A growing number of counties are suing oil and gas companies, asserting “Big Oil…. knew fossil fuels were driving climate change and lied about it.” Most cases are tossed out, but one made it to Maryland’s top court this week. Such legal challenges lack merit and will only serve to harm local communities and the entire nation. They must end. The U.S. Supreme Court has an opportunity to extinguish such baseless lawsuits if it considers a recent petition submitted by Exxon and Suncor: The two energy companies are asking the Court to hear a Colorado climate liability case against them.
Litigants waging climate lawfare against petroleum-based corporations often point to the largely successful anti-tobacco campaign of the 1990s, which resulted in billions of dollars in settlements. But equating tobacco harm and alleged fossil fuel damage is a stretch. Smoking can be directly tied to serious health issues yet has scant benefits. Linking fossil fuels to personal health risks, let alone climate-related dangers on a community scale, is extremely difficult. And petroleum’s numerous advantages outweigh potential hazards.
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Kristen Walker is a policy analyst for the American Consumer Institute, a nonprofit education and research organization. For more information about the Institute, visit www.theamericanconsumer.org or follow on X @ConsumerPal.