As NYC Sues Big Oil, Governor Cuomo Should Take Note

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday January 10th, 2018
CONTACT: Dan Sherrell, dan.sherrell@nyrenews.org, (732) 589-2412

As NYC Sues Big Oil, Governor Cuomo Should Take Note

Today, Mayor Bill de Blasio will announce that his office plans to sue the country's five biggest oil companies for damages and direct the city pension funds to divest from fossil fuels. In response, NY Renews released the following statement: 

"We commend Mayor de Blasio’s bold announcement that his office will be suing top fossil fuel companies for the massive harm they’ve caused to New Yorkers' wellbeing and safety, including billions of dollars in damage to the city's infrastructure suffered during Superstorm Sandy – a storm made deadly by climate change.

Now we must extend that accountability beyond a single lawsuit, by passing a corporate polluter fee in New York State, so that all fossil fuel companies are made to pay for the true cost of their emissions. In the process, we could generate billions of dollars in revenue every year, to invest in renewable energy development and job creation—a Green New Deal for the Empire State. As Mayor de Blasio takes bold steps to begin holding fossil fuel companies accountable for their role in creating the greatest ecological crisis of our generation, Governor Andrew Cuomo should be taking note. It will be his responsibility to ensure that this ethic of accountability is enshrined at the state level, in the form of a corporate polluter fee."

###