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Climate change lawsuits

May 7, 2024 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

For the better part of a decade, there have been lawsuits against fossil fuel companies for their actions related to climate change. The Center for Climate Integrity, a nonprofit that provides legal support to communities suing oil companies, has tracked 32 cases filed by state attorneys general, cities, counties, and tribal nations against companies including Exxon Mobil, BP, and Shell.

There has been extensive news reporting about oil companies’ efforts to undermine the scientific consensus about the climate as well as revelations about oil companies hiding their own research over decades projecting the dangers of climate change.

Oil companies have long sought to shut down the lawsuits or move them from the state courts where they were filed to federal courts where they believe national regulations could override local governments’ claims against them. But a string of circuit court and U.S. Supreme Court decisions have ruled that the cases alleging violations of state laws do belong in state courts.

The first case to reach trial will likely be a Massachusetts case against Exxon Mobil and that could happen as soon as next year.

What do these lawsuits seek? Some seek to force oil companies to pay for the past and future damages caused by climate change that are costing states and communities billions of dollars. Others seek to stop defendants from making false and misleading statements about the effects of burning fossil fuels, from greenwashing their own activities, and to fund corrective education campaigns.

The first trials could lead to a tidal wave of new cases, similar to what happened in the 1990s when tobacco companies were forced to pay billions of dollars under legal settlements.

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After a long slog, climate change lawsuits will finally put Big Oil on trial

Photo, posted August 18, 2021, courtesy of Chad Davis via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio

Plants Paying For Biofuels | Earth Wise

May 7, 2020 By EarthWise Leave a Comment

Biofuels are an important element in broader strategies to replace petroleum in transportation fuels like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. The idea is that biofuels recycle carbon by getting it from growing plants rather than from fossil sources. The biggest problem with biofuels is that they cost more than conventional petroleum fuels, so there is economic incentive to keep burning the fossil fuels.

One strategy to make biofuels cost competitive is to have the plants provide additional economic benefits beyond being a feedstock for fuel. This in principle can be done by engineering plants to produce valuable chemical compounds, or bioproducts, as they grow. Bioproducts include such things as flavoring agents and fragrances as well as biodegradable plastic. These bioproducts can be extracted from the plants and then the remaining plant material can be converted to fuel.

Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory recently published a study to determine what quantities of bioproducts plants need to produce to result in cost-effective biofuel production.

The study looked at a compound called limonene, which is used for flavoring and fragrance. They calculated that if this compound was accumulated at 0.6% of the biomass dry weight, it would offer net economic benefits to biorefineries. This corresponds to recovering 130 pounds of limonene from 10 tons of sorghum on an acre of land.

Such quantities are completely practical but, on the other hand, none of these substances are needed in huge quantities. Just six refineries could supply the world with limonene. So, fuel crops would need to be engineered to produce a broad range of bioproducts to enable a viable cost-effective biofuel industry.

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Making Biofuels Cheaper by Putting Plants to Work

Photo, posted September 28, 2019, courtesy of Michele Dorsey Walfred via Flickr.

Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.