CHARLESTON, S.C. (WCIV) — Charleston’s landmark lawsuit against oil companies, which claimed they engaged in a public disinformation campaign against global warming, was dismissed Wednesday.
The case, originally filed in 2020, spent years in legal uncertainty. However, Charleston County Circuit Judge Roger Young provided direction in his dismissal.
According to case files, Judge Young claimed that oil companies bore no responsibility to warn the public of global warming because the environmental consequences of “global reliance on oil and gas were well known” to Charleston and the public. He also claimed that the lawsuit would have led to a legal avalanche due to the number of plaintiffs and defendants eventually involved in other jurisdictions.
“These lawsuits promise to create a chaotic web of conflicting legal obligations for Defendants as each state and municipality (sometimes within the very same state) imposes its own de facto regulations on the worldwide production, marketing, transport, and sale of fossil fuels,” Young writes.
BACKGROUND | “Charleston suing oil & gas companies over global warming, climate change impacts.”
The lawsuit was filed during John Tecklenburg’s mayoral administration. It originally alleged that oil and gas companies knew for decades, from their own research, that burning fossil fuels caused greenhouse gas pollution, which would ultimately lead to global warming and predictable environmental damage.
What’s more, rather than working to counteract these issues when they knew imminent action was needed, Charleston officials alleged that the fossil fuel companies, as early as the 1970s, realized working to cut pollution would cut into their profits, so instead they took steps to protect their bottom lines.
Charleston claimed that due to the companies’ negligence, the city was suffering damage from sea level rise brought on by climate change. The initial lawsuit named 24 major oil companies.
Sea levels around Charleston are expected to rise 12-14 inches, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Charleston’s spokesperson, Deja Knight McMillan, said the city council is expected to discuss next steps regarding the dismissed case at its next meeting on Aug. 19. To move forward, the council must vote whether to appeal the decision.
The full lawsuit can be read below.