#ExxonKnew lawsuit could open floodgates for more cases

New type of #ExxonKnew lawsuit could open floodgates for more cases, Mashable, Andrew Freedman, 2 Oct 16, Exxon’s climate change-related legal problems are growing by the day.

In addition to investigations by several state attorneys general and a separate inquiry on the part of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a new lawsuit filed in federal court on Thursday by a Massachusetts-based environmental group alleges the oil and gas giant has failed to take climate science research (including its own data) into account in operating an oil facility in the Boston area.

The suit, filed by the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), is significant because it is the first to allege that a private company is violating the Clean Water Act and hazardous waste laws by failing to adequately prepare for climate change impacts such as sea level rise and stormwater runoff from increased instances of heavy rainfall events.

This case could also open the floodgates for more litigation against Exxon and the many other oil and gas companies that operate low-lying coastal facilities.

According to the suit — filed with the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts — the Exxon facility in Everett, Massachusetts, just to the northwest of Boston, has a stormwater drainage system that is easily overrun during extreme precipitation events, which are becoming more frequent due to climate change.

The suit contends that climate change-fed heavy rainfall is flooding the facility, which emits harmful contaminants into a tributary of the Mystic River in violation of the facility’s permit.

The lawsuit rests in part on the investigative reporting of InsideClimateNews, the Los Angeles Times and others that have revealed Exxon studied climate science for decades and knew the global warming-related risks involved in burning fossil fuels perhaps better than any other entity aside from the federal government.

The reporting revealed that instead of incorporating the risks into its planning and being transparent about them, the company chose to fund climate denial groups and withhold its research from shareholders.

The reporting has sparked a public campaign against Exxon, known together with the reporting by the hashtag #ExxonKnew………

The lawsuit could pave the way for many more similar legal actions, and not just against Exxon, but other oil and gas companies too.

“If the suit succeeds it will be an important precedent,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Saban Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University, in an email.

“America’s coastlines are dotted with oil and chemical tanks and other facilities that are at risk from rising seas.” http://mashable.com/2016/09/29/exxon-knew-lawsuit-massachusetts/#rjmvgqrODuq7

October 3, 2016 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Legal, USA

No comments yet.

nuclear-news

The News That Matters about the Nuclear Industry Fukushima Chernobyl Mayak Three Mile Island Atomic Testing Radiation Isotope