Public Citizen: New Memo Details Legal Case for Prosecuting Big Oil for Extreme Heat Deaths
Public Citizen press release Excerpt: … The prosecution memo … analyzes whether prosecutors in Arizona could pursue reckless manslaughter or second-degree murder prosecutions for deaths caused by the July 2023 wave, an extreme weather event that killed 403 residents of Maricopa County and that climate scientists concluded would have been “virtually impossible” but for human-caused climate change.
“The case for prosecuting fossil fuel companies for climate-related deaths is strong enough for state and local prosecutors to begin initiating criminal investigations,” legal experts conclude.
Prosecutors charging major fossil fuel companies for extreme heat deaths could have a strong case, according to a new report published today by Public Citizen and former federal prosecutor Cindy Cho.
The 50-page report—structured like the memos that prosecutors compile before issuing an indictment to assess whether there is a strong enough case to obtain and sustain a prosecution—details admissible evidence, possible charges, and legal issues pertaining to a homicide prosecution of Big Oil firms for their role in causing lethal heat waves, such as the one that blanketed much of the U.S. last week.
The prosecution memo, which was authored by a former prosecutor, a criminal law scholar, and other legal experts, analyzes whether prosecutors in Arizona could pursue reckless manslaughter or second degree murder prosecutions for deaths caused by the July 2023 wave, an extreme weather event that killed 403 residents of Maricopa County and that climate scientists concluded would have been “virtually impossible” but for human-caused climate change. Its authors stress that their conclusions are “broadly applicable to any prosecutor seeking justice for climate victims” and that similar charges could be pursued in “any jurisdiction that has experienced climate-related deaths.”
The memo provides an overview of the publicly available evidence that (1) Big Oil’s conduct in generating a substantial portion of all global greenhouse gas emissions and deceiving the public about the dangers of those emissions was a cause of deaths from the July 2023 heat wave, and (2) Big Oil engaged in this conduct with the culpable mental state required for a reckless manslaughter or second degree murder offense. The memo also assesses a range of likely defense arguments that the fossil fuel industry might assert in response to a prosecution—including blaming consumers, challenging causation, and asserting necessity—and discusses why none provides a complete defense to the charges.
Aaron Regunberg, senior policy counsel at Public Citizen and lead author of the memo, said, “As Americans reel from another lethal heat wave, it’s important to remember that these climate disasters didn’t come out of nowhere. They were knowingly caused by fossil fuel companies that chose to inflict this suffering to maintain their profits, while regular people, like the victims of the July 2023 heat wave, and of so many other climate disasters, pay the price. These victims deserve justice no less than the victims of street-level homicides. And this memo shows that prosecutors have a path to secure that justice, if they choose to pursue it.”
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Climate activist and author Bill McKibben said, “What’s happened to the climate is a crime: after fair warning from scientists about what would happen, Big Oil went right ahead pouring carbon into the atmosphere, and now there’s a huge pile of dead bodies (and a larger one of dead dreams). The only question left is whether our legal system will recognize these crimes—and this report shows there’s a good chance the answer could be yes.”
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Climate skeptic Russell Cook comments: “This is just a variant of the current ‘ExxonKnew’ lawsuits – claims about ‘settled science’ combined with accusations of the fossil fuel industry paying skeptic climate scientist ‘shills’ to spread disinformation undercutting the ‘settled science.’
At my GelbspanFiles blog, I just detailed how this proposal once again exposes how this collective climate lawfare relying on accusations of industry-paid corruption uses the same old worthless ‘leaked industry memos’ sourced from the same old highly suspect enviro-activists. The new twist in this June 26 proposal is to charge industry executives with murder, instead of simply suing companies to recover costs of global warming damages. Question is, what’s up with this new angle proposal, which looks like an effort to muscle in on another mobster group’s well-established climate lawfare territory? See: “The Political Suicide of Pushing ‘Climate Homicide’ … & muscling in on someone else’s ‘ExxonKnew’ lawsuits territory?“
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“New Memo Details #LegalCase for Prosecuting #BigOil for #ExtremeHeat Deaths”https://t.co/HelWAVgcSE#JustSayin … pic.twitter.com/QOgLSlGQsu
— GelbspanFiles.com (@GelbspanFiles) July 8, 2024
Twitter Tread: https://x.com/ClimateDepot/status/1810483925262950583
‘Climate Homicide’: New paper in Harvard Env. Law Review calls for ‘prosecuting’ big U.S. oil firms for ‘climate deaths’ – March 24, 2023
Lawyers Seek To Add Stock Of Lawyer Jokes By Demanding Oil Companies Be Prosecuted For Homicide – March 29, 2023
Climate Death Certificates are Coming – Watch New Morano Minute – July 27, 2021
Activists call for climate change to be listed as cause of death on death certificates – May 27, 2020
Calls to add ‘climate change’ to death certificates – New study demands ‘climate change’ be added as ‘pre-existing condition’ -May 21, 2020
The next big climate scare: Counting climate change deaths – February 8, 2024
Here’s our manifesto Liz
Prioritise the biggest risks
Fires, floods & extreme heat
Hurt more than just our dancing feet
So no more new fossil fuels
Save money with renewables
Don’t want kids to pay the price
Ignoring scientists advice#Truss #Doctorsnotdancers #Tofu #Fracking pic.twitter.com/Y5uZ1XXY8v— Health for XR (@DoctorsXr) October 20, 2022
The latest news round-up in the Wacky World of Climate
3 New Studies Conclude 21st Century Cold Temps Led To 7-10 Times More Deaths Than Warm Temps
2 New Papers: World’s Heat-Related Deaths Are Declining…Cold Weather Is 20-42 Times More Deadly
Recent scientific research has countered the claims of a health threat from climate change.
Meteorologist Anthony Watts: “New data shows the global climate-related death risk has dropped by over 99% since 1920. Despite the near constant caterwauling from climate alarmists that we are in a “climate emergency”, real-world data, release at the end of 2020 shows that climate related deaths are now approaching zero. The data spans 100 years of “global warming” back to 1920 and shows “climate related” deaths now approaching zero. Above is an update of the graph in the 2020 peer-reviewed article by Bjørn Lomborg: Welfare in the 21st century: Increasing development, reducing inequality, the impact of climate change, and the cost of climate policies.”
NBC News: President Joe Biden is under increasing pressure from lawmakers and state and local officials to do more to address an extreme heat crisis that has defined the summer of 2023. … The Biden administration plans to announce on Wednesday a new federal system to track¬†heat-related illness nationwide and is considering additional measures amid pressure to do more to help Americans deal with crippling summer heat, according to White House officials. …¬†
The new national dashboard, which will be overseen by the Health and Human Services Department, maps emergency services responding to heat-related illness calls across the country, officials said. The ‚ÄúEMS HeatTracker‚Äù is intended to help ensure sufficient medical aid gets to Americans who need it most during severe heat, officials said. … ‚ÄúHeat is no longer a silent killer. From coast-to-coast, communities are battling to keep people cool, safe and alive due to the growing impacts of the climate crisis,‚Äù Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. …
One of the challenges, even if FEMA could declare a disaster for heat, would be deciding how to deploy teams to a weather event that could span dozens of states at a time and could go on for unpredictable amount of time, whereas other natural disasters are usually more limited in location and duration.
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