The state of California sued several of the world’s biggest oil companies on Friday, claiming their actions have caused tens of billions of dollars in damage and that they deceived the public by downplaying the risks posed by fossil fuels.
The civil case, filed in superior court in San Francisco, is the latest and most significant lawsuit to target oil, gas and coal companies over their role in causing climate change. It seeks creation of an abatement fund to pay for the future damages caused by climate related disasters in the state.
The lawsuit targets five companies: Exxon Mobil, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron, which is headquartered in San Ramon, Calif. The American Petroleum Institute, an industry trade group based in Washington, is also listed as a defendant.
Seven other states and dozens of municipalities have filed similar lawsuits in recent years. But the California lawsuit immediately becomes one of the most significant legal challenges facing the fossil fuel industry.
This is the State that its California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) put together a proposal that would have allowed PG&E and SDGE to charge homes with solar $70/mo to be connected to the grid and would allow the utilities to take unused solar power for free. Newsom vetoed it under a lot of pressure from Solar companies and homeowners. The current rules that took effect this year allows PG&E to buy solar at 8 cents per kWh rather than the previous market rate of 30 cents per kWh (about a 73% reduction). The California Public Utilities Commission is still looking for increases for solar panel homes like actually a charge for selling solar power to the grid. The California Public Utilities Commission is doing every thing it can do to make it completely unaffordable to install solar.
The California PUC is appointed by the California Legislators, most of whom are retired executives from PG&E. The California Legistive Body is the best congress money can buy.