California cities accused of trying to shakedown energy companies

Katy Grimes:
Environmentalists claim global warming can be mitigated, but only if humans are forced to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This pseudo-science is what California’s leftist politicians have adopted to control human activity, and the unelected bureaucrats at the California Air Resources Board based its cap-and-trade carbon auction program on.

Now, seven California municipalities – four cities and three counties – are suing Exxon Mobil Corp. and other major oil producers to force those companies to cover the costs and hold fossil-fuel companies responsible for climate-change costs of sea walls and other coastal infrastructure projects, the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this week in “California Municipalities’ Debt Disclosures Contrast With Climate Warnings.”

The good news is that Exxon Mobil is fighting back against this shakedown attempt. “Now Exxon, one of the defendants, is launching a new counterattack by highlighting past bond disclosures in which its government critics suggested they couldn’t predict whether and when sea levels would rise,” WSJ reported.

These greedy municipal cheaters are now caught between two significant, self-imposed frauds: Either their lawsuits are fraudulent, or their bond offerings are.

Oakland, San Francisco, Santa Cruz and Imperial Beach are plaintiffs, as are San Mateo County, Santa Cruz County and Marin County. While these seven local California governments are suing the oil and gas industry in an effort to stick them with the bills for preparing for rising sea levels, these same cities are also lying about one issue or the other. When they sold debt to investors in the form of bonds, these local governments indicated they were entirely unsure whether they are vulnerable to the effects of climate change. These California cities attempting to make money off oil companies appear to be using the Jesse Jackson/Al Sharpton Shakedown and Extortion approach in which the truth does not matter.
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Ther is more.

I suspect trial lawyers are also part of the shakedown racket.  We may find out if they offer to settle for litigation expenses. 

Most of these cities are hilly.  Unlike Florida and the Gulf Coasts states, California cities have a much higher elevation for the most part and Marin County also is mainly higher in elevation with the exception of a few yacht harbors and a few very small communities like Tiburon.   Tiburon is a touristy town across from San Francisco that also relies on traffic from people who ride the ferry from San Francisco, which BTW runs on fossil fuels. 

In Santa Cruz, you have to drive down to the yacht basin.  Speaking of driving, none of these communities have banned vehicles that use fossil fuel and for good reason.  They would be unable to survive without them.

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