Fossil Fuel Companies Lied To America
According to a new study from the Union of Concerned Scientists titled “Decades of Deceit: The Case Against Major Fossil Fuel Companies for Climate Fraud and Damages,” these large companies were entirely aware of the damage they were doing and had done to the environment and made considerable efforts to cover this up.
“The evidence could hardly be clearer: For decades these companies possessed detailed and accurate knowledge about the dangers their products pose to the global climate and understood that climate action would threaten their business models. Yet they planned, funded, and continue to engage in a campaign to profit from the planet’s destruction by deceiving the public and blocking climate action,” the authors wrote.
Support Lawsuits
The most important outcome of this document is that it supports suits brought against the large fossil fuel companies by several states, counties, and cities. These have had only modest success so far. To the extent that this is because of a lack of evidence, the new body of information will help.
The suits being brought are similar to those against “Big Tobacco” in the 1990s, which carried penalties as part of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement between the major tobacco companies, 46 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories. The penalty was $206 billion spread over 25 years.
What is not clear is whether a court will agree that the pollution created by these companies directly damaged people or companies. While it would seem clear that this is the case, court decisions often go in unexpected directions.
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