ExxonKnews
June 23, 2023
As we approach the second anniversary of a deadly heat dome that devastated communities throughout the Pacific Northwest, an Oregon county is now suing Big Oil companies and their enablers to hold them accountable for the damage. Multnomah County is the first community to file a climate accountability lawsuit over the heat dome — which officials say killed 69 local residents, scientists say was “virtually impossible” without climate change, and county leaders say was fueled by the fossil fuel industry’s fraud.
Multnomah is charging some of the largest oil, gas, and coal companies — including Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, Koch Industries, Peabody, and others — with lying to “the County, the public, and the scientific community about the catastrophic harm” they knew fossil fuels would cause. The industry’s campaigns of disinformation, they say, delayed climate action for years and left residents to pay the ultimate price while the companies rake in record-breaking profits.
