(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Fossil-Fueled Lawyer Parrots Industry Claim That Climate Lawsuits Should Stay Out Of State Courts [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-04-04 Little scares the fossil fuel industry more than climate lawsuits in state courts ! That’s why we’ve seen numerous attacks against climate cases by Republican lawyers , a Trump administration official , and fossil fuel front group Energy In Depth . The latest iteration of this social and legal influence campaign was a March 31 opinion piece in The Washington Examiner by attorney Andrew Ketterer. He argues that climate lawsuits belong in federal court, not state court, which would make it harder for people to sue the fossil fuel industry. He writes, “On a broader level, a Supreme Court decision that state courts will hear climate lawsuit cases could open the floodgates for plaintiffs’ attorneys everywhere to sue any industry just for providing products that people rely on.” The way Ketterer puts it, the fossil fuel industry sounds like a perfectly innocent and generous provider of helpful products! This type of propaganda is one of the industry’s favorite tactics: Shifting the blame for climate change off of corporations and onto individuals . Ketterer states this argument clearly, writing, “Carbon emissions come from sources across the world. They are produced by energy users, from farmers to builders to homeowners.” The reality is that for decades, fossil fuel corporations have understood the dangers of climate change all too well , and instead of choosing to offer products without such horrifying side effects , they encouraged fossil fuel consumption and actively covered up the harm that their products cause. Burning fossil fuels is compromising the planet’s ability to sustain human civilization , and oil and gas giants have far more power to address this crisis than the average individual. After all, these corporations literally have billions of dollars in record profits they could choose to invest in clean tech! Suggesting that the fossil fuel industry isn’t the source of the problem is ludicrous and disgraceful. Ketterer also parrots other fossil fuel industry talking points that transparently seek to discourage future climate lawsuits. “Through my three terms as Maine's attorney general, I concluded that courts cannot solve all of America’s problems,” he states, as though that's what anyone was claiming. “That’s especially true for climate change," Ketterer continues, smugly smashing the strawman. Sound familiar? It should, as it's awfully similar to a line used by a Shell spokesperson : “We do not believe the courtroom is the right venue to address climate change…” Ketterer’s rhetoric also mirrors the narrative pushed by industry defenders like Phil Goldberg, who said that “these are not the kinds of issues that we can decide in the courts,” and Rick Boucher , who also bravely fought the strawman, calling the legal efforts “a diversion and a distraction” that “creates false hope that lawsuits can solve the challenge of climate change.” Ketterer goes on to call climate lawsuits “meritless” and claim, “Pinning the entirety of global climate change on a handful of companies is illogical, which is why the two dozen climate suits filed so far have failed to succeed.” Unfortunately for Ketterer, this argument makes no sense, since just 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Ketterer ends his article by letting everyone know that he’s not just a fossil fuel industry lackey; he’s also open to doing the dirty work for any other damaging industry! “Who knows which sector could be next?” he asks in a blatant attempt to drum up more work for himself. “For example, the door would be open to sue grocery stores for selling red meat that causes heart disease, which many would-be plaintiffs could inevitably claim.” If you’re a morally bankrupt industry that harms the planet, Ketterer might just be the amoral lawyer you need, although he isn’t even the first one to make this argument ! But who is Andrew Ketterer, anyway? He’s an attorney at the Ketterer & Ketterer Law Firm , which is named that way because the firm only hires people named Andrew Ketterer as partners. Ketterer (not to be confused with his fellow law partner and son Andrew P. Ketterer) “successfully sued the tobacco industry” as Maine’s Attorney General before cashing out and representing “national and multi-national corporations that are regulated or sued by state Attorneys General in all 50 states.” The firm’s list of current and former clients includes “for-profit colleges, the firearms industry, pharmaceutical companies, automobile manufacturers and petroleum companies,” proving that Ketterer & Ketterer primarily caters to businesses that exploit, pollute, or kill their customers. On a positive note, researchers have found that climate litigation “is by no means doomed to failure” and that “even unsuccessful cases can contribute to articulating climate change as a legal and financial risk, which may help to guide climate change-responsive adjudication in the longer term.” [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/4/4/2161999/-Fossil-Fueled-Lawyer-Parrots-Industry-Claim-That-Climate-Lawsuits-Should-Stay-Out-Of-State-Courts Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/