Multnomah county seeks $50 million in actual damages and $1.5 billion in future damages from giant oil, gas, and coal companies for damages due to the heat dome
Twitter: @multco / Tiwtter Multnomah County in the US state of Oregon has filed a lawsuit against several giant fossil fuel and coal producing companies including Shell, Chevron, BP, McKinsey & Company, among others. They aim for these companies to be held responsible for the damage and deaths caused as a result of the 2021 Pacific Northwest Heat Dome.
The county is the latest in the list of states and municipalities in the US suing fossil fuel corporations and petroleum trade associations to recover costs associated with responding to climate change-related extreme weather events.
The lawsuit filed on June 22, 2023 in Circuit Court of the state of Oregon for the county of Multnomah seeks damages and equitable relief for harm caused to Multnomah county by the defendants “execution of a scheme to rapaciously sell fossil fuel products and deceptively promote them as harmless to the environment, while they knew that carbon pollution emitted by their products into the atmosphere would likely cause deadly extreme heat events like that which devastated Multnomah county in late June and early July 2021”.
Early June 25, 2021, Multnomah county was scorched by the most extreme heat event in its history. For several consecutive days and nights a ‘heat dome’ sometimes called a blocking event or an extreme heat event “boiled the county, causing massive loss of life, grave ill health, destruction of county property and the consumption of resources”.
The lawsuit was filed by the county of Multnomah citing public nuisance, negligence, fraud and deceit and trespass. It is against Exxon Mobil, Shell, Anadarko Petroleum, American Petroleum Institute, BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Koch Industries, Marathon Petroleum, McKinsey & Company, Motiva, Occidental Petroleum, Peabody Energy, Space Age Fuel, Western States Petroleum Association, Valero Energy, and Total Specialties USA.
The lawsuit seeks $50 million in actual damages and $1.5 billion in future damages. It further seeks an abatement fund which has been estimated at $50 billion to be utilised for upgrading infrastructure and public health services to be more resilient and prepared from future extreme heat events.
“The heat dome was a direct and foreseeable consequence of the Defendants’ decision to sell as many fossil fuel products over the last six decades as they could and to lie to the County, the public, and the scientific community about the catastrophic harm,” said the statement released by Multnomah county.
Multnomah county released a paper, June 2021 Extreme Heat Event, citing the preliminary findings and action steps.
The report said the June 2021 heat event was extreme and unprecedented in the Pacific Northwest. A preliminary climate attribution study made a direct link between the heat event and climate change, and noted that the heat event was a once-in-a-1,000-year event.
From June 25 to June 30, 2021, Multnomah county recorded the temperatures of three consecutive days as 42.2, 44.4 and 46.6 degrees Celsius, shattering previous records. Temperatures remained high overnight during this period, providing little relief.
Officials have explained that “warm overnight temperatures over consecutive days — when homes and apartments without air conditioning do not cool down at night — are a primary driver of heat-related illness, hospital visits and deaths during extreme heat events”, as reported by KATU.
The county has traditionally not had to plan for extreme heat, which had not been a seasonal hazard or threat. Prior to this event, Multnomah County recorded two hyperthermia deaths since 2010 (in 2016 and 2018 respectively). In the past 20 years, more deaths resulted from the heatwave in June 2021 in Multnomah County than from heat in the entire state of Oregon, says a report by Multnomah County.
Many residents fell ill from heat strokes, heat exhaustion, and dehydration. Hundreds required emergency and critical medical care.
Manufacturers’ Accountability Project, which fights climate cases in courts on behalf of targeted energy manufacturers, said in a statement that lawsuits like the one filed by Multnomah County “is not the type of action that is going to lead to meaningful solutions”.
In the US, states like Vermont, New York, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, Delaware among others and associations like Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations have filed public nuisance and consumer protection lawsuits against oil and gas companies over the past six years.
The Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations, the largest commercial fishermen’s association on the West Coast, November 14, 2018 sued 30 fossil fuel companies including Chevron, ExxonMobil and BP — marking the first climate liability suit to be filed by one industry against another.
The Oregon Environmental Council released a report on June 22, 2023, Climate and Health in Oregon 2021-2022. It said climate change-related disasters such as extreme weather events and drought will impact food and water security as well as pose a permanent threat to the health, well-being and survival of all Oregonians.
We are a voice to you; you have been a support to us. Together we build journalism that is independent, credible and fearless. You can further help us by making a donation. This will mean a lot for our ability to bring you news, perspectives and analysis from the ground so that we can make change together.
.png)
Comments are moderated and will be published only after the site moderator’s approval. Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name. Selected comments may also be used in the ‘Letters’ section of the Down To Earth print edition.