L.A. is on fire and Big Oil are the Arsonists. [View all]

Facts and analysis to shut up the MAGA efforts to deflect culpability on Democrats and DEI. In other words, the Truth.



Los Angeles is on fire and big oil are the arsonists

Every barrel of oil, every cubic meter of gas, and every ton of coal burned brings us closer to environmental catastrophe

by Tzeporah Berman
The Guardian / Opinion, January 11, 2025

Excerpt...

These powerful interests are ignoring what is fanning wildfire flames – fossil fuel driven climate change – and trying to deflect attention elsewhere. This is not surprising. Denying science and promoting false narratives squarely falls within the playbook of the fossil fuel industry and its proponents. Take for example, Trump calling climate change a hoax and once again threatening to withdraw the US from the Paris agreement.

Oil, gas and coal companies have been lying to us for decades. A 2015 investigation by Inside Climate News revealed that ExxonMobil’s own scientists knew as early as the 1970s that burning fossil fuels would cause global warming and increase the likelihood of extreme weather events. Instead of pivoting toward cleaner energy solutions, Exxon and other major players funded misinformation campaigns to sow doubt about climate science, delaying action and worsening the crisis.

California is part of a growing number of states and local governments challenging these lies through litigation. The legal suits against six oil companies and the American Petroleum Institute accuse them of deceiving the public regarding the connection between fossil fuels and climate crisis and profiting from that deception. The aim of the litigation is to redirect those profits into funds to address the damage of climate crisis on California. The litigation is still underway.

Snip...

The California governor Gavin Newsom is one of a small yet growing number of political leaders around the globe calling out fossil fuels for their role in climate crisis and generating health and environmental risks. In fact he has called oil, gas and coal “the polluting heart of the climate crisis” and has enacted new laws to limit their expansion and phase them out. Cities across California are joining him. Los Angeles, which has oil production within its jurisdiction, has banned new oil and gas drilling and committed to phasing out the use of coal and gas in its infrastructure among other efforts.

These leaders recognize they cannot go it alone. That international coordination is needed to hold oil and gas companies accountable and to manage a fair shift away from oil, gas and coal with no community, work or country left behind. That’s why the state of California, the city of Los Angeles, Richmond and many other communities where fossil fuel extraction is taking place have joined other states and cities around the world, as well as 14 countries, in calling for a Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty

Continues...

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jan/11/los-angeles-fire-fossil-fuel-big-oil