California is ramping up its efforts against fossil fuel producers, with Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) signaling on Sunday he will sign legislation requiring major companies to disclose their climate emissions and the state filing a lawsuit against top oil companies last week.
The state legislature approved a slew of bills during its final days of the legislative session last week, including legislation that would require thousands of public and private companies making at least $1 billion annually to report the emissions generated in the production and use of their products. Another bill would require companies making more than $500 million annually to report financial risks related to climate change.
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Newsom said he would sign both into law, even though the California Chamber of Commerce and Finance Department opposed the legislation.
“Would I cede that leadership by having a response that is anything but, ‘Of course, I will sign that bill’?” he said in response to a reporter during a press conference on Sunday. “No, I will not.”
The governor added that the bills would require “some cleanup on some little language” but did not clarify what those changes would be.
The state legislature passed a bill last week that would target orphan wells, wells that have been abandoned by drillers, and prohibit holders from renouncing ownership of the well to another entity unless they file for a bond to cover site restoration, plugging, and abandonment fully. The governor has yet to take a position on the bill.
California also filed a lawsuit against major oil players last Saturday, claiming they launched a campaign to mislead the public about the dangers of burning fossil fuels.
The lawsuit, filed in the state Superior Court in San Francisco, names companies Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, and BP, along with trade group American Petroleum Institute, as responsible parties in contributing to climate change and any related harms. The lawsuit alleges the defendants knew since the 1970s that burning fossil fuels would produce carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas pollution that would adversely affect the planet.
“Rather than warn consumers, the public, and governments, however, Defendants mounted a disinformation campaign beginning at least as early as the 1970s to discredit the burgeoning scientific consensus on climate change; deny their own knowledge of climate change-related threats; create doubt in the minds of consumers, the media, teachers, policymakers, and the public about the reality and consequences of the impacts of burning fossil fuels; and delay the necessary transition to a lower-carbon future,” the lawsuit reads.
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The state is looking for the defendants to contribute to a fund to help pay for recovery efforts from natural disasters caused by climate change.
The Golden State will join other Democratic states, such as New Jersey and Massachusetts, along with a number of municipalities, in launching lawsuits against fossil fuel companies to hold them accountable for the effects of climate change.