Fossil Fuels on Trial: Where the Major Climate Change Lawsuits Stand Today

Politics and Social Issues
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There are many right wing voices that seem convinced “Freedom of Speech” means Freedom to malicious LIE and SLANDER and steal and destroy with absolute disregard for other’s needs/interest, and contempt for future physical reality.
Seems to that considering such minds as self-interested sociopaths and traitors to our society and children is an apt descriptive.
Could go on for paragraphs, but when no one gives a damned, what’s the point?
Might as well simply point,
as the beat goes on.

Fossil Fuels on Trial: Where the Major Climate Change Lawsuits Stand Today Some of the biggest oil and gas companies are embroiled in legal disputes with cities, states and children over the industry's role in global warming. David Hasemyer BY DAVID HASEMYER - April 4, 2018 https://insideclimatenews.org/news/04042018/climate-change-fossil-fuel-company-lawsuits-timeline-exxon-children-california-cities-attorney-general? State Attorneys General Investigate Exxon The attorneys general of New York, Massachusetts and the U.S. Virgin Islands launched investigations of Exxon in 2015 and 2016. Prosecutors want to see if the company lied to the public about the risks of climate change or to investors about how such risks might hurt the oil business. The investigations drew a quick, fierce response from Exxon. The company went on the legal offensive to try to shut down the probes, employing an army of aggressive, high-priced lawyers and a strategy of massive resistance. The attorney general of the Virgin Islands capitulated and ended his investigation just three months after issuing subpoenas. Since then, Exxon has been waging a relentless fight ... Key Events: Nov. 4, 2015: New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman issues first Exxon subpoena. Feb. 29, 2016: Schneiderman announces formation of AGs United for Clean Power coalition. April 4, 2016: Virgin Islands Attorney General Claude Walker issues subpoena to Exxon and the Competitive Enterprise Institute in a climate change investigation. April 13, 2016: Exxon sues to block enforcement of Virgin Islands subpoena. April 19, 2016: Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey serves Exxon with civil investigative demand (similar to a subpoena). June 15, 2016: Exxon goes to federal court in Texas to block Healey's civil investigative demand. June 16, 2016: Exxon goes to state court in Massachusetts to block Healey's civil investigative demand. June 29, 2016: Virgin Islands withdraws Exxon subpoena and Exxon agrees to dismiss its related lawsuit. Oct. 13, 2016: Texas federal judge orders Massachusetts' attorney general to submit to deposition by Exxon. Oct. 17, 2016: Exxon seeks injunction in Texas federal court to block New York attorney general's investigation. Nov. 7, 2016: Exxon challenges ruling that an accountant-client privilege in Texas law does not apply in New York and that its auditor, PricewaterhouseCooper, must turn over documents. Nov. 17, 2016: Texas judge orders Massachusetts Attorney General Healey to appear in Texas for deposition. Dec. 12, 2016: Judge issues order cancelling deposition of Healey. Jan. 11, 2017: Massachusetts state court rules Exxon must comply with attorney general's civil investigative demand seeking climate change information. March 29, 2017: Texas federal judge transfers Exxon's lawsuit to New York federal court. May 19, 2017: Investigators disclose former Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson used a secret alias email under the name "Wayne Tracker." June 2, 2017: New York's attorney general calls Exxon's climate accounting a "sham" under Tillerson. Sept. 12, 2017: New York highest court denies Exxon's request to keep PricewaterhouseCoopers accounting records secret. Jan. 12, 2018: Exxon seeks to amend its federal case against Healey and Schneiderman. March 29, 2018: Federal judge rejects Exxon's attempt to derail Healey's and Schneiderman's investigations. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Cities Sue Over Sea Level Rise Faced with the possibility of devastating consequences brought by rising sea levels, six cities and three counties in California, along with New York City, filed civil lawsuits against several oil and gas companies. The lawsuits make a public nuisance claim and, in some cases, allege negligence. Essentially the lawsuits say the oil and gas companies have known for decades that burning fossil fuels is one of the biggest contributors to global warming. Instead of acting to reduce harm, the cities charge, companies attempted to undermine climate science and mislead the public by downplaying the risk posed by fossil fuels. Key Events: July 17, 2017: San Mateo County, Marin County and Imperial Beach file separate lawsuits in California Superior Court seeking damages from 37 fossil fuel companies over sea level rise. Sept. 19, 2017: San Francisco and Oakland file lawsuits in California Superior Court seeking damages from five fossil fuel companies over sea level rise. Dec. 20, 2017: Santa Cruz and Santa Cruz County file lawsuits in California Superior Court against 29 fossil fuel companies, seeking compensation for climate change-related damage. Jan. 8, 2018: Exxon asks a Texas court to grant a discovery order allowing the company to question officials in counties and cities suing. Jan. 9, 2018: New York City files suit in federal court against five fossil fuel companies over climate change-related costs. Jan. 22, 2018: City of Richmond files lawsuit in California Superior Court against 29 fossil fuel companies. March 16, 2018: Federal judge rules some of the cases should be tried in state court, creating a conflict with another judge who ruled similar cases belong in federal court. March 21, 2018: Federal judge overseeing the San Francisco and Oakland cases hosts a climate change tutorial for the court. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Children's Climate Lawsuits The next generation will likely have to manage the physical, ecological and economic fallout of climate change. And some of those young people are at the forefront of lawsuits that claim the federal government, and several state governments, are responsible for preventing and addressing the consequences of climate change. The litigation, ignited by Our Children's Trust in 2015, relies on the public trust doctrine—a legal canon that stresses the government's hold on resources such as land, water or fisheries as treasure for the people. The children's lawsuits extend that principle by asserting the government also is a trustee of the atmosphere. ... Key Events: Aug. 12, 2015: Our Children's Trust youth plaintiffs file lawsuit asserting the federal government is failing to protect them from climate change. Nov. 12, 2015: American Petroleum Institute (API) and other pro-fossil fuel groups seek to intervene in Children's Trust case. Nov. 17, 2015: Federal government requests dismissal of the case. Jan. 14, 2016: Federal judge gives standing to API and other pro-fossil fuel groups to intervene in the case. Nov. 10, 2016: Federal court in Oregon denies a government request to dismiss the lawsuit. June 28, 2017: API and two other pro-fossil fuel groups are allowed to withdraw as interveners. Nov. 16, 2017: Federal appeals court agrees to hear arguments on whether the case against the government can go to trial. March 7, 2018: Federal appeals court rejects government's pleas to halt Children's Trust case.
Moral of this story? Better start enjoying your todays for all they are worth, because we got genuine Hell on Earth heading our way, consider the blind madmen we've entrusted our country and future to.
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Guess the point is that no matter how many distractions you create to blind yourself, the unfolding geophysics of our planet continues unabated.
These changes will radically degrade the life-styles we are accustomed to. All because we refused to be honest with ourselves.
Because be allowed predators with the audacity to say they represent God Almighty to brainwash complacent pliable people.
But, though we may dream that the road goes on for ever and the party never ends, it ain’t so.
The science is serious and truthful and is reflected in the profound transitions our physical planet Earth is experiencing in front of our eyes.
Uncertainties in small details, don’t negate the thoroughness of what we do know with great certainty!

Highlights of the Findings of the U.S. Global Change Research Program Climate Science Special Report Recommended Citation The climate of the United States is strongly connected to the changing global climate. The statements below highlight past, current, and projected climate changes for the United States and the globe. https://science2017.globalchange.gov/chapter/executive-summary/ Global annually averaged surface air temperature has increased by about 1.8°F (1.0°C) over the last 115 years (1901–2016). This period is now the warmest in the history of modern civilization. The last few years have also seen record-breaking, climate-related weather extremes, and the last three years have been the warmest years on record for the globe. These trends are expected to continue over climate timescales. This assessment concludes, based on extensive evidence, that it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century. For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence. In addition to warming, many other aspects of global climate are changing, primarily in response to human activities. Thousands of studies conducted by researchers around the world have documented changes in surface, atmospheric, and oceanic temperatures; melting glaciers; diminishing snow cover; shrinking sea ice; rising sea levels; ocean acidification; and increasing atmospheric water vapor. For example, global average sea level has risen by about 7–8 inches since 1900, with almost half (about 3 inches) of that rise occurring since 1993. Human-caused climate change has made a substantial contribution to this rise since 1900, contributing to a rate of rise that is greater than during any preceding century in at least 2,800 years. Global sea level rise has already affected the United States; the incidence of daily tidal flooding is accelerating in more than 25 Atlantic and Gulf Coast cities. Global average sea levels are expected to continue to rise—by at least several inches in the next 15 years and by 1–4 feet by 2100. A rise of as much as 8 feet by 2100 cannot be ruled out. Sea level rise will be higher than the global average on the East and Gulf Coasts of the United States. Changes in the characteristics of extreme events are particularly important for human safety, infrastructure, agriculture, water quality and quantity, and natural ecosystems. Heavy rainfall is increasing in intensity and frequency across the United States and globally and is expected to continue to increase. The largest observed changes in the United States have occurred in the Northeast. Heatwaves have become more frequent in the United States since the 1960s, while extreme cold temperatures and cold waves are less frequent. Recent record-setting hot years are projected to become common in the near future for the United States, as annual average temperatures continue to rise. Annual average temperature over the contiguous United States has increased by 1.8°F (1.0°C) for the period 1901–2016; over the next few decades (2021–2050), annual average temperatures are expected to rise by about 2.5°F for the United States, relative to the recent past (average from 1976–2005), under all plausible future climate scenarios. The incidence of large forest fires in the western United States and Alaska has increased since the early 1980s and is projected to further increase in those regions as the climate changes, with profound changes to regional ecosystems. Annual trends toward earlier spring melt and reduced snowpack are already affecting water resources in the western United States and these trends are expected to continue. Under higher scenarios, and assuming no change to current water resources management, chronic, long-duration hydrological drought is increasingly possible before the end of this century. The magnitude of climate change beyond the next few decades will depend primarily on the amount of greenhouse gases (especially carbon dioxide) emitted globally. Without major reductions in emissions, the increase in annual average global temperature relative to preindustrial times could reach 9°F (5°C) or more by the end of this century. With significant reductions in emissions, the increase in annual average global temperature could be limited to 3.6°F (2°C) or less. The global atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration has now passed 400 parts per million (ppm), a level that last occurred about 3 million years ago, when both global average temperature and sea level were significantly higher than today. Continued growth in CO2 emissions over this century and beyond would lead to an atmospheric concentration not experienced in tens to hundreds of millions of years. There is broad consensus that the further and the faster the Earth system is pushed towards warming, the greater the risk of unanticipated changes and impacts, some of which are potentially large and irreversible. The observed increase in carbon emissions over the past 15–20 years has been consistent with higher emissions pathways. In 2014 and 2015, emission growth rates slowed as economic growth became less carbon-intensive. Even if this slowing trend continues, however, it is not yet at a rate that would limit global average temperature change to well below 3.6°F (2°C) above preindustrial levels. Introduction New observations and new research have increased our understanding of past, current, and future climate change since the Third U.S. National Climate Assessment (NCA3) was published in May 2014. ...
It continues and there are many links to supporting sources at their webpage https://science2017.globalchange.gov/chapter/executive-summary/
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Speaking of weather, we got rain, real rain, after a very dry winter and a scary looking summer approaching, can’t express how sweet it feels and smells.
Yeah the winter has been sad, it’s like the weather systems still come through, but now they are anemic, wispy clouds, offering false hopes to the desperate.
Now with winter, officially a big bust, all hopes are on our early spring weather systems having some substantial water in them,
hearing that hard rain patter on roof is good news, even if it looks like it’ll only be a couple hours worth.
Used to be we could count on those spring afternoon gully-washers, now we hope.
And we’d get these overnight systems that would settle in with steady constant rain all night, that was sweet, special when the sun broke through in the following morning.
(talking FourCorners region)