Chevron is trying a new approach to discredit one of dozens of climate lawsuits that could cost the fossil fuel industry billions of dollars: accusing the Rhode Island attorney general of bending the facts.
In a Providence courtroom Tuesday, an attorney for the oil giant said Rhode Island got it wrong in 2018 when it became the first state to sue the oil and gas industry for climate damages. The state’s lawsuit alleges that for each of the companies it sued, “a substantial portion of fossil fuel products are or have been extracted, refined, transported, traded, distributed, marketed, promoted, manufactured, sold, and/or consumed in Rhode Island.” The suit named more than a dozen oil and gas companies, including Exxon Mobil, BP and Shell.
But there is no evidence that the state ever investigated whether Chevron extracted or refined products in the Ocean State — instead relying on “shotgun allegations” that were leveled against all the companies in its lawsuit, said Gerald Petros, a partner at Hinckley Allen & Snyder, representing Chevron.
“If you gave a teenager a laptop and 10 minutes, that teenager could come back and tell you that fossil fuels are not extracted, refined or manufactured in Rhode Island,” Petros told Rhode Island Superior Court Judge William Carnes. “Rhode Island’s not Texas, you don’t ride around seeing oil derricks next to highways.”
