Climate Accountability

BREAKING NEWS:

Multnomah County Fights Back Against Fossil Fuel Industry's Attempt to Dodge Accountability

July 8, 2025

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County of Multnomah, Case No. 23CV25264 Plaintiff v. EXXON MOBIL CORP., SHELL PLC, et al.

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The Economic Costs of Climate Change for Oregonians: A First Look.

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In response to Multnomah County’s Second Amended Complaint filed in its Climate Accountability lawsuit, the fossil fuel defendants launched a legal fusillade of motions seeking to shut down the County’s case before it can be heard by a jury. These include motions to strike under Oregon’s Anti-SLAPP statute, motions to dismiss for failure to state a claim, and motions to dismiss for lack of jurisdiction. Today, the County struck back, filing forceful oppositions, 25 in total, urging the court to reject defendant’s desperate maneuvers and allow its well-supported claims to proceed.

The County asserts that the public deserves a trial on the merits to determine whether the fossil fuel defendants should be held responsible for the devastating local impacts of climate change—impacts made worse by decades of corporate deception, delay and denial.

The defendants’ motions rely on narrow procedural arguments, including the claim that the County’s lawsuit is an attack on their First Amendment rights. But as the County’s oppositions make clear, this case is not about protected speech—it is about unlawful conduct: promoting and profiting from the sale of fossil fuels while deliberately downplaying or concealing their knowledge about the foreseeably devastating climate impacts. The motions are an effort to prevent the public from seeing the overwhelming evidence of this deception and its link to the damages suffered by Multnomah County.

The County’s oppositions are backed by extensive and damning documentary evidence—internal records showing that the fossil fuel industry understood the risks of climate change as far back as the 1950s and 60s yet chose to mislead the public and policymakers to protect profits.

The County’s Evidence is Overwhelming

The County’s oppositions are further supported by detailed declarations and expert reports from:

Dr. Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at UCLA and NCAR, who explains how climate change fueled by fossil fuel emissions made the 2021 Pacific Northwest heat dome “virtually impossible” absent fossil fuel induced global warming.

Dr. Benjamin Franta, a climate historian, physicist and expert in fossil fuel industry disinformation, who provides a comprehensive analysis of how and what the oil industry knew about climate change, when they knew it, and how instead of warning the public they lied in order to sell more and more of their products. He outlines how the campaign of deception, which was borrowed from Big Tobacco, operated through direct efforts and through trade groups, think tanks, phony “astroturf” citizen groups and other mercenaries, the sole purpose of which was to promote the addiction to fossil fuels, preserve their monopolies, and suppress the truth about climate change and the need to transition to renewable energy sources. 

Richard Heede, director of the Climate Accountability Institute, who quantifies the emissions directly attributable to the named defendants, showing that a small group of companies is responsible for a significant share of greenhouse gas pollution in Oregon and beyond.

John Wasiutynski, Director of the Multnomah County Office of Sustainability, who ties the County’s increasing climate burdens—including deaths, economic losses, infrastructure damage and public health crises—to the conduct of the fossil fuel industry.

These expert findings and the County’s own evidence make clear: this is not a speculative or symbolic case. It is a well-documented effort to hold wrongdoers accountable for tangible and catastrophic harms using centuries old common law tort theories. 

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Multnomah County’s Opposition to Defendants’ Anti-SLAPP Motion to Strike

Summary

Full Brief 

Multnomah County’s Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim

Summary

Full Brief

Multnomah County’s Opposition to Defendants' Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Jurisdiction    
Summary

Full Brief

Dr. Benjamin Franta Expert Report

Summary

Full Report and Declaration

Dr. Daniel Swain Expert Report

Summary

Full Report and Declaration

Richard Heede Expert Report

Summary

Full Report and Declaration 

John Wasiutynski Declaration

Summary

Full Declaration

Click Herefor all Opposition Briefs and Supporting Exhibits and Declarations filed by Multnomah County

As the climate crisis intensifies, Multnomah County is taking a stand on behalf of its residents—and making clear that justice demands a full and public airing of the facts.

Social Justice, Economic Justice, Environmental Justice, Taxpayer Justice

Big Oil Lied.                                                                            
People Died.

On June 22, 2023 Multomah County, Oregon filed a lawsuit seeking billions in damages from 17 of the largest fossil fuel companies over the 2021 heat dome. The county retained our office along with the law firm Simon, Greenstone, Panatier and Thomas, Coon, Newton & Frost to hold these fossil fuel companies accountable for the damages inflicted from one of the most deadly and destructive human-made weather disasters. 

L to R. Shree Patel, James Coon, John Caron, Roger Worthington, Ray Thomas and Chris Thomas

County of Multnomah, Case No. 23CV25264 Plaintiff v. EXXON MOBIL CORP., SHELL PLC, et al

Roger W. “Yes, the scientists tell us we are at or near the Tipping Point. To prepare for, and mitigate, and acclimate to a hotter world, with more frequent and intense Heat Domes, wildfires and droughts. We are going to need to weatherize, weatherproof, install Air Conditioners, and air filters, and retrofit the way we live, work and play to survive a hotter climate.”

"We are confident that once we show what the fossil fuel companies knew about global warming and when and what they did to deny, delay and deceive the public, the jury will not let the fossil fuel companies get away with their reckless misconduct."

"The heat dome that cost so much life and loss was not a natural weather event. It did not just happen because life can be cruel, nor can it be rationalized as simply a mystery of God's will." J. Simon

Multnomah County sues oil companies over 2021 Heat Dome disaster press conference

"This lawsuit is about accountability and fairness, and I believe the people of Multnomah County deserve both. These businesses knew their products were unsafe and harmful, and they lied about it,"                                                                             
V. Pederson

Chair of the Board of Commissioners Jessica Vega Pederson leads the bridge walk.

"We will show that fossil fuel-induced global warming is already costing Oregonians lives and treasure. We will show that the normal use of fossil fuel products over time has imposed massive external, unpriced and untraded social, economic and environmental costs on the County."

R. Worthington

Vega Pederson and Roger Worthington

We don't want a payoff. We want to get paid back.