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Charleston Becomes First Southern City To Sue Big Oil

On September 9th, the city of Charleston, SC filed a lawsuit against fossil fuel companies, claiming they have been misleading the public on the realities of climate change and caused devastating flooding throughout the city.

The lawsuit was filed in the S.C. Court of Common Pleas in Charleston and named 24 fossil fuel companies including Exxon Mobil Corporation, Hess Corporation, Shell Oil Company, BP America Inc., and Chevron Corporation.

Charleston has been plagued with frequent flooding for quite some time that experts predict will only get worse overtime – a problem that the city says is due to the effects of fossil fuel companies and the rising sea level. 

“As this lawsuit shows, these companies have known for more than 50 years that their products were going to cause the worst flooding the world has seen since Noah built the Ark,” Charleston Mayor John Tecklenburg explained in a statement regarding the lawsuit. “And instead of warning us, they covered up the truth and turned our flooding problems into their profits. That was wrong, and this lawsuit is all about holding them accountable for that multi-decade campaign of deception.”

Charleston is now the first southern city to sue oil companies for their alleged role in climate change.

While there has not been a direct response from the defendants listed in the lawsuit, Shell officials have stated they “do not believe the courtroom is the right venue to address climate change.”

 

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santee cooper class action lawsuit

A Small Win For Santee Cooper Direct-Serve And Electrical Cooperative Customers

While Santee Cooper’s millions of direct-serve and electrical cooperative customers await a decision from lawmakers on the future of the state-owned utility, a trial date has been set for the ongoing lawsuit between Santee Cooper and its customers.

Last week, former South Carolina Supreme Court Chief Justice, special Judge Jean Toal, set the trial date for April 20.

The decision was a significant blow to debt-riddled Santee Cooper, which will now give lawyers representing the millions of Santee Cooper customers time to go through tens of thousands of documents that were turned over by Santee Cooper just one day before the trial date was set.

Santee Cooper customers filed the lawsuit in August 2017 seeking refunds for the millions they had already paid and to put an end to the continual payments they were being charged for the failed V.C. Summer project.

For years, customers have paid extra fees on their monthly bills.  Santee Cooper spent approximately $4.7 billion on the failed nuclear project and rely only on their customers to pay the company’s debt.

It was just last month that U.S. Judge Terry Wooten sent the lawsuit back to state court to be heard by special Judge Jean Toal.

Judge Toal’s decision also allowed the case to become a class-action lawsuit allowing for many more people to be able to seek refunds. Also in her decision, Judge Toal did not limit the potential monetary penalties and suggested that Santee Cooper should find a way to settle the case so that a trial could be avoided.

Meanwhile, Santee Cooper continues to rack up legal fees to fight back, adding even more to the billions of debt already owed and being paid by its customers.