Trump visits epicenter of climate lawsuits he’s threatened to quash

By Lesley Clark | 01/24/2025 06:18 AM EST

The Los Angeles wildfires — and the president’s environmental rollbacks — could spur more lawsuits to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for climate change.

Firefighters work to control the spread of the Hughes Fire.

Firefighters work to control the spread of the Hughes Fire in Castaic, California, on Wednesday. Ethan Swope/AP

President Donald Trump — who has pledged to block climate lawsuits against oil and gas companies — is headed to the hub of a sprawling legal effort to force the fossil fuel industry to pay for its role in warming the planet.

Trump, who will make his first presidential trip of his second term to the Los Angeles area on Friday, is slated to visit places ravaged by devastating wildfires — a wide-scale disaster that is expected to spur more climate liability lawsuits against industries that are major emitters of greenhouse gases.

“These horrific fires really underscore the need for courts to be taking these cases more seriously than they might otherwise,” said Pat Parenteau, emeritus professor at the Vermont Law and Graduate School, who has provided pro bono advice to one of the law firms behind the climate liability cases. But, he added, “the reality is that the litigation is going to take so long with uncertain outcomes.”

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The severity of the fires in the Los Angeles area and Trump’s aggressive campaign to roll back environmental regulations are expected to fuel more climate lawsuits. Currently, more than 40 communities nationwide have sued to recover money from oil and gas producers, emulating successful litigation against tobacco and opioid manufacturers, which cost those industries hundreds of billions of dollars.

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