Oregon county sues major gas provider for allegedly sowing climate doubt

Complaint against NW Natural, the state’s biggest provider, marks first time a utility faces climate deception charges

Oregon’s most populous county has sued the state’s biggest gas provider for allegedly sowing climate doubt, marking the first time a utility has faced charges of climate deception.

Last year, Multnomah county sued 17 fossil fuel companies and interest groups for allegedly deceiving the public about the climate crisis. The lawsuit came two years after a record-shattering heat dome killed 69 people across the county.

Research shows the climate crisis greatly exacerbated the 2021 temperature surge. Oil and gas companies, which fuel global warming, should pay climate damages, the lawsuit argues.

On Monday, the county announced that it has amended its complaint to include the gas utility NW Natural, Oregon’s oldest and largest fossil fuel company.

“NW Natural engaged in an enterprise of misrepresentation about the effects its products would have on the climate,” the amended litigation says.

NW Natural is responsible for some 9% of Oregon’s carbon dioxide emissions, the lawsuit alleges, arguing that it has also disseminated misinformation about the climate dangers of gas.

Gas is primarily made of methane, a greenhouse gas 80 times more planet-heating than carbon dioxide.

The county’s move could open the door for more litigation against utilities, said Alyssa Johl, vice-president of legal and general counsel at the Center for Climate Integrity, which tracks and supports climate deception lawsuits.

“Gas utilities have been significant players in the historic and ongoing deception campaigns to mislead the public about the dangers of fossil fuels,” she said.

Though NW Natural has touted its commitment to a “carbon neutral future”, the company “has not implemented any operational changes that would reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon”, the lawsuit says. It also accuses the company of “astroturfing” community support for gas.

NW Natural declined to comment, saying it had not yet reviewed the suit.

Last month, a ProPublica investigation found that, despite public claims to be lowering its emissions, NW Natural has made little effort to achieve that goal.

Lawmakers and advocates have for years urged the state’s department of justice to investigate the utility for false advertising.

The amended complaint also names the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine – a non-profit that environmentalists have long said spreads climate denial – marking the first such suit against the group.

The original complaint was also the first to target the multinational consulting firm McKinsey & Company, which has long worked with big oil.

Multnomah county is one of two dozen cities, counties and states across the US that have filed charges of climate deception against the fossil fuel industry. It seeks $50bn in damages from the 2021 heat dome and additional $1.5bn for future climate damages.

“We’re already paying dearly in Multnomah County for our climate crisis – with our tax dollars, with our health and with our lives,” the county chair, Jessica Vega, Pederson said in a statement. “Going forward we have to strengthen our safety net just to keep people safe.”

Cover photo: By The Guardian