It is about time that Maine joined other states in suing the fossil fuel industry for damage resulting from carbon emissions. Within a one-year period, Maine taxpayers have funded $60 million for the January 2024 coastal storm damage and $20 million for the 2023 summer and Dec. 18 rainstorm damage to the western Maine roads. Why should we taxpayers pick up the bill for that?

Way back in 1959, when Dwight Eisenhower was president, Columbia University held a symposium attended by oil industry executives to mark the 100th anniversary of the petroleum industry. At that event, Dr. Edward Teller, a renowned physicist, father of the hydrogen bomb, warned the industry about global warming saying “(A) temperature rise corresponding to a 10% increase in carbon dioxide will be sufficient to melt the icecap and submerge New York.” Scientists have warned every presidential administration since. The oil companies were listening.

In 2015, investigative journalists uncovered internal company documents showing that Exxon scientists have been warning their executives about “potentially catastrophic” human-caused global warming since at least 1977. In the 1980s, continuing well into the 2000s, the oil companies, to avoid government regulation, spread a climate change denial and disinformation campaign. Since Edward Teller’s 1959 address to the oil industry, atmospheric carbon dioxide levels have increased by 36%, well above his 10% warning.

The fossil fuel companies have known of the danger for at least 65 years and have acted negligently. It is long past time for them to pay up.

Carl Wilcox
Minot