Courts To Decide If The Climate Crisis Is Big Oil’s Racket

Big oil is behind conspiracy to deceive public, first climate racketeering lawsuit says; Lawyer in a civil lawsuit launched by towns in hurricane-hit Puerto Rico describes why it is using laws used to target mob bosses

Nina Lakhani, 20 December 2020 (UK Guardian)

“…[The 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (Rico) Act, the same racketeering legislation used to bring down mob bosses] will be used to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for [the climate crisis] in a lawsuit being brought by communities in Puerto Rico that were devastated by Hurricane Maria in 2017…[The Rico Act has] been used in civil courts to litigate harms caused by opioids, vehicle emissions and even e-cigarettes as organised crime cases…Now, the first-ever climate change Rico case alleges that international oil and coal companies, their trade associations, and a network of paid thinktanks, scientists and other operatives conspired to deceive the public…

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…[The plaintiffs are 16 Puerto Rico towns and cities hit hard by September 2017’s Hurricanes Irma and Maria] which led to thousands of deaths, food shortages, widespread infrastructure damage and the longest blackout in US history…According to the lawsuit – filed in the US federal district court of Puerto Rico – evidence of the conspiracy dates back to 1989 when the defendants, which include ExxonMobil, Shell, BP and Rio Tinto, individually and through trade association formed the Global Climate Coalition (GCC)…[and conspired with] a climate change denial plan executed through a network of dark money ploughed into thinktanks, research institutions, trade groups and PR firms…

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Seven oil firms, three coal companies, and hundreds of organisations and operatives are among the defendants accused of consumer fraud, racketeering, antitrust, fraudulent misrepresentation, conspiracy to defraud, products liability and unjust enrichment among other crimes…Several of the defendants have made statements criticising the lawsuit.” click here for more

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