A federal judge in Puerto Rico has tossed out a climate lawsuit against a slate of oil and gas majors, ending a challenge brought by nearly 80 municipalities five years after Hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated the island.
US District Judge Silvia Carreno-Coll signed the order on Thursday, dismissing the class-action claims against ExxonMobil, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, Motiva, Occidental, BHP, Rio Tinto, and the American Petroleum Institute (API). The municipalities alleged the companies colluded to conceal the climate risks of fossil fuels, arguing that manmade warming intensified the 2017 storms.
Carreno-Coll rejected the case on procedural grounds, ruling that the plaintiffs blew past the statute of limitations. Under antitrust law, they had four years from the hurricanes to file. “By September 2021, the 2017 hurricanes’ four-year mark, Plaintiffs knew or should have known they had suffered considerable injury and who to sue,” she wrote. The claims against Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, ConocoPhillips, and Motiva were dismissed with prejudice, blocking any refiling. Claims against Occidental, BHP, and Rio Tinto were dismissed without prejudice, leaving the door open for a narrower return.
The ruling is a setback for the broader wave of climate litigation targeting oil companies for allegedly misleading the public on fossil fuel risks. More than two dozen similar cases are moving through state and federal courts, with mixed outcomes. The Puerto Rico case, filed in November 2022, was among the more ambitious, tying specific storm damage to alleged industry deception.
Industry groups hailed the dismissal. API senior vice president Ryan Meyers said the “meritless claims” amounted to a politicized distraction and a waste of taxpayer money, adding climate policy should be left to Congress rather than “a patchwork of courts.” Shell declined to comment.
By Julianne Geiger for Oilprice.com
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