Message From the Editor

The state of New Jersey made waves this week when it sued five oil companies and the American Petroleum Institute — the industry’s most powerful lobbying group — for covering up and misleading the public about climate change.

The case comes just ahead of the tenth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, which devastated New Jersey and other parts of the eastern seaboard. The lawsuit argues that the storm “previews the grave climate-related consequences New Jersey faces as a direct result of Defendants’ tortious deception.”

As it happens, nearly 25 years ago, Shell, one of the companies named in the suit, predicted with remarkable accuracy the events that would broadly unfold, as Nick Cunningham reports. In a 1998 internal document that laid out future climate scenarios, Shell described a hypothetical catastrophic storm that would ravage the U.S. East Coast in 2010.

The company predicted it would set off a society-wide backlash that would engulf the oil industry and lead to a legal and policy reckoning. New Jersey has joined those states and cities that are sparking just such a reckoning.

This week we also published a photo essay from Julie Dermansky on Hurricane Ian, the most recent catastrophic storm to devastate parts of the United States. Her powerful photos from Florida show Ian’s trail of destruction, and her reporting illuminates how evacuation predictions are failing to take into account climate change’s effect on hurricanes.

Have a story tip or feedback? Get in touch: editor@desmog.com. Liz Truss is out, and a new UK government will be in soon; keep up with the developments with our UK newsletter.

Thanks,
Brendan DeMelle
Executive Director

P.S. DeSmog has been investigating webs of climate denial and delay for over 15 years. Can you donate $10 or $20 right now to support our climate accountability reporting and research?

Image credit: Julie Dermansky

New Jersey Sues Five Oil Companies, Alleging Decades of ‘Concealment’ and ‘Public Deception’ on Climate Change

— By Nick Cunningham (4 min. read) —

The state of New Jersey filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against five oil companies and the oil industry’s most powerful lobbying group for covering up and misleading the public about climate change, the latest round of state and municipal-led climate litigation seeking accountability from the oil industry.

The lawsuit, filed in the New Jersey Superior Court, states that the companies knew about climate change for decades and actively sought to conceal that information from the public. Instead, they funded PR campaigns aimed at confusing and misleading the public.

Photos of Hurricane Ian’s Aftermath in Southwest Florida Illustrate the Coasts’ Growing Climate Risks

— By Julie Dermansky (9 min. read) —

In the first few days after Hurricane Ian came ashore in southwest Florida, I heard many politicians describe the widespread and, in some areas, catastrophic damage as unimageable. But for those of us covering extreme weather and following climate science reports, the scene was tragically familiar.

Gas Utility Proposes Costly Hydrogen Project, Raising Environmental Justice Concerns

— By Nick Cunningham (6 min. read) —

A coalition of environmental and social justice organizations have filed a petition with state regulators to halt a hydrogen project by Oregon’s largest gas utility, alleging that the project poses health, safety, and environmental dangers to residents already living with polluting industries. The hydrogen project is also viewed by critics as a costly exercise in greenwashing that offers little climate benefit and is calculated to slow down momentum towards building electrification.

Drax Quietly Drops Sponsorship of Industry Conferences

— By Christopher Deane and Phoebe Cooke (4 min. read) —

UK biomass giant Drax has pulled out of two industry conferences following weeks of negative publicity, DeSmog can reveal.

Drax, which generates around six percent of the UK’s electricity through burning wood pellets at its power station in North Yorkshire, is hoping to secure an estimated £31.7 billion in government subsidies for a carbon capture project.

Climate Science Deniers Go Unchallenged at London ‘Green’ Summit

— By Adam Barnett (4 min. read) —

A “sustainable development” conference taking place in London gave a platform to two prominent climate science deniers, who used the event to claim that coal-fired power is “clean” and call global warming a “religion”.

Marc Morano and Christopher Monckton were hosted at the Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair this week for the “Global Investment in Sustainable Development” event organised by Climate Change (CC) Forum, which touts itself as the “green Davos”.

From the Climate Disinformation Database: Christopher Monckton

Christopher Walter Monckton, the third Viscount Monckton of Brenchely, is a former British politician affiliated with the UK Independence Party. He was a former advisor to UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and was a “special advisor to Thatcher’s Downing Street policy unit” in the 1980s. In a blog post on climate science denier Anthony Watts’ website Watts Up With That, Monckton wrote: “If there is going to be little more than 1 K anthropogenic warming over the next century or so, there is absolutely no need to do anything to prevent it. The flight of major manufacturing industries to China, which profiteers mightily from the climate scam sedulously promoted in the West by the fawning front groups that it subsidizes, can and should be reversed.”
Read the full profile and browse other individuals and organizations in our Climate Disinformation Database and Koch Network Database.