changing climate. It's time for the Carbon Majors to be held accountable for their role in the climate crisis.
Since 1989, the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) has worked to strengthen and use international law and institutions to protect the environment, promote human health, and ensure a just and sustainable society.
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In a briefing paper titled The Sky Rained Missiles, Amnesty "documented four illustrative cases in which unlawful Israeli strikes killed at least 49 civilians" in Lebanon in September and October amid an Israel Defense Forces (IDF) campaign of invasion and bombardment that Lebanese officials say has killed or wounded more than 20,000 people.
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The September 29 attack "destroyed the house of the Syrian al-Shaar family, killing all nine members of the family who were sleeping inside," the report states.
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"The youngest casualty was Aline, a 5-month-old baby who was flung from the house into a pickup truck nearby and was found by rescue workers the day after the strike," Amnesty said.
Survivor Jinane Hijazi told Amnesty: "I've lost everything; my entire family, my parents, my siblings, my daughter. I wish I had died that day too."
As the report notes:
A fragment of the munition found at the site of the attack was analyzed by an Amnesty International weapons expert and based upon its size, shape, and the scalloped edges of the heavy metal casing, identified as most likely a MK-80 series aerial bomb, which would mean it was at least a 500-pound bomb. The United States is the primary supplier of these types of munitions to Israel.
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"Israel has an appalling track record of carrying out unlawful airstrikes in Gaza and past wars in Lebanon taking a devastating toll on civilians."
Last month, the court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with Israel's 433-day Gaza onslaught, which has left more than 162,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing in the embattled enclave.
The tribunal also issued a warrant for the arrest of Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri for alleged crimes committed during and after the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, in which more than 1,100 people were killed and over 240 others were kidnapped.
Meanwhile, the International Court of Justice is weighing a genocide case brought by South Africa against Israel. Last week, Amnesty published a report accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza.
The United States—which provides Israel with tens of billions of dollars in military aid and diplomatic cover—has also been accused of complicity in Israeli war crimes in Palestine and Lebanon.
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"The CFPB is cracking down on these excessive junk fees and requiring big banks to come clean about the interest rate they're charging on overdraft loans."
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