Bucks County sues Big Oil over 'deceptive practices,' climate change damage

Editor's note: This story has been updated to include a statement from an attorney representing Chevron Corporation

Bucks County is the first county in Pennsylvania to sue several major oil and gas companies and the American Petroleum institute for alleged deceptive practices around the "calamitous effects" of climate change.

The 178-page suit, filed Monday with the Bucks County Court of Common Pleas, alleges that oil and gas companies have "misled consumers and the public about climate change" since the 1950s and, as a result, have caused "devastating climate change impacts to Bucks County."

“We’re already seeing the human and financial tolls of climate change beginning to mount, and if the oil companies’ own data is to be believed, the trend will continue," Marseglia said, referencing increasingly common and dangerous storms that have destroyed homes, torn up roads and claimed lives in recent years.

“This suit is our tool to recoup costs and fund public works projects like bolstering or replacing bridges, retrofitting county-owned buildings and commencing stormwater management projects, all of which will put us in the best possible position to weather what is certain to come,” she added.

Theodore J. Boutrous, Jr. of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, counsel for Chevron Corporation, one of several companies named in the court filings, said the Bucks County lawsuit was "meritless local litigation" in a Thursday morning email.

“Addressing climate change requires a coordinated international policy response, not meritless local litigation over lawful and essential energy production. As the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit held in dismissing a similar New York City lawsuit, ‘such a sprawling case is simply beyond the limits of state law.’”

Which companies are being sued and why?

The lawsuit specifically names major oil companies like BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, Philips 66, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute as parties to be held financially accountable for engaging in what the county described as a "big-tobacco style" deception campaign spanning more than half a century.

Most of the court filing consists of reports and studies, many done by the oil companies themselves, detailing the potential negative environmental impacts of burning greenhouse-gas producing fossil fuels. The lawsuit further alleges the companies’ kept consumers in the dark about the role oil and gas could have in warming the climate.

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“These companies have known since at least the 1950s that their ways of doing business were having calamitous effects on our planet, and rather than change what they were doing or raise the alarm, they lied to all of us,” said Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo. “The taxpayers should not have to foot the bill for these companies and their greed.”

Commissioner Vice Chair Bob Harvie said that the county administration has made environmental stewardship a primary responsibility through initiatives like a first-ever climate action plan in conjunction with Penn State University, purchasing electric vehicles and investing in solar power.

"All the while we're doing these steps ... it's also running uphill against an active campaign by the oil and gas industry to undermine these efforts and to mislead the American public," Harvie said.

How much is the county seeking and what will the lawsuit cost?

County spokesman James O'Malley said the firm representing the county in this legal battle, New York-based DiCello Levitt, has taken the case on a contingency basis.

The county won't get billed if they don't win and the lawsuit seeks "litigation costs and attorneys' fees permitted by law" in its list of compensatory and punitive damages sought.

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While there's no specific dollar amount listed in the filings, the lawsuit does say it's seeking past and future damages "the county will incur as a result of defendants conduct."

The lawsuit mentions that storms brought on in September 2021 by the remnants of Hurricane Ida caused about $12.5 million in infrastructure damage alone.

A 2023 climate change cost study from The Center for Climate Integrity estimated that towns and local governments in Bucks County could face up to $1.3 billion to address climate change impacts from things like increased storms, warmer temperatures and flooding.

Reporter Chris Ullery covers politics, infrastructure and data for www.phillyburbs.com. Support our journalism with a subscription.

This article originally appeared on Bucks County Courier Times: Bucks County sues oil companies over climate change damage