Oil Firms Sued Over Sea-Level Rise in California

Some of the nation’s biggest oil companies such as ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil are among five firms sued this week by Oakland and San Francisco, California, blaming them for sea-level rise.

“Now we’re going to ensure that those responsible for the problem are held to account,” vowed Dennis Herrera, a San Francisco attorney who said they want to make the companies pay the cost of protecting the people.

ConocoPhilips and Exxon Mobil were named along with BP PLC, Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC. Of course, ConocoPhilips is a company with a large operation in Bartlesville.

E and E reported the suit claims the companies “promoted fossil fuels and fossil fuel products for unlimited use in massive quantities with knowledge of the hazard that such use would create.”

The defendants “promoted fossil fuels and fossil fuel products for unlimited use in massive quantities with knowledge of the hazard that such use would create,” the San Francisco suitsays. The Oakland complaint makes the same argument.

Attorneys for the two cities admit they were inspired by the same kind of lawsuits filed in the 1990s against big tobacco.