NST Leader: Courting climate change

In some ways, oil companies must take some blame for being slow to react to the growing climate change activism around the world. Even when the California state suit against the five oil majors was first reported by The New York Times on Friday, they didn’t respond in time to give their side of the story. Though Shell and Chevron did respond to Washington-based National Public Radio, the gist of the message is that the court isn’t the place to craft global energy policy. API’s general counsel, Ryan Meyers, put his industry take thus: “This ongoing, coordinated campaign to wage meritless, politicised lawsuits against a foundational American industry and its workers is nothing more than a distraction from important national conversations and an enormous waste of California taxpayer resources. Climate policy is for Congress to debate and decide, not the court system.”