Essay by Eric Worrall
h/t Dr. Willie Soon; Lawyer Sharon Y. Eubanks thinks the great legal weakness of Big Oil is their attempts to greenwash. She could have a point.
I led the US lawsuit against big tobacco for its harmful lies. Big oil is next
Sharon Y Eubanks
Tue 5 Jul 2022 21.00 AESTLast modified on Tue 5 Jul 2022 22.40 AESTWe may be approaching a legal tipping point for fossil fuel companies and the spin masters that work for them
In 2005, I was the lead counsel on behalf of the US in one of the biggest corporate accountability legal actions ever filed. That trial proved that the tobacco industry knew it was selling and marketing a harmful product, that it had funded denial of public health science, and had used deceptive advertising and PR to protect assets instead of protecting consumers.
Today, the fossil fuel industry finds itself in the same precarious legal position as the tobacco industry did in the late 1990s. The behaviour and goals of the tobacco and petroleum industries are pretty similar – and there are many similarities in their liabilities.
Both industries lied to the public and regulators about what they knew about the harms of their products. Both lied about when they knew it. And like the tobacco industry while I was in public service, the deceptive advertising and PR of the fossil fuel industry is now under intense legal scrutiny.
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The most significant legal cases facing fossil fuel companies today focus on ongoing deceptive marketing in the form of “greenwashing”. This is different from green marketing – companies that have genuinely sustainable products are, and should remain, free to market them accurately. But the oil industry is not a sustainable business – on average, less than 1% of its capital expenditures goes into low carbon projects– and free speech laws do not stop corporations making false statements.
The oil and gas industry is now touting the promise of carbon capture and storage projects as a way to avoid reducing emissions. But not a single existing CCS project is viable, and no company is investing at a rate likely to make future ones viable. It’s an old bait-and-switch, as it mirrors how tobacco companies promoted various smokeless alternatives for decades.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/jul/05/us-lawsuit-big-tobacco-big-oil-fossil-fuel-companies
Sharon in my opinion is right about the technical difficulties of carbon capture and storage. Any big oil company which touted carbon capture in their annual report or other legally regulated literature could be in trouble.
The problem with greenwashing is, lying to shareholders and customers can carry a financial penalty. If Sharon can establish Big Oil lied about or exaggerated the possibilities of carbon capture, and other shareholder report statements about their efforts to go green, she likely has them.
Imagine if from the start, instead of ducking and weaving, all the energy companies had had the balls to say, “if you don’t like our product, we’re happy to withdraw service with immediate effect?”.
There are a few companies whose CEOs have the guts to be honest and defend their product. For example, in 2021 Whitehaven Coal faced down regulators over the self evident statement by WhiteHaven’s CEO that coal would remain a major component of the energy mix for the foreseeable future. Such courage is unfortunately an industry rarity.
An honest person is a difficult target, even in a police state. But the moment people start ducking and weaving, trying to play the game, displaying their fear and weakness, as way too many energy CEOs appear to have done, their persecutors own them.
What if Sharon succeeds? What would we all do without Gasoline? What would she do without gasoline?
If you think actually destroying big oil, destroying the supply of oil, would be too insane to genuinely contemplate, think again. There is no rule that nations and peoples must always make rational choices. History is full of examples of nations which did the unthinkable, and self destructed, because the rulers or people embraced mass delusion or insanity.
Look at the Chinese Ming Dynasty, which after the great explorer Zheng He opened the sea lanes for Imperial China in the 14th century, bringing back fabulous wealth from his expeditions, decided to turn its back on prosperity and outside contact. Look at the Blues and Greens, sport hooligans who almost ripped the Eastern Roman Empire apart in the 6th century, when sport team rivalry became more important than civil order. Or for something more recent, look at what happened to Venezuela, when as a nation they decided they could do without private oil companies. Venezuela went from being one of the richest countries in South America to being a failed narco state in a single generation.
All nations are only a few key failures of judgement away from senseless ruin.
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One highly successful Carbon Capture and Storage project is Dakota Gasification, part of Basin Electric, out of North Dakota. This project gasifies coal, produces syngas, and converts syngas to a number of products such as Synthetic Natural Gas, but now they produce ammonia as it is (or was until recently) a more valuable product than SNG.
CO2 from syngas production is scrubbed from the process as an integral part of the system and the CO2 is sent via pipeline to the Weyburn oil field in Saskatchewan, Canada.
– Dakota Gasification Company
This project has been operational for over 20 years proving that CCS with EOR is viable.
Oxy has also been using CO2 for EOR for years, as has Denbury Resources. So, none of this is new.
“Lie” is a legal term of art. But her strategy can eventually work in concert with other government intervention, public indoctrination and a lot of money. Good thing none of that is going on?
Oil is substantially more useful / indispensable than tobacco. But tell that to all the lower income people paying $7+ a pack in taxes to their governments. And that is the near-term future of petroleum users.
What? She ran out of the bucks she got for the tobacco lawsuit? Already? Damn, she sure is living high on the hog, if that is the case. I can’t imagine her not making a bundle off of that debacle.
To try and do the same to the fossil fuel industry is not going to end well for somebody. And, I suspect it will be the greenies who do a face plant when it cannot be proven that the fossil fuel industry has nothing to do with “climate” whatever. And, that CO2, which will try to be proven to be harmful to the planet and coming from the use of oil, etc., is actually beneficial and necessary to all living things on the earth. Just the discovery phase will be a hoot worthy of a 3 stooges skit. All that fake crap out there claiming to be evidence of something taking place which doesn’t exist in reality. Should be interesting. Maybe the oil industry will finally boycott selling their products to their enemies, including Ms. Eubanks and all of her team. I’d like to see that.
Why is this woman smiling? She is trying to put herself back into the 1700s.
And another tipping point? Really?
Q: “Mommy, how did we used to clean our clothes before beating them on rocks in the creek?”
A: “We put them in washing machines.”
And in a drought when the creek dries up, we just beat them against the rocks.
But the moment people start ducking and weaving, trying to play the game, displaying their fear and weakness
Amazing how difficult a concept this seems to be. Give a little, be prepared to give all.
Churchill’s description was the most apt – “Feeding the crocodile in the hope that it will eat you last.”
Pull her net connection , electricity meter water meter , disconnect her sewage lines and deny her the use of any fossil based commodity , ( spandex )
I reckon it’s time to have a real-life example of a modern community, say a town of 50k population, that has to live on wind & solar electricity only, and no oil- derived fuels or other products.
The project could be called “Lord Of The Flies 2.0”
Written like the lying despot she is. Normal people find fossil fuels useful, but our elitist overlords press ridiculous analogies in the name of their weather scam.
Witch trials with CAGW as the religion and Big Oil as the witches. This is what happens when science becomes subordinated to the ideology of the Left — when science is manipulated and made to serve the purposes of the Leftist ideologists.
Roe v. Wade is another example if it was never based on the U.S. Constitution. The Constitution is subordinated to the ideology of the Left.
What did tobacco ever do for us, compared to the benefits we got from big oil?
It made Winston Churchill, George Burns and Groucho Marks famous. Of course, it killed them all much to early in their short lives.
Winston Churchill was 89 years old when he died
George Burns was 100
Groucho was 87
As he said, much too early. Just imagine how much longer they would have lived without the evil weed! Winnie could replace Boris, George could show Whoopi a good time, and Groucho could take over for Brandon!
No real news here.
“why do you rob banks”?
Dillinger ; “because thats where they keep the money”.
Can’t sue the people and companies that all use and depend on oil derivatives for survival, basically everyone on the planet, that would be foolish.
Its about money.
It was Willy Sutton.
Right
still, same applies
The attorney is close to 70. If that is her photograph, she should be sued for false advertising. Christie Brinkley is not that well preserved, even with makeup and photoshop.
She was lead counsel and director of the tobacco litigation team from 1999-2005 on the United States vs Philip Morris (RICO) case. Although the team was successful in establishing a violation of the RICO act they failed in every other aspect of the case, damages dropping from a sought $289 bn down to $14 bn over 10 years. She can claim all the credit she likes but I think the most significant part of the case in question is what her team failed to achieve.
You’ve got to prove damages. All the rest is legal mumbo jumbo. Ask Rud.
Big oil is a misnomer. Entities like Exxon, Chevron, BP are a minority. It is the state actors, ARAMCO, ADNOC, PDVSA, PEMEX, CNOC etc. that really control the game.
A successful lawsuit would be a massive own goal as all the energy companies move overseas and domestic production dwindles.
But that is not really the goal. Tobacco has not gone away, neither will fossil fuels. There will just be a massive 100%+ cost increse to cover the government “settlement” passed on to the consumers. I.e., taxes will go from ~$1.45/Gal to ~$3.00+ /gal and the government cronies will distribute the lucre among their friends.
The funny thing is the tobacco industry is not responsible for the phenomenal increase in wealth and life expectancy of humanity over the last 200 or so years. So how did we end up with 7 billion people on the planet with ever greater life expectancy? Was it windmills, solar power, homeopathy, superstition and ignorance?
A cost- benefit ratio will easily defeat this nonsensical law suit. Benefits of fossil fuel usage far outstrips any societal costs associated with fossil fuel use.
We assume that the law courts or the defence will be populated with professionals, in the old fashioned sense of the word.
Some are, some are unable to think outside party lines and actually do their job.
But it’s OK when government does it (lying).
More climate lawfare. They know they won’t succeed but it serves their purpose of presenting the false AGW narrative in hopes of eventually getting legal traction.
Go for it !
If I have to see one more excel energy commercial for windmills and bull crap I’m gonna puke.
It’s obvious they think they’re gonna rake it in the green pig troughs, and it disgusts me that have to buy electricity from them.
So true. With the oil companies into “carbon (please can they call it CO2?) capture” they are trying to mollify the greenies. Instead they are just encouraging them. CO2 does not need to be captured. It needs to be released.
Blindside her by asking for actual evidence that man’s CO2 is causing serious global warming. If there is no such evidence, then the whole thing is moot.
http://www.debunkingclimate.com/ipcc_says.html
. Earlier, warmer, warm periods: Minoan, Roman & Medieval, were warmer than now, and all were BEFORE man used fossil fuels. Are we to believe that whatever caused those earlier warm periods, each 1000 years apart, just quit causing warm periods so than man’s CO2 could take over the job right on schedule?
An honest person is a difficult target, even in a police state.
At the end of the day, there is the power of the People.
It’s a tiny power where the people wants to feel self-righteous (like Canada, the American and big Frenchy like country – I’m French and Frenchy isn’t a compliment) or in Russia where the state could arrest many people.
In the US, the state couldn’t arrest many people!
Hey dipstick leftist. How about you prove that CO2 is dangerous and drives the temperature of the planet? (It doesn’t). People like her should be put on a raft with only a sail and now power, and left far out in the ocean.