A group of Puerto Rican communities, ravaged by Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, are suing Shell and other fossil fuel producers in a first-of-its-kind, class action climate liability lawsuit. It targets the industry with federal charges of racketeering, alleging that the defendants engaged in a coordinated, multi-front effort to promote climate denial and defraud consumers by concealing the climate consequences of fossil fuel products to inflate profits. The case demands that fossil fuel companies pay for damages associated with catastrophic storms, beginning with the 2017 hurricanes, and their lingering impacts, arguing that these disasters are worsened by climate change and alleging that these companies’ products and deceptive conduct greatly accelerated global warming, including warming oceans. Climate models predict that as oceans warm, hurricanes will become more intense, leading to more turbocharged storms like Maria and Irma. And likely more lawsuits.
www.desmog.com/2022/12/02/puerto-rico-climate-liability-lawsuit-racketeering-fraud-shell-bp-chevron-exxon/