In the wake of heavy rains and flooding that impacted the Garden State in recent months, climate change has been blamed and a debate has ensued as to the best way for governments to mitigate the impacts on our communities. As a former local leader of a Shore community who was in office during Hurricane Sandy, I believe that it is the job of municipal officials to be prepared and that the most prudent course of action is to have infrastructure and contingency plans in place to handle extreme weather events. This takes planning and prioritizing the right things.
Unfortunately, there is another school of thought being advanced by some politicians and environmental activists. Instead of taking ownership over their own shorelines and communities, they want to force this responsibility upon energy companies. Hoboken, and more recently the state of New Jersey, have joined more than two dozen cities and states across the United States in a misguided attempt to hold energy producers responsible for alleged climate change related damages. This litigation makes no sense, legally or for the good of our communities.
This litigation turns a blind eye to historical and global truths. Instead, these lawsuits claim climate change is the result of violations of New Jersey state law, including our Consumer Fraud Act and even our Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which targets organized crime. And, it can be pinned on the companies that sell us our energy.
First off, the allegations that energy companies waged a deception campaign regarding climate change are completely fabricated. Scientific research and Congressional hearings regarding climate change and its potential effects go back decades. There are tens of thousands scientific papers published on climate change since 1980, and Congress held no less than 246 hearings regarding climate change between 1976 and 2007 alone. We also know that emissions are a global issue and that the main actors releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere are in places like China, India and Russia, not the United States.
As one legal commentator said, the litigation has the feel of throwing a bunch of legal spaghetti on the wall and see what sticks. They are casting about to try to blame everyone else, rather than take responsibility for their own communities. For example, Imperial Beach, California was one of the first localities to file a lawsuit, yet the Climate Action Plan Report Card rates Imperial Beach as having one of the worst climate action plan scores in San Diego County. The hypocrisy is palpable.
This litigation also has major downsides. It could cause significant economic hardship to our residents and actually hurt the efforts to shift to cleaner forms of energy. Energy manufacturers are making large investments in renewable energy technologies. The transition from coal to natural gas for power generation in the U.S., an important backstop for sources of renewable energy, has already led to a reduction of carbon emissions in the power sector by 32% since 2005.
The lawsuits also undermine job security and could lead to higher energy prices for families and businesses. Much of the $21 billion in economic impact generated annually and 142,000 jobs supported by energy producers in New Jersey would be jeopardized. And lawyers for similar lawsuits in Colorado have stated that higher energy prices are actually a goal of these cases, adding insult to injury for working New Jersey families.
So, why are New Jersey and other governments pursuing these lawsuits? Part of it may be that this entire litigation campaign is being driven and underwritten by environmental organizations that want to target energy companies, irrespective of the impacts on us, for their own political purposes. Trial lawyers trying to make hundreds of millions of dollars off the backs of climate issues may also be to blame. At the end of the day these parties all have their self-interests in mind—not ours.
Local leaders should put their local constituents first. We should not be wasting taxpayer time and resources on meritless lawsuits that would enrich lawyers and professional activists at the expense of the working families in our state. It would be more productive to convene a broad coalition of business, government, and environmental leaders to promote the transition to cleaner energy solutions and to respond more effectively to the challenges of climate change.
