Oil Companies Sued Over Death of Woman during 2021 Pacific Northwest Heat Wave – Watts Up With That?

From Legal Insurrection

A review of the marketing of “heat domes”, the history of American heat waves, and the real statistics behind temperature-related deaths.

Posted by Leslie Eastman 

The daughter of a woman who died of “overheating” has filed a groundbreaking wrongful death lawsuit against seven major oil and gas companies in Washington State, alleging that their actions led to her mother’s death during a historic heatwave in June 2021.

The lawsuit, considered the first of its kind in the United States, specifically targets ExxonMobil, BP, Chevron, Shell, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, and Olympic Pipeline Company.

The New York Times reviews the case, and of course, its coverage makes the fossil fuel companies look like polluting villains.

Numerous independent investigations, including recent inquiries by Congress, have revealed that many major oil companies and their trade groups spread disinformation about climate change and worked to hold back the clean energy industry.

And scientists around the world overwhelmingly agree that fossil fuel emissions have caused significant planetary warming in recent decades.

Average global temperatures in 2024 were more than 1.5 degrees Celsius, or 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit, higher than those the planet experienced at the start of the industrial age, leading to extreme heat, violent weather, rising seas and melting glaciers.

While the death of anyone during a heat event is sad, I think there is a lot to unpack here for a more complete understanding of the press and its destructive “climate crisis” coverage.

On June 28, 2021, Seattle experienced unprecedented temperatures, reaching as high as 108°F, which marked the city’s hottest day on record. Juliana Leon, a 65-year-old woman, was driving home from a medical appointment when she was overcome by the extreme heat. Her vehicle’s air conditioning was not working, and she had rolled down the windows, but the intense outdoor conditions proved fatal. A passerby found her unconscious in her car, and emergency responders were unable to revive her. Her official cause of death was hyperthermia, or overheating.

Misti Leon’s lawsuit argues that the oil companies named as defendants knew for decades that their products would contribute to climate change and lead to deadly weather events, yet they concealed and downplayed these risks from the public.

It’s worthwhile to point out that globally, Earth’s temperature averages are among the coldest that have been determined for the last 485 million years.

Much of the press coverage is focused on the “historic heat dome”, which is a weather phenomenon in which a persistent area of high atmospheric pressure traps hot air over a large region for an extended period, sometimes days or even weeks. This high-pressure system acts like a lid or cap, preventing the hot air from rising and escaping, which intensifies the heat at the surface.

The press is ginning up more fear about future “heat domes“.

During this historic heat wave, more than 250 people in the Pacific Northwest succumbed to the heat. In Western Canada, more than 400 people perished. Excessive heat is the No. 1 weather-related hazard-yielding fatality in the world. In fact, it kills more people than all other weather-related hazards — including hurricanes, floods, tornados and winter storms — combined.

However, it turns out that moderate cold is even more deadly to humans than excessive heat.

Globally, cold deaths are 9 times higher than heat-related ones. In no region is this ratio less than 3, and in many, it’s over 10 times higher. Cold is more deadly than heat, even in the hottest parts of the world.

Referring to the term “heat dome”, an AI search of the term reveals that “heat dome” first came into heavy use in 2011, according to a New York Times investigation into its growing popularity, which corresponds to the promotion of “global warming”.

The phrase had been used occasionally before then: one analysis found the term appeared 66 times in media between 1980 and 2000, yet its frequency increased dramatically to 700 mentions between 2010 and 2019, and it has remained widely used since. The American Meteorological Society officially added “heat dome” to its glossary in March 2022.

Yes, because marketing and language are important when you have snake oil to sell.

In the old days, long days of high temperatures used to be called “heat wave”, and the most severe heat wave in U.S. history occurred during the Dust Bowl era in the summer of 1936. Temperatures soared above 100°F (38°C) for prolonged periods, with some areas in North Dakota reaching 120°F (49°C) and Illinois seeing temperatures over 110°F.

Fossil fuel usage was not the factor here. Poor land management practices, which are also a contributing factor to the supposed ‘climate’ problems we face today, have played a role.

Several companies named in the lawsuit did not respond to requests for comments from the “impartial media.” A Chevron spokesperson did go on the record with a pitch-perfect remark.

Chevron Corporation counsel Theodore Boutrous Jr. said in a statement: “Exploiting a personal tragedy to promote politicized climate tort litigation is contrary to law, science, and common sense. The court should add this far-fetched claim to the growing list of meritless climate lawsuits that state and federal courts have already dismissed.”

While it is said that a woman died, 100% of all people will eventually do so. The woman also chose to drive on an extremely hot day without air conditioning and to continue to do so despite discomfort (not choosing to pull over into shade). That’s not the fault of the American petroleum industry.

I will conclude that the fossil fuels the energy companies can’t extract, transport, and sell today may make both summers and winters more expensive and potentially lethal tomorrow.

Image by perplexity.ai.

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