Multnomah County is seeking nearly $52 billion in damages and future costs for climate adaptation in a lawsuit that filed Thursday against more than a dozen fossil fuel companies to hold them accountable for the unprecedented heat dome event in 2021.

I suspect this lawsuit doesn’t have much chance of winning. But:

  • the attorneys are apparently taking it on contingency, so no cost to taxpayers
  • the more lawsuits against big oil, the better the chance that one will eventually win
  • just rolling over for the people destroying the planet doesn’t seem like a winning strategy either

[Image description: Multnomah County Chair Jessica Vega Pederson speaks at a press conference June 22, 2023, announcing the county’s lawsuit against fossil fuel companies in Portland, Oregon.]