The government of Puerto Rico filed a lawsuit against multinational energy and petrochemical companies to recover environmental damages caused to the Island through illegal business practices, according to Department of Justice Secretary Domingo Emanuelli Hernández.
The department is seeking compensation of no less than one billion dollars from defendants Exxon Mobil Corporation, BP P.L.C., Chevron Corporation, Chevron Phillips Chemical Puerto Rico Core, LLC, ConocoPhillips, Shell PLC, Station Managers of Puerto Rico, Inc., TotalEnergies and TotalEnergies Marketing PR Corp.
"These companies have known internally for decades that greenhouse gas pollution from fossil fuel products would have adverse impacts on the climate worldwide and on sea levels," the Justice secretary said in a press release.
"However, they did not truthfully warn Puerto Rican consumers about the consequences of using and burning fossil fuels on the Island, nor about their impact on the environment," he added.
According to Hernández, Puerto Rico has incurred and will incur billions of dollars in costs to address disasters caused by climate change, including coastal erosion from rising sea levels, increasingly frequent and severe storm formation, and the destruction of coral reefs and mangrove forests, among other damaging impacts.
In addition to the environmental damages, the lawsuit includes causes of action for unfair and deceptive acts or practices in commerce, product liability, public nuisance and punitive damages.
The lawsuit originated following a study conducted by the Puerto Rico Climate Change Council in 2022.
This content was translated with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI).
