Rhode Island AG Filed Amicus Brief Opposing Shell Oil Co.‘s Motion to Dismiss Lawsuit Over Oil Terminal Climate Vulnerability

JULY 30, 2020

Rhode Island Attorney General Peter Neronha filed an amicus brief opposing Shell Oil Co.‘s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought by the Conservation Law Foundation (CLF) regarding Shell’s failure to adequately consider the climate impact vulnerability of its oil terminal in Providence, Rhode Island. CLF’s lawsuit alleged that Shell’s failure to do so violated the terms of its Rhode Island Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit, as well as the federal Clean Water Act and Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). Shell moved to dismiss the lawsuit pursuant to the doctrines of primary jurisdiction and abstention; Attorney General Neronha’s amicus brief emphasized that “neither the doctrines of primary jurisdiction or abstention are appropriate in citizen suits generally, and ... neither provide appropriate bases for the Court to decline to adjudicate this case.”