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California’s Big Oil lawsuit

‘The people of California deserve their day in court to hold Big Oil accountable’, Center for Climate Integrity says
Katie Hill - Editor-in-Chief, My Green Pod
Drone shot of oil pump jacks in Missouri Triangle, Kern County, California. This intensive drilling operation is part of the South Belridge Oil Field in the San Joaquin Valley

Main image: Oil pump jacks in Missouri Triangle, Kern County, California. This intensive drilling operation is part of the South Belridge Oil Field in the San Joaquin Valley

The deadly wildfires raging across Southern California show the urgency of California’s legal efforts to hold Big Oil companies accountable for their decades-long climate deception and make them pay for the damages they’ve caused, the Center for Climate Integrity has said.

The state’s lawsuit, filed by Attorney General Rob Bonta in 2023, points to a range of growing climate threats that have been fuelled by Big Oil’s deception, including ‘an accelerated increase in the risk, occurrence, and intensity of wildfires in California, resulting in wildfire-related injuries to the State and its residents.’ 


‘Californians and their families, communities, and small businesses should not have to bear all the costs of climate change alone; the companies that have polluted our air, choked our skies with smoke, wreaked havoc on our water cycle, and contaminated our lands must be made to mitigate the harms they have brought upon the State’, the lawsuit says.

The cost of disasters

In March, a state court rejected one of the oil and gas companies’ arguments to dismiss the case.  

A Center for Climate Integrity study last year calculated that Los Angeles County alone faces $12.5 billion in costs by 2041 to protect residents and infrastructure from 14 climate change impacts, including nearly $1 billion for wildfires.

That study did not include the cost to recover from disasters such as those facing the state today.

‘California’s legal fight to make Big Oil pay for its climate deception is more urgent than ever.

‘Big Oil’s lies are a big part of why we haven’t taken serious steps to slow down climate change — and now the companies are fighting to deny Californians their day in court to make polluters pay for the damage they’ve caused. Enough. The people of California deserve their day in court to hold Big Oil accountable.’

RICHARD WILES
President of the Center for Climate Integrity

Background on Big Oil lawsuits

Eleven attorneys general — in California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico — and dozens of city, county and tribal governments in California, Colorado, Hawai`i, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Washington and Puerto Rico, have filed lawsuits to hold major oil and gas companies accountable for deceiving the public about their products’ role in climate change.

These cases collectively represent more than one in four people living in the United States.

Last year the attorney general of Michigan announced plans to take fossil fuel companies to

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