[Lawyer in a civil lawsuit launched by towns in hurricane-hit
Puerto Rico describes why it is using laws used to target mob bosses]
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BIG OIL IS BEHIND CONSPIRACY TO DECEIVE PUBLIC, FIRST CLIMATE
RACKETEERING LAWSUIT SAYS  
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Nina Lakhani
December 20, 2022
The Guardian
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_ Lawyer in a civil lawsuit launched by towns in hurricane-hit Puerto
Rico describes why it is using laws used to target mob bosses _

Humacao, Puerto Rico, on 20 September 2017 after Hurricane Maria
hit., Carlos Giusti/AP

 

The same racketeering legislation used to bring down mob bosses,
motorcycle gangs, football executives and international fraudsters is
to be tested against oil and coal companies who are accused of
conspiring to deceive the public over the climate crisis.

In an ambitious move, an attempt will be made to hold the fossil fuel
industry accountable for “decades of deception” in a lawsuit being
brought by communities in Puerto Rico
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by Hurricane Maria in 2017.

 
“Puerto Rico is one of the most affected places by climate change in
the world. It is so precariously positioned – they get hit on all
fronts with hurricanes, storm surge, heat, coral bleaching – it’s
the perfect place for this climate litigation,” said Melissa Sims,
senior counsel for the plaintiffs’ law firm Milberg.

The 1970 Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (Rico) Act was
originally intended to combat criminal enterprises like the mafia, but
has since 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 – specifically residents of Puerto Rico –
about the direct link between their greenhouse gas-emitting products
and climate change.

This fossil fuel enterprise, which remains operational according to
the lawsuit, resulted in multitude of damages caused by climate
disasters that were foreseen – but hidden – by the defendants in
order to maximise profits.

The plaintiffs are 16 municipalities in Puerto Rico – towns and
cities that were hit hard by two powerful hurricanes in September
2017, Irma and Maria – which led to thousands of deaths, food
shortages, widespread infrastructure damage and the longest blackout
in US history.

Sims, the senior counsel, said: “What’s different about this
[Rico] case is that we have their enterprise in writing – the
decision by rival companies, their front groups, scientists and
associations to act together to change public opinion regarding the
use of their consumer products by telling people something that they
knew was not true.”

According to the lawsuit
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– 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) as a
“not-for-profit corporation to influence, advertise, and promote the
interests of the fossil fuel industry by giving false information to
their consumers and the public at large”.

It argues that so-called rival companies conspired for a common
purpose – to deceive consumers and sow confusion in order to keep
fossil fuel sales high and profitable – and that the GCC was a
propaganda machine specifically set up to oppose the Kyoto protocol,
the first major international effort to combat climate change. To do
this, a written action plan was devised in 1998 to mislead consumers
by convincing them that “global warming” was not occurring, and if
it did happen, there was no scientific consensus on whether fossil
fuels were to blame.

In other words, the action plan was allegedly a climate change denial
plan executed through a network of dark money ploughed into
thinktanks, research institutions, trade groups and PR firms, and
provided a roadmap for an open-ended enterprise that is still
implemented today_._

The lawsuit argues that the oil and coal companies knew that Puerto
Rico was a “sitting duck” because of its geographic location,
which made the island and its people particularly vulnerable to
climate change events – namely hotter and wetter storms, extreme
heat and rising sea level – caused by their carbon products.

Over the past two decades, Puerto Rico – along with Haiti and
Myanmar – has been among three territories most affected by extreme
weather such as storms, floods, heatwaves and droughts, according to
the Germanwatch Climate Risk Index
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which are becoming more intense due to human-made global heating
driven by greenhouse gases. In September, Hurricane Ian left much of
the island without power and water, as well as damaging essential
infrastructure like roads and bridges.

The damages resulting from the 2017 storms – and the likelihood of
worse climate disasters battering the island in the future – come
down to the acts and omissions of the defendants, as the oil and coal
companies, along with their worldwide co-venturers, are collectively
responsible for at least 40.01% of greenhouse gases, the lawsuit
argues.

It’s the latest in a wave of civil class actions brought by
municipalities – towns and cities – against corporations and
organizations accused of causing harm to residents. According to Sims,
who has also represented Puerto Rico municipalities in opioid
litigation which resulted in compensation for damages, cites have an
almost unfettered ability to use their nuisance laws and local
ordinances.

Sims, a Republican and Christian, said: “Cities across the nation
have woken up to this power and are starting to exercise their rights
almost like mini attorney generals. They are now often the first ones
bringing cases on opioids, Juul electronic cigarettes, pollution,
reverse red-lining and now climate change, using their rights pursuant
to racketeering and other laws we’ve helped fine-tune over the
years.”

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.

The American Petroleum Institute and the National Mining Association
​did not respond to requests for comment. ​Several of the
defendants have made statements
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criticising the lawsuit.

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* Puerto Rico; RICO Suit against Big Oil;
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