Attribution Study Shows Big Oil Caused This Heat Wave. They Should Pay for It.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A heat dome is engulfing the Western half of the United States, trapping residents in a historic heat wave that will subject millions to sweltering conditions, breaking records across the region. World Weather Attribution released a study finding that this event would have been “virtually impossible” but for human-caused climate change. In response, Public Citizen’s Climate Accountability Project Director Aaron Regunberg released the following statement:
“Across the Western United States, millions are suffering from a heat wave that threatens public health and will greatly exacerbate drought and fire conditions. This isn’t a natural disaster—as this latest climate attribution study shows, Big Oil’s pollution and decades of deception about the impact of burning fossil fuels has intensified the extreme heat felt across the region. Despite the fossil fuel industry’s own predictions of heat waves like this one, executives chose to cause catastrophic warming anyway, while lying about climate science. Big Oil’s dangerous conduct and knowing duplicity is the root of all the heat-related damage Americans in California, Arizona, and neighboring states will experience in the coming weeks. Major fossil fuel companies should be made to pay for these harms.”
Further reading: Memo: Heat Wave Scorches Western States, Just as Big Oil Predicted