PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon’s Multnomah County, home to Portland, has added the state’s largest natural gas company to the $51.5 billion climate lawsuit against fossil fuel companies over their role in the deadly heat wave in the region in 2021.
The lawsuit, filed last year, accuses the companies’ carbon emissions of being a cause of the heat dome, which shattered temperature records in the Pacific Northwest. About 800 people died in Oregon, Washington state and British Columbia during the heat wave, which hit in late June and early July 2021.
An amended complaint was filed this week, adding NW Natural to a lawsuit that already names oil giants such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell as defendants. It accuses NW Natural, which supplies gas to about 2 million people in the Pacific Northwest, of being responsible for “a substantial portion” of Oregon’s greenhouse gas emissions and of misleading the public about the harm of such emissions.
NW Natural said it cannot comment in detail until it reviews the claims.
“However, NW Natural believes that these new claims are an attempt to distract from the legal and factual laws in this case. NW Natural will vigorously contest the province’s claims if they go to trial,” it said report in an emailed statement.
According to the Center for Climate Integrity, this is the first time a gas company has been named in a lawsuit accusing fossil fuel companies of climate deception. According to the group, there are currently more than 20 such lawsuits filed by state, local and tribal governments in the US.
The amended complaint also added the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine, which describes itself on its website as a research group, to the lawsuit. The group has opposed the concept of man-made global warming. A request for comment sent Friday to the email address on the website was returned to the sender.
Multnomah County is seeking $51.5 billion in damages, largely for what is estimated to be the cost of responding to the impacts of extreme heat, wildfires and drought.
“We in Multnomah County are already paying dearly for our climate crisis – with our tax dollars, with our health and with our lives,” County Chairwoman Jessica Vega Pederson said in a statement. “In the future, we only need to strengthen our safety net. to keep people safe.”
After the initial complaint was filed last year, ExxonMobil said the lawsuit had nothing to do with climate change, while a lawyer for Chevron said the claims were baseless.
When contacted for comment on Friday, Shell said it was working to reduce its emissions.
“Tackling climate change requires a collective, society-wide approach,” it said in an emailed statement. “We do not believe that the courtroom is the right venue to tackle climate change, but that smart government policy and action from all sectors is the right way to find solutions and make progress.”
The case is pending in Multnomah County Circuit Court.
