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A Pennsylvania judge has dismissed a climate lawsuit Bucks County hoped would force fossil fuel companies to help it pay to fix bridges, retrofit buildings and install stormwater management projects to deal with worsening flooding.
The county’s suit, filed last year against Chevron, BP, Shell, ConocoPhillips, ExxonMobil, Phillips 66 and a petroleum industry trade groupargued the oil companies knew but intentionally covered up the role their products play in warming the planet.
Court of Common Pleas Judge Stephen Corr dismissed the suit Friday, saying the county’s claims are outside the scope of state law.
“Today we join a growing chorus of state and federal courts across the United States, singing from the same hymnal, in concluding that the claims raised by Bucks County are not judiciable by any state court in Pennsylvania,” Corr wrote in his order.
Judge Corr referred to dismissals by other state courts of similar cases, filed by states and cities including New Jersey and Baltimore. But even more courts have allowed such cases, including those filed by Washington, D.C., Vermont and BoulderColorado, to go forward, said Michael Gerrard, faculty director of Columbia Law School’s Sabin Center for Climate Change Law.
“They’ve been going in both directions,” Gerrard said. “[This decision is] more piling on one side — and then there’s a pile on the other side.”
Scientists say it’s “unequivocal” that human activity — including burning fossil fuels — is warming the planet. Flood risk in the northeastern U.S. is getting worse, as heavy precipitation events become more frequent and intense and sea level rise accelerates.
In 2023, seven people, including two young children, died during a flash flood in Upper Makefield in Bucks County.
