SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
The Conservation Law Foundation is taking Exxon to court over water pollution in Massachusetts.
[In the Autumn of 2015], exposés by InsideClimate News [1] and the Los Angeles Times confirmed that oil giant ExxonMobil knew as early as the late 1970s that climate change caused by human activities would be devastating if left unchecked. But instead of taking action, the corporation lied to the government, and to all of us, by funding an aggressive campaign trying to foment doubt about climate science.
So, we started our own investigation, focused on how this climate deceit has affected us closer to home. We found that despite knowing the harm [that] climate change could cause, ExxonMobil left its oil storage facility in Everett, MA on the Mystic [River] vulnerable to flooding from storms and rising seas. Now it's just a matter of time before a giant storm floods our streets with a toxic soup from Exxon's dilapidated facilities.
In an effort to finally hold ExxonMobil accountable for its climate deceit, gross negligence, and violations of federal pollution regulations, CLF today [September 29] officially filed suit[PDF] against the corporate giant. It's a landmark suit, and not only because it's the first major lawsuit to be filed against the company since the #ExxonKnew revelations were uncovered.
[...] This case presents a tremendous opportunity for change, and the potential to set a precedent for the dynamic role of local advocacy in taking on transnational corporations. It also shows us that no company, organization, or government agency is too big to be held responsible for its actions, and no one town or resident is too small or too weak to demand environmental justice.
[...] Learn more about the lawsuit here.
[1] Data Transfer Interrupted Google cache
(Score: 4, Informative) by DeathMonkey on Friday September 30 2016, @05:56PM
Well hell, this one is right up my wheelhouse! I've actually been on the receiving end of one of these citizen suits over this very issue. Not personally, of course, but as the env compliance guy who got to clean up the mess.
It's a bit of an odd complaint. It's a pretty tenuous link to go from being in violation of their Stormwater permit because they didn't evaluate their controls against new flood maps to the whole science coverup thing. Maybe they're just trying to get stuff on the record on that front...
Anyway, if anyone has questions you've got an actual expert right here.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 30 2016, @09:53PM
How does this actually work? Under what grounds or jurisdiction can they be sued?
For example, can somebody sue me for driving a car and contributing to global warming? If not, then where is the hard line (or fuzzy line, as the case may be) between an individual's action being immune and a vast corporation being theoretically liable?
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Saturday October 01 2016, @02:23AM
These environmental laws that allow private lawsuits apply to businesses and municipalities. So basically, cities and counties also need to follow their Stormwater permit and have controls in place, etc.
In a municipality's case a required control would be making it illegal to dump hazardous waste in the storm drain (and enforcing that law). The private citizen would then be liable for breaking that law.
In this example, if the city wasn't enforcing that law then you could sue them just like Exxon. You couldn't sue the guy dumping the waste. (unless he was a business)