California AG and Governor Sue 5 Oil Companies in Climate Change Shakedown

California’s Attorney General Rob Bonta just announced last week that he filed a complaint accusing five major oil companies of deliberately lying about fossil fuels and in doing so, contributing to climate change.

“Joined by California Governor Newsom, California Attorney General Rob Bonta today announced the filing of a lawsuit against five of the largest oil and gas companies in the world — Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and BP — and the American Petroleum Institute (API) for allegedly engaging in a decades-long campaign of deception and creating statewide climate change-related harms in California.”

California’s Governor and Attorney General are suing oil and gas companies over climate woo woo and pseudoscience. The discovery phase of their lawsuit will be delicious when Bonta and Newsom will have to produce actual evidence that 5 oil companies have caused wildfires, heat waves, snow storms, flooding, wind and rain in California.

This is another case of the “the Emperor has no clothes.” The AG is suing over what he and other leftists claim is “settled science,” but real scientists call Bonta’s and Newsom’s claims pseudoscience, noting that the ever changing climate has other causes.

The Globe reported in August, a little over one year ago, California Governor Gavin Newsom announced his pompous plan for addressing “California’s hotter, drier future:”

“Hotter and drier weather conditions spurred by climate change could reduce California’s water supply by up to 10 percent by the year 2040. To replace and replenish what we will lose to thirstier soils, vegetation, and the atmosphere, Governor Gavin Newsom has announced California’s latest actions to increase water supply and adapt to more extreme weather patterns caused by climate change.”

Think about that arrogant statement – as if California politicians are going to stop hot weather. But the joke was on the governor with record rainfall and snowfall in the winter of 2023… except that didn’t stop him. Since then, we’ve been barraged with absurd radio advertisements warning us, “now that we face a hotter, dryer future…” and “let’s make conservation a way of life,” providing helpful hints about saving water.

In a 2009 interview at the Spectator, James Delingpole talked to Professor Ian Plimer, the Australian geologist who dispelled much of the nonsense:

“…geologists have always recognized that climate changes over time. Where we differ from a lot of people pushing Anthropogenic global warming is in our understanding of scale. They’re only interested in the last 150 years. Our time frame is 4,567 million years. So what they’re doing is the equivalent of trying to extrapolate the plot of Casablanca from one tiny bit of the love scene. And you can’t. It doesn’t work.”

“What Heaven And Earth sets out to do is restore a sense of scientific perspective to a debate which has been hijacked by ‘politicians, environmental activists and opportunists’. It points out, for example, that polar ice has been present on earth for less than 20 per cent of geological time; that extinctions of life are normal; that climate changes are cyclical and random; that the CO2 in the atmosphere — to which human activity contributes the tiniest fraction — is only 0.001 per cent of the total CO2 held in the oceans, surface rocks, air, soils and life; that CO2 is not a pollutant but a plant food; that the earth’s warmer periods — such as when the Romans grew grapes and citrus trees as far north as Hadrian’s Wall — were times of wealth and plenty.”

How did this common sense not get more traction? We can thank the media for that, and the global nonprofits funded by corrupt billionaires.

Now Governor Newsom and AG Bonta think they can shake down oil and gas companies:

“Enough is enough,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “With our lawsuit, California becomes the largest geographic area and the largest economy to take these giant oil companies to court. From extreme heat to drought and water shortages, the climate crisis they have caused is undeniable. It is time they pay to abate the harm they have caused. We will meet the moment and fight tirelessly on behalf of all Californians, in particular those who live in environmental justice communities.”

“For more than 50 years, Big Oil has been lying to us — covering up the fact that they’ve long known how dangerous the fossil fuels they produce are for our planet,” said Governor Gavin Newsom. “California taxpayers shouldn’t have to foot the bill for billions of dollars in damages — wildfires wiping out entire communities, toxic smoke clogging our air, deadly heat waves, record-breaking droughts parching our wells. With this lawsuit, California is taking action to hold big polluters accountable and deliver the justice our people deserve.”

So now the “climate crisis” oil and gas companies “have caused is undeniable.”

On what grounds?

From the lawsuit – Bonta claims the “extreme drought, widespread flooding, sprawling wildfires and historic storms, an unusually cold spring and a record-hot summer” are the “products of climate change, and climate change is the product of widespread combustion of fossil fuels.”

As if that hyperbole isn’t enough, Bonta claims: “Oil and gas company executives have known for decades that reliance on fossil fuels would cause these catastrophic results, but they suppressed that information from the public and policymakers by actively pushing out disinformation on the topic. Their deception caused a delayed societal response to global warming. And their misconduct has resulted in tremendous costs to people, property, and natural resources, which continue to unfold each day.”

Bonta also claims: “Defendants’ deceptive and tortious conduct was a substantial factor in bringing about these devastating climate change impacts in California, including, but not limited to, extreme heat, more frequent and intense droughts, increasingly severe wildfires, more frequent and intense storms and associated flooding, degradation of air and water quality, damage to agriculture, sea level rise, and habitat and species loss.”

What does Bonta want?

ABC7 reported “the lawsuit would force these companies to fund recovery efforts on the state’s major weather events. California has seen historic wildfires, extreme drought and record-high temperatures Bonta says was a factor of climate change.”

In a statement, the American Petroleum Institute said: “This ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicized lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of California taxpayer resources.”

This shakedown by AG Bonta and Gov. Newsom is one way to backfill the governor’s $31.5 billion budget deficit.

What is the monetary compensation AG Bonta is asking for?

This is the true cost of “green legislation.” But not every politicians buys into this:

Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) absolutely destroyed Dep. Energy Secretary in a hearing, and exposed the climate change fraud. He asked one question the Dep. Secretary couldn’t or wouldn’t answer: “If we spent $50 trillion to become carbon neutral…How much is that going to reduce world temperatures?” SEC TURK: “This is a global problem.” KENNEDY: “You can’t tell me. Either that or you won’t.”

While the Deputy Energy Secretary knows his demands for spending $50 billion on “climate change” won’t move the needle much at all on temperatures, it will force a lot of people into poverty.

WATCH: @SenJohnKennedy Destroys Dep. Energy Secretary – Exposes Climate Change Fraud By Asking One Question

KENNEDY: "If we spent $50 trillion to become carbon neutral…How much is that going to reduce world temperatures?"

SEC TURK: "This is a global problem."

KENNEDY: "You… pic.twitter.com/eja5PJzM00

— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 4, 2023