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The county is looking for greater than $1.5 billion in damages from the defendants, who additionally embody Peabody Power, ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum.
“This lawsuit is about accountability and equity, and I consider the individuals of Multnomah County deserve each,” stated Multnomah County chair Jessica Vega Pederson. “These companies knew their merchandise had been unsafe and dangerous, and so they lied about it. They’ve profited massively from their lies and left the remainder of us to endure the results and pay for the damages. We are saying sufficient is sufficient.”
Why It Issues: Local weather lawsuits are on the rise
That is the newest lawsuit in a rising wave of local weather litigation world wide.
This week, a landmark case introduced by 16 younger individuals towards the State of Montana concluded. In that swimsuit, the plaintiffs argued that Montana violated their rights beneath the state structure to a clear and healthful surroundings by its help of the fossil gasoline business.
States and cities across the nation have sued fossil gasoline corporations in recent times, alleging that they deceived the general public concerning the risks of local weather change, and that excessive climate made worse by their emissions has harmed individuals and property. These circumstances — together with ones introduced by the attorneys basic in New York, Massachusetts and Rhode Island — proceed to wind their approach by the courts and the primary may go to trial as early as this yr.
In April, the Supreme Court docket dominated {that a} group of local weather circumstances introduced by cities and municipalities ought to stay in state court docket, the place they’re anticipated to have a greater probability of successful injury awards, moderately than federal court docket, the place fossil gasoline corporations had been anticipated to have the higher hand.
The Oregon case is among the many first complaints looking for damages associated to a selected climate occasion, and the primary associated to a warmth dome. Final yr, a bunch of 16 municipalities in Puerto Rico sued a bunch of fossil gasoline corporations over damages from a pair of hurricanes in 2017.
Background: The 2021 warmth dome was lethal
Within the final days of June 2021, searing warmth enveloped the Pacific Northwest.
In Seattle, well-known for its wet winters and comparatively cool summers, temperatures reached a document 108 levels Fahrenheit. On the Portland Worldwide Airport, the thermostat hit 115 levels.
In Multnomah County, the results had been extreme. Temperatures reached a excessive of 116 levels Fahrenheit, shattering data and resulting in the deaths of 69 individuals and intensive property injury.
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