Oregon's most populous county adds gas utility to $51B climate suit against fossil fuel companies

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Oregon's Multnomah County, home to Portland, has added the state's largest natural gas utility to its $51.5 billion climate lawsuit against fossil fuel companies over their role in the region's deadly 2021 heat- dome event.

The lawsuit, filed last year, accuses the companies’ carbon emissions of being a cause of the heat-dome event, which shattered temperature records across the Pacific Northwest. About 800 people died in Oregon, Washington state and British Columbia in the heat wave, which hit in late June and early July 2021.

An amended complaint was filed this week, adding NW Natural to a lawsuit that already named oil giants such as ExxonMobil, Chevron and Shell as defendants. It accuses NW Natural, which provides gas to about 2 million people across the Pacific Northwest, of being responsible for “a substantial portion” of greenhouse gas emissions in Oregon and deceiving the public about the harm of such emissions.

NW Natural said it can't comment in detail until it has completed reviewing the claims.