- Baltimore is the latest U.S. city to try and hold big oil companies financially responsible for global warming, asserting it faces massive costs to effectively protect its residents, businesses and infrastructure from the escalating impacts of climate change.
- The city today filed a lawsuit against 26 oil and gas companies and entities including BP, Chevron (NYSE:CVX), Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDS.A, RDS.B), even after a U.S. judge yesterday dismissed a similar lawsuit by New York City.
- Baltimore, with 60 miles of waterfront and a major port, will make its argument while seeking unspecified damages but in Baltimore Circuit Court, not a federal court.
- Baltimore’s lawsuit says the city has been impacted by sea level rise and climate change leading to “property damage, economic injuries and impacts to public health," and claims the area has suffered two 1,000-year storms within three years.