Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Colorado local governments are worried that global warming might melt their ski season.
Latest legal fight accusing oil companies of climate change launched in Colorado
Sebastien Malo
APRIL 18, 2018 / 9:00 AM
NEW YORK (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Three Colorado communities filed a lawsuit against oil companies on Tuesday, launching the latest legal battle seeking damages for what they claim are the costs of adapting to climate change.
The lawsuit, filed in Colorado by the city of Boulder and the counties of San Miguel and Boulder, accuses Suncor and Exxon Mobil Corp of creating a public nuisance by producing and selling fossil fuels that cause climate change.
…
Suncor and Exxon “sold and promoted fossil fuels knowing that climate impacts were substantially certain to occur if unchecked fossil fuel use continued,” the communities said in the complaint.
…
Their region of Colorado is vulnerable to a wide range of climate threats, from droughts that imperil farming to warm winters that harm the ski industry, they said.
“Climate change is not just about sea level rise. It affects all of us in the middle of the country as well,” said Elise Jones, a Boulder County commissioner, in a statement.
…
My thought – why should fossil fuel companies continue to sell their products in places where those products are no longer welcome?
Fossil fuel companies should respect the will of the people, by negotiating an orderly withdrawal of their services from counties and states which no longer want their evil dispatchable energy. Colorado counties opposed to fossil fuels could use this negotiated period of orderly withdrawal as an opportunity to restructure their winter economy around solar energy and wind power.
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I hope that that is a battery-powered snow-plough in the picture, we wouldn’t want the locals looking like hypocrites would we…..
Class action against the filers. They say they have known that fossil fuel emissions have been harming their people, environment, and industry and yet continued to allow their sale and use for decades. Totally irresponsible behavior showing contempt for the general welfare of the public. Fight fire with 🔥 and thus force them to admit on record the benefits of fossil fuels for all time and send a strong message to all the other money grubbing loons that would try this kind of thing.
I would like to see something like that. Include the municipalities suing over sea level rise. I’ll join, that gives you two. Isn’t that enough for a class action?
The increasing ambition and inventiveness of litigation and harassment of fossil fuel companies is growing reminiscent of the legal and economic sanctions taken against Jewish individuals progressively in 1930’s Germany. There is no expectation of any possibility of defence by the accused who are automatically guilty based on simply who they are.
Indeed. With extreme perversity, the accused “polluters” are accused of not telling share holders of potential future accusations. As if a business run by Jews was accused of hiding from share holders the risk of being persecuted as Jews.
Colorado April 2017 Climate march
Good one!
Exxon should just give the judge pictures of that Global Warming march
Along with many other commentators, I would dearly like to see an oil major that at least has a sense of humor.
One of them should start some kind of a public petition in which they invite all parties to agree to a start date where everyone in Colorado will cease and desist from using or supplying fossil fuels. Invite the politicians, corporations, activists, voters, and eco-jobs to set a firm date. A date very soon. Like 5 years. Call the bluff of the nutters and green crazies. No corporation needs to fear that they will actually have to follow through on any promises, because the whole thing would be reversed in about 36 hours. They would get to make their point in a way that will not be forgotten for a generation. The rest of us will have a great laugh and feel grateful and even more well-disposed towards fossil fuel producers.
16°F This am outside Glenwood Springs, CO. Snowed several inches yesterday and last night. Since all the fruit trees were in blossom, there will be little for the bears to eat and hibernate on next winter, so those foraging human trash will be shot.
Please wake me when these complete effing morons are gone. 1 +1 = 20, up is down, down is up. This idiots need to be spanked and sent to their rooms.
Clearly there is not a shortage of Snowflakes in Boulder …..
And it’s not likely to change ….
Hey, I feel their pain. If the snow stops I won’t get to do any more plow reports for MnDOT Snow & Ice Division. Not.
Counter sue based on their prior knowledge of sprawl.
Progressive postmodern ideology creates a public nuisance.
That’s following the original article… The Thomson Reuters FOundation used to be chaired by the very green Sir Crispin Tickell who had a few Climategate emails attached to his name, father of The Guardian Oliver Tickell and benefactor of George Monbiot fellowship at some college…
Reuters has been caught manufacturing news here and there, in Ukraine for instance and its green bias is well known.
Do you have those in electric?
They should sue the people coming to their ski resorts in their CO2 emitting cars. Hello and welcome to Boulder, we are serving you with this lawsuit because you drove here. Have a nice day.
This is getting ridiculous. Two (tongue-in cheek) thoughts on this. Maybe they could shut down all the oil companies and immediately ban all gasoline and fossil-fuel products. And if I was a lawyer for the oil companies, maybe I could smuggle a couple snowballs into the courtroom to pummel the lawyers supporting the lawsuit. (I guess I’d go to jail for a good cause). 😁
Sue Boulder. They knew what they were doing when they built all of those streets in front of every lot instead of building narrow gauge rail to every house. They even did nothing when the Stanley Steamers stopped coming for vacations.
Would the skiing industry be more threatened by global warming or by shutting off fossil fuels?
Coloradans have nothing to worry about. Salt Lake City got 3 inches of snow yesterday (April 17) and the nearby ski resorts got more.
But if, just for grins, the fossil fuel companies cut off all deliveries to Colorado to save the snow. How would the roads be plowed from the cities to the ski resorts? How would city-dwellers drive to the ski resorts without gasoline? How would the ski lifts be powered? How would the ski lodges and slopeside hotels be heated?
In such a scenario, Colorado mountains might have a little more snow, but no way for anyone to enjoy it.
One season of bad snowfall and the loonies in the Peoples Republic of Boulder go all kookoo. Give me a break. I lived in Colorado Springs for over a decade in the 90s-00’s, during which I lived through many dry and wet years. Through the height of AGW in the mid 90s, I had to dig out of 3 different blizzards that dumped four feet of snow each time, with only a snow shovel because I was too naive to buy a snow blower. The year I bought a snow blower, the blizzards stopped for two seasons; it sat in my garage for three years before it got used. I was able to find an eager buyer for the unit when I moved to the left coast. I’m sure it got used again and again.
I wonder if Exxon realizes their own crime of appeasement yet?
So, are the communities themselves innocent victims? NO, of course NOT, considering that they wholeheartedly endorse and enable the following:
Tourist transport
Heating and electricity for tourist accomodations
Heating and electricity for residents
Heating and electricity for shops and services
Lift services
Local council, tourist information office, sports center
“My thought – why should fossil fuel companies continue to sell their products in places where those products are no longer welcome? ”
Well there’s no reason to lose business, just add a surcharge hanging a nice placard on every gas pump-
“We have increased the price of this gasoline to pay for the added cost your community is forcing us to spend to defend ourselves in court.”
Anyone who skis would know that we’ve just had two of the best ski seasons that anyone alive today has ever seen. Last year there were ski hills open on the fourth of July long weekend. This year pretty much every hill is on an extended season (they have to lay off people and shut down facilities – so they don’t do it unless they know the snow will last).
Seems like just a bunch of climate alarmists realizing their losing their cause and getting desperate.
This year’s ski season was poor due to a lack of snow , except for northern Colorado which received adequate snow. There are not many ski resorts in the northern part of Colorado. As usual, one episode of bad weather is enough reason to invoke the climate change boogeyman.