CALIFORNIA/LEGAL/TEXAS: “California communities demanding oil companies protect them from rising sea levels weren’t as sure about their vulnerability to climate change when they sold debt to investors, according to court filings and bond documents.
Seven local governments in California are suing Exxon Mobil Corp. and other major oil producers for court orders forcing those companies to cover the costs of sea walls and other infrastructure projects meant to fortify low-lying areas.
Now Exxon, one of the defendants, is launching a new counterattack by highlighting past bond disclosures in which its government critics suggested they couldn’t predict whether and when sea levels would rise. The company filed court papers in Texas on Monday seeking to force government officials to answer questions under oath about those statements.
The underlying lawsuits are part of an aggressive strategy to hold fossil-fuel companies responsible for climate-change costs that the plaintiffs estimate could run to billions of dollars. Local officials are arguing that Exxon, BP PLC and other companies knew or should have known about the potential impacts of burning oil and gas but instead tried to sow public doubt about the science behind global warming.
The companies dispute those allegations, casting the lawsuits as an abusive campaign by California law-enforcement officials to target political opponents through the legal system and stifle debate on climate change. Scientists have linked rising sea levels to fossil-fuel emissions and warming global temperatures.”
-Andrew Scurria, “California Municipalities’ Debt Disclosures Contrast With Climate Warnings,” The Wall Street Journal online, Jan. 8, 2018 10:32pm