Chevron Fights Cities' Climate Suits With ‘Creative Lawyering’

If Chevron Corp. has caused climate change and has to pay for its damage, so should pretty much every company that’s ever explored for oil and gas near North America, as well as manufacturers of cars and equipment that burn fuel, plus consumers.

That’s Chevron’s response to lawsuits by San Francisco and Oakland, California, blaming “the nuisance of global warming” on decades of fossil fuel production. So Chevron turned around and sued Oslo-based Statoil ASA, calling it “one of many” oil producers that should help foot the bill if the industry is found liable. Several of the biggest -- BP Plc, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc -- were already named by the cities as defendants.