In a lawsuit filed Monday, Bucks County claimed several of the world’s major oil and gas companies knowingly deceived the public about the dangers of their products and ignored their impact on the climate.
The actions of Exxon Mobil, Chevron, BP, ConcoPhillips, Philips 66, Shell and the American Petroleum Institute, the suit alleges, have dramatically affected the county and its residents as extreme weather events caused by climate change continue to cause death and destruction.
“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 Bucks County Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo, during a press conference at the county’s administrative center.
“The taxpayer should not have to foot the bill for these companies and their greed,” he said, as photos of the extensive damage of recent floods and tornadoes flashed on screens in the meeting room.
Amy Fitzpatrick, the county’s solicitor, said, “This suit is our tool to recoup costs and fund public works projects like bolstering or replacing bridges, retrofitting county-owned buildings and commencing storm water management projects, all of which will put us in the best possible position” to weather future severe events.
Bucks is the first county in Pennsylvania to file such a lawsuit, officials said.
Similar to lawsuits the county has filed against PFAS manufacturers, opioid companies and social media firms, this action is seeking unspecified damages.
County commissioner chairwoman Diane Ellis-Marseglia called the lawsuit a “momentous and important step.”
“In recent years,” she said, “we have experienced unprecedented weather events that have repeatedly put residents and first responders in harm’s way, damaged public and private property and placed undue strain on our infrastructure.”
Bob Harvie, vice chair of the board of commissioners, noted the county’s efforts to “be good stewards of environment” while multinational companies undermine that work.
“It is unconscionable that while we were working hard to reduce our impact on the climate crisis, some of the biggest companies in the world were deliberately undercutting those efforts through their deceptive business practices,” said Harvie.
“There’s been an active campaign by the oil and gas industry to mislead the American public,” the commissioner added.
The county is being represented by the law firm DiCello Levitt, which has offices across the country. Fitzpatrick said it is being handled on a contingency basis and the county’s taxpayers are not funding the lawsuit.
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